Fried Ice Cream is a Reality!

We have been chatting via yahoo messenger with Yasef a couple of times a week to discuss production plans. But this past week has been particularly hard to communicate since Yasef's internet wasn't working and there was something funky with his messenger. Three times we all logged onto yahoo, but couldn't see each other. Eachother's names were faint, meaning they weren't online. But we were! How frustrating. Anyways, we had another chat date for this past Friday...and an hour went by without hearing from Yasef. Thinking that it was just another internet failure we gave up hopes of having another meeting. But suddenly we heard a BUZZ!! from my computer--is was YASEF!-he had logged on. This time--Yasef had been going up to his apartment to have the meeting with us--when the electricity went out an he was stuck in an elevator for over an hour. He said that he took a little nap and read the Granma newspaper. (This picture isn't the same elevator that Yasef was in but it is an elevator in Cuba.)

Between two waters
This is an excerpt from Agnieska Hernandez, co-writer with Joy Tomasko, from an interview done in Havana regarding what The Closest Farthest Away is about.

The Closest Farthest Away has a great theme, which is in the title in English and Spanish....I think that a text like this, like a cinematography like this, what exists in the themes is a series of ideas that are very interesting. All the paths that The Closest Farthest Away has, or in a different light, The Closest Farthest Away is talking about a big emptiness that the Cuban family has suffered, it is talking about Cuban friends who have been separated and they prefer to say "we are going to stop writing so much because I need to forget" and I am talking about the famous Coca-Cola, the Beatles, which is a big part of this American friend. It is talking about a level of speaking against our war, which is a little bit stupid, that there are two countries so separate and a big part of the Cuba population is in the US and the US is always waiting for Cuba. I think that it is talking about a theme of love, the impossibility, and it is talking about this beautiful limit that exists between the two waters. This limit where the rafts have arrived to and are no longer in the waters of anyone. And in some way it is a momentary liberation--for a second--they still haven't arrived at American soil but they are no longer in Cuban soil. I think that it talks about this limit, that isn't ruled by anyone, not by any country, nor any politic. I think that if you were to choose one place, one location, to film this movie, it would be to choose this water that belongs to no one--I am not in your water anymore and you are not in my water. I think that if we had to pick one place to shoot this entire video, I think that it would be in the middle of the ocean, beyond the limits of any territory, of nobody's sea. this is the idea central to the piece. And when we can get there, to a middle and free situation and look with critical eyes, with distant eyes, but in some way very caring eyes. And we will be looking at the great separation that can be seen so much at a social level, by the people in the US as well as the people in Cuba.

Que el entranble lejania, tiene un gran tema. que esta en el título en ingles y en espanol. incluso la tradduccion a ingles, yo creo que dice un poco mas que hemos conseguido en espanol. pero sin embargo, creo que un texto como este, o sea, como un cinemgrafico como este, tiene, lo que sucede en sus temas, una seria de las ideas que son muy interesantes tambien. todos los caminos que tiene entranable lejania. o sea, ese entranable lejania, es de alguna manera esta hablando de la gran faltura que ha sufrido la familia cubana. estan hablando de los amigos cubanos que se separan en algun momento y prefieren decirse---vamos deja de escribirme tanto porque yo necesito olvidar que esta hablando de la famosa coca cola de los beatles que es un gran parte de este amigo. esta hablando a nivel contratestario de una manera de esta guerra, como es decir, un poco tonta, que han sido dos paises que al final un gran parte de la poblacion cubana está en los eeuu, y el eeuu siempre esta pendiente de cuba. you creo que, que esta hablando tambien del tema de amor, de la imposibilidad. esta hablando tambien de ese limite tan bonito que existe entre dos agua. o sea, que es el limite donde digamos los bolseros han llegado a ese limite no estan en agua de nadie. y de alguna manera es una libertad momentaria por un segundo, o sea o aun han llegado a tierra americana pero un poco pertenece a tierra cubana. yo creo que habla de ese limite y que no manda a nadie, que no manda a ningun pais, no manda a ninguna politica. y creo que si tuviera escoger un solo lugar, un solo locacion, para filmar la pelicula, creo que. por lo menos, escogeria ese limite que es agua de nadie. no estoy en tu agua, ya no estoy en di mi. y creo que eso es el idea central de la pelicula. cuando hemos conseguido, ponerlo en el medio de alguna manera en la situacion y mirar con ojos, pueden ser ojos por momento ojos criticos, por momento ojos distanctes, pero de alguna manera, ojos entranable. y estan mirando la gran seperacion que pueden ver al nivel social tanto, las personas que vienen a los eeuu como el pueblo que vivir en cuba.

Day Six McAllen, Texas

Saturday, July 14th. McAllen, Texas. Today is the day when every single box is taken out of each bus and truck, opened up, and taped back up, and put back on the bus. Each box needs to be checked for expired medicine and correct contents. It 101 degrees and 50% humidity. Apparently cars have been circling the church all day, some form of intimidation. I am bummed I am leaving. This has been an incredible learning experience. Later at the airport I become even more depressed--watching all of these people coming and going to and from comfortable vacations while knowing that 150 people are working in the ungodly hot weather, preparing for a humanitarian mission to Cuba. Everyone I met on this trip has such a huge heart and dedication to global change.
You can see a slideshow of the trip at: http://picasaweb.google.com/fotocubano/Caravan/photo#s5088054826451630258

Day Five in Caravan

Friday, July 13th. Route: San Antonio to McAllen, Texas. Now the weather is hot and there is no escaping it. We arrived in McAllen in early afternoon. Here is where all of the caravans from around the country and Canada meet to organize all the of the aid gathered on the trips and to prepare for crossing the border on Tuesday. Dinner that night was delicious and so fun to be in the presence of all these new people, young and old. There is so much energy and good will. I am sad I will not be on this journey till the end. This is Ishmael who has been cooking for Pastors for Peace since it began 18 years ago. He is Cuban but hasn't been back. Many people have been working with Pastors for several years.

Fourth Day in Caravan

Thursday, July 12th. Route: El Paso, Texas to San Antonio, Texas. We got off to a rough start with several repairs throughout the morning. And then to save time, Woody opted to not get gas until our next pee break. We didn't make it and had to pull to the side of the road to fill up with a 5 gallon reserve. This was our longest drive, about 12 hours. Thankfully we didn't hit major heat until around 5pm. We arrived tired and hot around midnight to a Unitarian Church but stayed up late laughing hysterically as Hans entertained us all.

Third Day of Caravan

Wedneday July 11th. Route: Tucson, AZ to El Paso, Texas. I awoke at 5:30am. There was only 2 bathrooms and 13 people so I figured I should get in there before too many more get up. When I was fixing the window last night, I left my phone in the rain...not working now. Woody, Gerry, and Larry fixed the electric window. You take the two wires from the window and touch them to the battery and it will roll up, and if you reverse them, it will roll down. How genius. Sharon with the prius is staying in El Paso in the ICU. We are down to two cars and added two people. Drive to El Paso was pleasant because there was surprisingly cool weather the whole way. We picked up two amazing women from Tucson-Rebekah and Teresa (you can see them dancing in the ceremony pics). Rebekah wants to go to Cuba to look into the Latin American School of Medicine. We talked a lot about border issues as Rebekah crosses the US/Mexico border everyday for work. We all stayed up late that night talking more about politics and Hans was cracking us up.

Second Day of Caravan

Tuesday July 10th. Route: San Diego to Tucson, AZ. We all met at 8am to hit the road but since we were going to drive through deserted areas, decided to go grocery shopping to prepare. Hit the road at 10am. The caravan consists of three cars at this point: the bus, the mercedes, and the prius. The mercedes and the bus both don't have AC. It was very HOT driving thru the desert. Sharon, who owned the prius hadn't been feeling well for days and was taken to the hospital when arrived in Tucson. The rest of us were greeted by a ceremony in Tucson right around sunset. The leader of the ceremony talked about the necessity to have a hard journey in order to really understand what you are doing and why you are doing what you are doing. He talked about bodies being disposable but ideas solid. An idea will live on past the life of a body. We are portals for ideas. At the end of their dance, he invited us to make a circle and walked us through their dance. A good workout! We stayed here at this house and had a very relaxing evening. Earlier that day I rolled down the window to wave to the bus when passing it on the highway and then it wouldn't roll back up--broken! We tried fixing it at a rest stop but wouldn't budge. Later that night before bed I went to go tape up the window because it felt like rain. Just as I was putting on the last piece of tape, it started to pour, but just for five minutes.