Quickly Getting Used to the Cuban Lifestyle

There is still much admiration for Che in Cuba

Last night ended up not being restful. Garbage is picked up in early morning hours  in the neighborhood and the dogs go crazy and it was quite loud.After about an hour, they all finally settled down and so did we. This also reminds me of island life, but not so homey. LOL. Yet the Cuban lifestyle is tranquilo.

And then we woke up to a beautiful, clear cool morning. Temperatures on the north coast of Cuba may go down to about 60° in the winter nights, much like Key West. It’s refreshing and even though the room has air conditioning we didn’t need it at all.

Coffee on the porch again, followed by a yummy breakfast of eggs, ham, cheese, toast and pastry, as Chirri the dog rested peacefully near by. I was tempted to bark in his ear. Actually he is a very good dog and sweet. Our host and hostess rescued him off the streets. He appears very thankful, and is an excellent guard dog.

Walked to the nearby, very small, limited inventory, grocery store to find the ingredients for Han who was to cook dinner this evening.

On the way, I wanted to stop and search for sea glass and shells, so we checked out the little lagoon where the locals go swimming. They call it Allende Beach. Found quite a few treasures from the sea, then we sat underneath a beautiful tree on a bench in the shade to cool off. What an amazing breeze off the water. It cools you off quite fast.

Note: Most vehicles run on leaded gas or diesel. Walking along main streets with all the vehicles can be a bit overpowering with fumes. Just know that it is normal, but we tried to walk the back streets whenever possible.

Our taxi picked us up at 2:00pm to take us back into town so we could meet with historian Ercilio Vento Canosa again and Han could download his book to hopefully get it published when we get back stateside. I wanted to bring him a little something today, as I had brought a few things from the states as gifts. Previously when looking around his office I noticed some things missing. So I took him a large bag of rubber bands in a variety of sizes. The gift was a hit because rubber bands are rare to find in Cuba. No office is complete without them of course. LOL Wish I had thought of paperclips as well.

On the way back, our taxi friend Josnel, one of the two identical twins, had waited to drive us back and we asked him to let us off at a government grocery store to pick up some Tequila and Havana Club rum, my favorite drink to relax with. His charge for driving us both ways and more than an hour of waiting…12 CUC!

Came back to the house, drank some coffee and relaxed until dinner time. I took a little reading siesta. When in Cuba…!

Han whipped up an excellent dinner. Acela told us that this was a first for them, to have a guest cook in their kitchen. During dinner we learned that Julio has a difficult time in getting enough writing pens for his administrative job at the Airport, so I grabbed a package that we brought with us and gave it to him for work. Such small things truly make a difference to these caring lovely people of Cuba.

We had a wonderful time over dinner, then moved the party outside. Plenty of drinks, laughter and stories. Perfectly marvelous evening with fantastic company and weather.

I think we called it a night around 11:00pm.

Note:Wave and call “hola” to everyone you meet (don’t pronounce the H! however). You will find friends everywhere.