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Wednesday, December 13, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Sisters merchant goes Havana daydreamin’
By Sue Stafford
Correspondent
If given the opportunity to
make a return visit to Havana,
Mackenzie Creek Mercantile
owner Sue Leek would do it
“in a heartbeat — to see more.
Two days wasn’t enough.”
Following her participation
in an international ballroom
dance competition in Miami
in October, Leek joined a
small group of competitors
from Central Oregon on a
short cruise to Havana and
back. The ship moored at the
Havana dock and the visitors
went ashore to see the sights.
The vintage automobiles
— classic Chevys, Fords,
and Pontiacs – that cruise
the streets of Havana took
Leek right back to her teen-
age years when lots of chrome
and whitewall tires on large
vehicles were the standard of
the day.
“Because of the era I grew
up in, they blew my mind,”
Leek said.
Due to the years-long U.S.
embargo of Cuba, the mainte-
nance of the existing vehicles
was out of necessity, so they
have been meticulously cared
for — many of them serving
as taxis. Leek was able to take
a ride in a vintage Chevy con-
vertible. There weren’t many
bicycles on the streets but
lots of motorized scooters and
many pedestrians, according
to Leek.
One highlight of her visit
was dinner and a show by the
world-famous Buena Vista
Social Club, which is an
ensemble of Cuban musicians
established in 1996 to revive
the music of pre-revolutionary
Cuba. Many of the original
musicians, who were featured
in a 1999 documentary film of
the same title, still play as part
of the ensemble. The visitors’
Cuban cab driver, Ewilder,
was invited by the group to
join them for dinner and the
show.
“He was taken aback by
our invitation,” Leek recalled.
With the reinstitution of
free enterprise, Ewilder has
PHOTO PROVIDED
Havana’s streets feature vintage automobiles that are still in service. Sue
Leek of Sisters said the cars “blew her mind.”
owned his own cab for the last
year; formerly he drove as an
employee of the government.
Leek was impressed by
how clean Havana was, with
its many open plazas and
lovely Spanish, Italian, and
Greek architecture. She par-
ticularly enjoyed the beauti-
ful churches with their ornate
stained-glass windows. She
walked 12 miles while sight-
seeing her first day in Havana.
Leek found the Cubans to be
very friendly, with a good
percentage of them speaking
English.
The Paladar los Mercaderes
restaurant, with its leather-
bound menus featuring fresh
farm-to-table dining options,
and its live Afro-Cuban music,
provided a memorable lunch-
time excursion. The Central
Oregonians were the only
Americans having lunch that
day and there were other din-
ers from the Netherlands,
Russia, France, and Italy.
Besides the restaurants and
churches, visits were made to
beautiful beaches, bookstores
with a few English titles, a
cigar factory, a fresh spice
shop, and a chocolate fac-
tory where Leek sampled the
Cuban hot chocolate spiked
with peppers, which she
deemed delicious.
Leek came home with a
first-place award for her solo
dance with her instructor
Travis Kokkler, owner of the
Dance With Travis Studio in
Bend. In order for the students
to enter the competition, they
must have an instructor who
is credentialed. Kokkler was
originally taught and trained
through the Fred Astaire Sys-
tem. In addition, he has also
studied and achieved his Asso-
ciates Dance Director Certifi-
cation with High Honors.
All six of the Central
Oregon dance competitors
and their instructor did very
well in the competition, with
three of the women ranked in
the top 20 out of 85 female
PHOTO PROVIDED
Sue Leek and her instructor Travis Kokkle took first place in an
international dance competition.
competitors. Kokkler placed
third among the teachers.
Leek pointed out that com-
petitive dancing is considered
a sport that requires hours of
training, even learning things
like music theory. The com-
petitions are expensive with
travel costs and entry fees, so
Leek participates in about one
a year.
As a young person, Leek
loved to dance in the era of
swing. Children and other
responsibilities crowded out
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found at her business on
West Cascade Avenue —
Mackenzie Creek Mercantile
— where she happens to carry
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