Greetings from Cuba…
Well actually from Mexico (we got into Mexico yesterday- we finally have internet...and consumerism).
The first thing that comes to mind when
people think about Cuba (apart from those crazy socialists… who is it
again?.... Castrate?) is the old
cars…
Part of this perception is true - The first
car to come pick us up when we arrived in Cuba was old..
...But unfortunately, it was not as cool as the
car on the front of our Lonely Planet.
Cuba was an extremely interesting place but
for the purpose of keeping this blog light, we have summarised our experience
into dot points and pictures.
* Tobacco
*Lobsters
*Rum
*Baseball...
*Mojitos...
*Tours/Diversional therapy for
Canadian retirees. As kindly demonstrated by Buena Vista Socialist Club...
(yes we know, it’s the Social Club!)
*Snorkelling
*Pork… Cubans eat their weight
in pork
*Chicken
*Rice
*Cheese…. Lots of processed
cheese (UHT)
*Basic pizza
*Drinking beers (we made friends!)...
*SALSA/DISCO TECH (which is
salsa!)
*Making each house unique by
painting it a different colour from their neighbours
*Drama
*Music
*Not sleeping
*Preventing everyone else from
sleeping
*Shouting across the street…
their voices carry an amazing distance
*Being resourceful and making
things last… Maybe a little too long…
*The Cuban "Eat Fish Lose Weight" program
*Lizards...
What Cubans do not do well …
· *Vegetarian dishes (it is the
pork dish, minus the pork)
· *Fish
· *Salad (tomato, cucumber &
shredded cabbage)
· *Chocolate/ any desserts (Kris kindly demonstrates at the museum of chocolate...most disappointing museum ever...no oompa loompas)...
· *Wine
· *Milk
· *Anything that is not ham and
cheese sandwiches
· *Estimating suitable quantity of
toilet paper to supply bathrooms
· *Feeding horses
· *Time management...
· *Reducing their carbon footprint
· *Interior design
· *Maintaining buildings
What Kralice does not do well …
· *Salsa… Kris head butted her
first teacher and Alice’s Yeti feat did not feel the beat
· *Speaking Spanish
· *Playing baseball
· *Digesting fish…
· *Interpreting wine lists in
Spanish (Alice accidently ordered port pre dinner)
· *Sleeping through the apparent
Carnival that happens every night on our street… in every city.
· *Negotiating in Spanish
· *Blending in with the locals
*Formatting this blog
*Smoking cigars...
Highlights
so far…
Havana...
· *Seeing every Cuban cliché coming
to life
· *Beautiful people
· *Beautiful buildings
· *The Malecon
· *Seeing a little black dog
carrying a little white mouse (no time to explain, just look at the picture!)
·
·
*Horseback tour through the
tobacco fields...
· *Surviving the horseback tour
without sustaining an associated injury
· *Swimming in a cave
· *Rocking chairs...
· *Farmland
· *Playing baseball
· *Smoking our first Cuban cigar
· *The tranquility
· *Mojitos
· *Architecture and cobbled
streets...
·
*Snorkelling (and testing out the reefs)...
· *Meeting a transvestite… we
named her “Trinni the Tranni”
· *Bike riding...
·
*Meeting the youngest bike repairer in Cuba…(we got a flat tire 5km’s into a 32km bike ride)...
· *Iguanas on Cayo Blanco...
·
*Visiting a beautiful island called Cayo Blanco...
· *Walking 18km to a below average
water fall (trickle) on THE hottest day in Cuba so far
· *Mojitos (common theme going on here)
· *Waterfalls… Visiting El Nicho
on a Russian Truck!...
Playa
Giron (The Bay of Pigs)...
·
*Snorkelling with heaps of fish...
·
*Eating fresh lobster and fish
for dinner… Yay, no pork!
· *Experiencing Cuban road safety... Eeek!...
We are currently in Playa del Carmen, Mexico
after a very interesting two weeks in Cuba. We will leave it there (the beach
and coronas are calling our names).
Love Kris and Al (Kralice).
