An evening with the Cubans

Aside from the problems with security the Olympic Village is still struggling to prepare all the rooms for the athletes and teams. Walking around the Village it is common to see groups of tradesmen standing around. After speaking to several of these people it is obvious that the issue tends to be around the supply of the necessary equipment to complete the remaining jobs. For example there are several entire apartment blocks without locks or handles in the doors. I spoke to a locksmith who said that they were in fact waiting for the keys and related hardware in order to get them installed. Aside from this the tempo around the village is picking up. 


Many more delegations have arrived and are busy around the Village. It is not uncommon to see large groups of athletes headed to the transportation hubs to travel to their related training venues, groups arriving bringing all manner of gear and heavily armed police officers patrolling the streets. It is common for countries to decorate their buildings with their flags and colors. The larger delegations have more space and are usually more elaborate. Team Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand being the largest with Brazil, The Netherlands also having a presence. Around the offices of Team Cuba there is a relaxed atmosphere. 

 Wednesday during the day things were pretty calm. There were three Assistants scheduled during the day and two in the evening. Apparently the word was that several officials from the team had been invited to an event at the Venezuelan Embassy and the evening shift was needed in order to transport them to and from the venue. I was scheduled for this and agreed to take the PA to meet a couple of his staff and then to take them to the venue. The other Assistant was told that he was on call should the Embassy vehicle not be able to pickup and drop-off the remaining invited guests. It turns out that the Embassy vehicle was able to pick them up so my colleague had the night off.

After picking up the staff accompanying the PA to the event we headed to the venue. We arrived on time and managed to park in a special Embassy parking spot directly outside. In Central London this is a big deal. Having no idea about what type of event this was I believed that I would be dropping them off and waiting in the car. Upon arrival I was instructed by the PA to leave the car and to come with him. As it turns out this was an evening of entertainment laid on by the Cuban and Venezuelan Embassies. We were greeted like royalty shaking the hands of just about everyone who looked to be official and from a group who I later found out were the performers for the evening. We were shown into a small auditorium with the walls lined with Cuban athletic posters celebrating Cuba’s most successful and famous athletes. There were Cuban flags everywhere. The front two rows of the auditorium were reserved and we were shown to these seats. The auditorium filled up with other invited guests. This was quite an eclectic mix of people ranging from the very old to groups of twenty-somethings. Moments after the rest of the team and officials arrived the performance began. 


First up was a man who came out and introduced the event. He first spoke in English explaining that this event was to celebrate all things Cuban and the terrific pedigree of their Olympic efforts. He then switched to Spanish repeated himself and queued the music. He began to recite poetry set to some of the cheesiest generic music played through one of the worst sound systems I have ever heard in a performance hall.  I can’t speak for the poetry however the accompanying sound, music and dancing were interesting to say the least. Ok, it was so ‘interesting’ that I found myself wondering if the feeling of embarrassment welling up inside was only me or if it was also shared by other attendees. Everyone was extremely polite and clapped appropriately at the end of his performance.

Next up was a young lady who introduced herself in English as an American choreographer who wanted to dedicate this dance to Team Cuba and their athletic excellence. She proceeded to perform her dance, which was even more uncomfortable than the previous act. She flopped and frolicked all across the stage posing in very dramatic and interesting ways. When she finally finished there was adequate applause and I began to wonder what we were in store for next. 

The next act was a solo singer who sang beautifully (in Spanish) along with some pre-recorded music. Her entrance was dramatic as she entered from a door at the top of the auditorium and sang her way down the stairs and on to the stage. After two of her tunes she exited and the next act came out.

Next up was a duet. A violin and a guitar accompanied by an interesting couple of guys. They seemed cheerful enough and began playing. Finally we found some talent. These guys were brilliant. They played Cuban classics and earned a standing ovation.

The final act of the evening was the Cuban band La Sonora de la Calle who were touring and recently played Latitude Festival in England. These guys were your traditional Cuban style 4-piece band with a stand up bass, a guitar, a percussionist and a singer. They also had a professional pair of dancers to get the crowd going. This really worked and by the end of the performance all of the audience was up on their feet with most dancing at the front. Many of the Cuban delegation were enjoying this and also partaking in the dancing.

After the festivities we returned to the Olympic Village and that concluded the evening.