María Vicenta Borges Bartutis, University of Havana, Cuba

I embraced the idea of my colleague and friend Manuel Rivero to put together a panel in response to the call of the Canadian Anthropology Congress (CASCA-CUBA) in Santiago de Cuba. The theme for the debate, “Contrapunteo,” was great. I enjoyed my time at CASCA-CUBA, made the most of it, met wonderful people and shared lovely moments.

On the first day at registration, Carla’s face when my friend Teresa told her she wanted to be at the women’s lunch; the next day at the hotel pool she already had my friend’s ticket — how efficient Alexandrine’s team is!

Then Manuel, Teresa and I went to the welcome pre-cocktail. We shared the table with the beautiful Iranian women and had a great time.

The next day at the welcome cocktail I laughed out loud with María del Carmen when we stepped back and invited others to dance the Tumba francesa.

When the music stopped a gentleman came over, who very cheerfully told me in perfect Spanish that he didn’t know how to dance, but that he had felt very moved doing it. He also told me that he hadn’t spoken Spanish since high school, but there was a moment when his friend interrupted our conversation and he, with undisguised mischief, said to me “se te colaron.” I burst into loud laughter, because as a linguist I could not believe his way of speaking so naturally, charismatically, and spontaneously without making mistakes after spending so much time, according to him, without speaking Spanish.

When I was leaving I went to say goodbye to Manuel; he was talking with Carolina, a lovely and extraordinary woman. It’s a pity I didn’t leave her my contact information; I ran into her on several occasions when we also exchanged points of view about her country.

On the day of the women’s lunch I met Heather, a woman who seemed a bit shy at first, but on the bus we exchanged really interesting and stimulating opinions and points of view.

The topics of the presentations and events proved very timely, interesting and appropriate to the historical moment the country is living through. I shared time with the people of Santiago and with Mercedes, a professor from the University of Oriente who joined our panel—she is now my friend. When we finished presenting it was sad to hear the news of the plane crash in Havana.

On the day of the phenomenal dinner in San Pedro I ran into Christine when I arrived to take the bus; she is a linguist, a specialist in Pacific Creole. She told me she was with her students and her husband, who turned out to be the charismatic gentleman from the welcome cocktail; I would like to contact them to partner on a project I need to implement.

At that moment the bus arrived and we went to the Santiago hotel. There I met my friend Carolina again, who insisted on giving me a flash drive as a memento, a gesture for which I was infinitely grateful, since I needed it to store information for my doctoral thesis. Later in San Pedro I spent time with Gloria Rolando, an icon on the topic of blackness and of cinematography in Cuba; it was a beautiful and unforgettable moment.

I had dinner with Mercedes, the married couple from Guantánamo and researchers from Scotland, Chile and Canada; we really had a good time.

When CASCA-CUBA ended I took the opportunity to go to El Cobre, where I met members of CASCA; you know, since everyone likes to go to ask the patroness of Cuba, however, I regretted not going to the Santa Ifigenia cemetery (Manuel and Teresa did go). Well, it will be another time — I still have to place a flower on the eternal Cuban, Fidel.

Returning to Havana when I was checking in to board the Transtur coach I ran into a Brazilian couple I had met at CASCA-CUBA — we went through hell; those drivers (El Chino and Andy) violated our passenger rights. I arrived with two bricks instead of feet, extremely tired, but happy to have met colleagues from different parts of Cuba and the world who cooperate with research interests.

I designed a project “Prosperity (virtue + love of identity),” which constitutes an alternative for teaching Spanish as a foreign language and at the same time a guide that invites a journey through our cultural wealth, geography and idiosyncrasy; it would be appropriate to find colleagues to collaborate with me on its implementation.

Otherwise, CASCA-CUBA was truly something valuable in my professional life, so I would like to acknowledge its organizers in Santiago de Cuba, especially Alexandrine Boudreault-Fournier, so attentive and busy, and only ask that it be repeated. Many thanks also to Andrea, the Chilean who so kindly took the photos while we presented. See you next season.