Buena Vista Social Club

I have been delinquent on my blogging and have much to catch up on. In school, I passed another 3 exams and am now learning the subjunctive mode. I´m not sure why Spanish does not just have a past, present and future tense. I have learned 12 tenses plus the gerund and past participle with 2 more tenses to go. I´m still not ready for prime time, but I am improving my Spanish and can get by on my own around town.

The other day at the clinic, I helped Brad, a second year American medical student, recruit patients for a research study of his. He is evaluating what are the symptoms for which women aged 18 to 35 present and for which symptoms do they actually come to the clinic. He is also looking at the prevalence of various ailments. After a morning of trying to recruit women without success, I helped him out. He is a tall white guy, which can be intimidating for the short Mayan women. After he gave his spiel, I said in Spanish that the survey is very easy and that it would only take 5 minutes; 5 women lined up after that. During one of the interviews, a woman explained to us how her breasts hurt from a rash. However, I didn´t expect her to then take out her breast and show it to me and Brad. I think she thought Brad was a doctor and could help her. The other interviews went smoothly without any undressing.

At another guarderia, the kids just melted my heart. They each came up to us one at a time to say Buenos Dias while bowing their heads. Then they would move to the next person and repeat their greeting. Completely adorable! I noticed that a couple of the kids were too poor to even own shoes, but their demeanor seemed no different than any of the others. We played some sort of dead game where the kids pretended that they were dead and then chased the rest around until they caught a couple of them. I´ve attached a short video of them running around. I would take them all home in my carry-on if I could.

The other night, I went with my family and a few students to the Buena Vista Social Club concert. One of the original members of the group still keeps the band alive and keeps them touring. At the concert, I met up with my co-workers along with every person I have ever met in Xela. The entire Gringo world showed up for the concert. I´ve attached a short video of their concert. I even was able to jump the stage and get a picture although it didn´t turn out so great.

The Club started in the 40's in Havana, Cuba where members met to play. But not until the 90´s did the Club receive critical acclaim after a hit recording as well as a documentary. More to catch up on later.