Las Terrazas: Without space to be bored  

The landscape of Las Terrazas, in Candelaria municipality, turns this sustainable development community into a very attractive spot. The locals know that and are proud of it.
The San Juan River, the lake, the ruins of the coffee plantations are just some of the places that provide pleasure and peace at the same time, like a paradise in the middle of the mountains.

The cultural life of this spot is enormous. There stands out a community project called Thursday with my people, which has great impact, even more now in summer season.

Ana Irma Morán Zamora, young social worker affirms that. She participates as a spectator, but notes the way life becomes more pleasant with healthy recreation options like this, which also increases general culture.

The project is closely related with the UNEAC (Union of Cuban Artists and Writers), for that reason the residents enjoy once a month of exchanges with musicians, painters, writers and founders of the community that revive the history of the place, which started with an interest for achieving a forest repopulation and ended with a colourful town that counts on several kinds of service so that the farmers, formerly scattered, would find there all they need.

The Community Club House - states Ana Irma- and Maria's Café are some of the stages for the project, where the neighbors share with the artists, make questions about their work and take pictures as remembrances, since the entrance is free of charge.

"I am in the fourth year of my career (Socio-cultural Studies) and the Project has given me a lot, since I get related with several social actors and incorporate these experiences to my daily work: to be aware of all the existing problems and try to solve them. People with a healthy and enriched life are less prone to every kind of risk and join a group easier and in harmony. This is basic for the social work", Ana Irma affirms, and recalls the visit of painter Arturo Montoto.

 
Esleydi Tamarí Naite outlines the promotion given to the artists that participate in the community project
 
To the interviewee it is fundamental that the population has this option apart from the disco, the Boat House, the Blue Lake and the San Juan River, since this way they keep learning and contribute to the formation of values when the project works with local history so that the youths can learn how emerged what they have today.

For all ages

Esleydi Tamarí Naite is a cultural promoter and takes part in the preparation of activities for all ages, children, youths and adults. With the first they organize matinees in the library and the museum, especially on Saturdays. In Las Terrazas they opened the summer with the participation of art instructors, theatre, reading and visits to the ecomuseum that gathers the history of the place, mostly in pictures, and the life of Haitians' descendants that left their trace in the ruins of French coffee plantations.

The cultural life in Las Terrazas is active, its villagers have a handicraft workshop where they show their art and commercialize the pieces, and a percentage is for the authors and the other for the community.

The project "Thursday with my people" was created in 2001, and it receives all the necessary promotion. Esleydi has lived in Las Terrazas for 32 years and recalls that the House of Polo Montañez opened for the audience as part of the project.

This community with special characteristics, since is sustainable and involves its inhabitants in the coexistence with tourism, has a lot to show in regard to culture, especially in the summer.

There, people think about the motivations of human beings and all ages have a space for it.

Source: el guerrillero