“The Seattle Peace Chorus will recap its recent Cuban tour in a concert at South Whidbey High School Auditorium on Sunday, Feb. 27, at 2 p.m., sponsored by Concerts on the Cove. Tickets, $10, are available on the Southend in Freeland at the Book Bay and Whidbey Stationers; in Langley at the Moonraker; in Clinton at the Cyberc@fe and in Bayview at the Smilin’ Dog Coffee House. For information about the Peace Chorus and its Cuban trip, go to these Web sites: www.geocities.com/howardscuba/CubaTour.html or www.word-ware.com/spc.Nobody goes to Cuba. Since 1962, sanctions and travel embargos imposed by the United States have made it next to impossible for Americans to get there. But at the end of last year, a small group of Whidbey Islanders made the trip.Deb Lund and Vern Olsen of Greenbank and Wylie Vracin and Jack Moeller of Coupeville went to Cuba with the 45-member Seattle Peace Chorus, which was invited to Santiago de Cuba to perform at the fifth International Choral Festival. Susan McDonald and Judy Harper, both of Coupeville, went along as members of the support group.None of them knew quite what to expect, after the long effort by the United States to isolate and bring down the communist government headed by Fidel Castro.The image in Olsen’s head was in black and white, he says, made up of memories from old movies and television coverage from the years before the embargo. Since then the only image we’ve had is of Fidel Castro in an Army camouflage outfit with a cigar, he said.The reality was very different.The Cuba that Olsen and the others found was warm and welcoming, no matter how far off the beaten track they wandered. The colors were bright and tropical.And there were very few military people around. There was no presence of camouflage clothing, Olsen said.On Sunday, Feb. 27, Whidbey Islanders will have a chance to share the Cuban experience at a special Seattle Peace Conference concert in Langley, which will tell the story of the trip with slides, songs and stories.We were amazed, said Lund, who will be one of the speakers. We had a lot of misconceptions that sort of eroded away.The visitors were free to go anywhere and talk to anyone, she said, and people were very open with us.The Whidbey Islanders visited three regions of Cuba and talked with musicians, journalists, teachers, pastors, economists, government officials and local citizens, Lund said. We were humbled by the welcome we received, particularly since the trip coincided with the World Trade Organization fiasco in Seattle and the Elian Gonzales demonstrations in Cuba.At one stage, some members of the Peace Chorus arrived at the scene of a demonstration where thousands of Cubans were shouting for the return of Elian. The visitors were asked where they came from, and when they said they were Americans, the demonstrators welcomed them to Cuba. They were not mad at us at all, Olsen said. They have the ability to distinguish between governments and people. But they are anti our government’s policy. It has ruined their economy.The embargo is constantly on their minds, Lund said. They can never get away from thinking and talking about it because of the many things they have to do without or pay blackmarket prices for – everything from medicines to books. And we don’t even know Cuba exists, she said. The chorus, which traveled as delegates with Witness for Peace, spent most of the visit in Havana in the northwest, and in Santiago de Cuba in the southeast. In Santiago de Cuba they sang with 21 other choruses from around the world in the choral festival. In Havana they were guests at the Martin Luther King Center, where they were able to meet with a Cuban economist, an expatriate American journalist, a member of the Cuban diplomatic corps and Dr. Raul Suarez, founder of the center and member of the Cuban National Parliament.But it was their encounters with everyday people that had the most impact, as they visited schools and factories, hospitals and remote little towns. We saw classrooms with no pencils and paper, Lund wrote, after the trip. Books were old and few – yet their literacy rate was higher than ours, at 98.5 percent. Before the Revolution, it was 40 percent. The medical system … was integrated into neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces, but it functioned with minimal supplies and equipment. Music … was everywhere. From streetside musicians to Cuban choirs, the rhythms, moves, and voices of Cuba were captivating.She was surprised to find a vibrant and passionate culture in the midst of poverty. Doing well with little was a recurring theme in Cuba. Respect for people was another Cuban theme. Groups of people, whether families or friends, walked together in a rainbow of shades.We found laughter and love where we expected to see repression and bitterness. Raul Suarez told her: Castro is no angel, but he’s no devil, either. Lund said she feels that for almost 40 years, the U.S. embargo has strengthened Cuba’s national pride while it has hurt the Cuban people. One man said, The embargo needs to be lifted, so we can see if our problems are being caused by our government or by yours.Did the visitors come home with a view that is overly rosy?Lund says no, although people are frequently surprised by her over-whelmingly favorable impressions.And Olsen agrees that is just how it was.They were the most happy, gracious people, he said. We were welcomed wherever we went. There are always fears when you go someplace you don’t know anything about, but there wasn’t anything to be afraid of.”