An Angel's Vice

Chapter 3 - Back To Basics

Matanzas, Cuba

'Aguanile, aguanile. Santo Dios, santo fuerte, santo inmortal. Aguanile, aguanile, mai mai. Aguanile, aguanile, mai mai."

East of Havana on the northern coast of the island lies a place rich in culture and original Cuban flavour backed with the heat of Africa. It is abundant with beaches and waters reminiscent of hot springs, underground caves, lush vegetation and animals too plentiful to round up in one place and list off. The entire surface is flat with decadent yet charming neoclassical style colonial buildings, Catholic Churches, vibrant colourful houses, theatres, narrow sidewalks, streets that gives passage to outdated classic cars, motorcycle taxis and bicycles. It is a place where artists of varying sorts retreat to, where the locals describe its rivers as "the veins through which the city's blood passes". But it is also widely known for the practice of Santería—the preservation of the rites, songs, and practices of the Yoruba people dating back to the 17th century.

Albeit it isn't exactly where Lauren's family is from, she still gets the sense of belonging like it is her first home. That's one of the three deciding factors of what has kept her in Cuba longer than she planned. The second factor has to do with Sasha strongly recommending she look for allies to provide backup and somewhere to retreat to if or whenever necessary. And the third, Lauren was intruded on by a wrinkly old woman in her late 60s on a night of getting wasted at a bar, telling Lauren about herself and how she needed help in turning her life around and all the wonderful joys she'd miss out on if she didn't. Initially, Lauren called bullshit and challenged the woman to either fuck off or get rewarded an early trip to see heaven a lot faster than it was taking her to. But then the woman spoke of things she couldn't have possibly known unless she had seen Lauren's life and lived in her thoughts.

Next thing Lauren knew, she was given shelter inside this woman's home alongside Sasha, learning about the religion of Santería, being told over and over until it clicked in her head that the Orishas were calling to her. That as a Cuban, it was important to stick to her roots and culture. She did mundane tasks like sweep the floors, take out the trash, cook breakfast lunch and dinner, service the neighbours with chores they needed aid with, and this was all because the woman told her it was her duty to do so in order to advance in receiving the help and wisdom that awaits for her. Sounds like a scam, right? It wasn't. This was merely the beginning and necessary part of the road to initiation. See, Sasha also knew a thing or two about the religion and advised Lauren that she should see it as a powerful tool—like an army of the world's strongest impenetrable soldiers—to have in her arsenal before returning to the dangers lurking in Miami. A classic mistake. Lauren continued to see it that way up until she received her reading from this elderly priestess that shook her to her very core and sobered her up faster than the speed of light.

Fuck power, it was saving and protection that she began craving.

'Aguanile, aguanile, mai mai. Aguanile, aguanile, mai mai. Oye todo el mundo reza que reza pa'que se acabe la guerra, eso no se va acabar, eso será una rareza.'

After thirteen long days of preparation, considerable evaluation and interrogation, ritualistic ceremonies, of gradually letting down her guard and choosing the elderly woman called Ayuba to be her madrina (godmother) and her husband Ernesto to be her padrino (godfather), and a thousand dollars of payment, here she stands early evening in the center of a packed room, wearing all white, faced with a man smoking a cigar. He sweats profusely around the face as he puffs the smoke into the wrapped bundle of dry guayaba herbs then holds it to her head, sweeping through the air to her reach her legs, circling her with the same dramatic motions, the red and white eleke beads wrapped around his wrist rattling by her ears with every movement.

And he isn't the only to smoke a cigar. A handful of others who are seated or lean against the yellow walls are smoking too and they drink and spit rum for ceremonial purposes. Afro-Cubans pound away at the sacred instrument known as the Batá drums, women step in a jolting side to side dance as they excitedly shake their shekere, and it all comes together with the distinct sound of the agogô bells being hit with a wooden stick. A woman dances with a machete that she waves around and flashes through the air, by her face, around Lauren, and other spaces within the small room, honouring and enticing the Orishas to interact with them. Bystanders from outside the humble home peek in through the wooden windows and listen in, delighted to bear witness to the sacred Elekes ceremony.