Luz Marina Zaldívar Calzadilla

Creator of the caldosa of Kike and Marina.

Marina is one of those people who manages to maintain a smile even in the worst moments, and just by listening to her, she instills a spirit that makes you believe in the possibility of changing the world through your own effort alone.

Marina has lived in Las Tunas for so long that her grandson says he was born in Holguín just to leave. Her more than eight decades do not prevent her from conversing about her youthful years with patience and cheerfulness. Age is no longer on her skin or in her hair: it is in her mind, which remains as enthusiastic, dreamy, and pure as in the years when she embraced boleros as a talisman.

She lived in the Sierra Maestra, in Chivirico, a small place in the province of Holguín, with three full siblings, and her father had four more children. It was a modest family. At age 17 they moved to Las Tunas. She was a very cheerful and independent girl; she loved to sing in the house and for friends. She adored Santiago trova music and boleros.

At age 29 she met Kike, he worked at the Manatí sugar mill, during harvest time, and when it ended, he sold coffee as a street vendor; he bought it at the La Equitativa cafeteria, where Marina worked. There they sold the best confections that came into Cuba: ambrosia and star; also ice cream, sugar cane juice and boxes of chocolates that Marina wrapped personally for a girlfriend he had; but he always wanted Marina to serve him. Later "He fell in love with me, the first thing he told me was that he had ended his relationship. We dated for nine months, then we got married and moved in together. We had three children: two girls and one boy".

The caldosa came about because her son was studying in the Soviet Union. When he came on vacation, it coincided with the first time the province won the venue for the celebrations of July 26th and we threw him a welcome party. It was tremendous, the whole neighborhood participated and, as the song says, the drunks were there to be swept up with a shovel. We made the caldosa, we brought out the pots and the party was almost over, but when we distributed it, it was like the potion of Asterix and Obelix: all of a sudden everyone recovered and the party continued for three days based on rum and caldosa".

The Caldosa is a very old recipe that came to Cuba from Spain. "What we did was, for the first time, prepare it at a neighborhood party, with our contributions and the name caldosa. Another aspect that had a lot to do with it was the great success of the song that my great friend Rogelio Díaz Castillo made for us," said Marina.