Don't Mind Me

One of the things that cracked me up and made me feel at home at the same time was the amount of people(and dogs in one case above) on the streets that are just hanging out watching people walk, ride and drive by. Made me feel at home. As one of my buddies says, "I can sit in the yard and watch traffic with the best of 'em."

And, yet another great memory came out of this trip....this time on the plane back to SC.  I had the awesome pleasure of meeting Audrey who had just completed a trip with 25(I think) other people to Cuba.  Her trip sounded like a BLAST.  It was really cool meeting another world-traveler...someone that will get on a plane at the drop of a hat.  Yet again I'm thankful for this trip....for travel in general....for an open mind and attitude to be able to meet amazing people from all over the world.

Some Notes from Monday's Free Walking Tour

1.  Cuba means cave

2.  White license plates versus blue license plates-the white plates belong to private can owners.  Blue plates are government owned. White plate drivers are much more willing to negotiate. 

3.  1901-1951 heavy US influence in architecture

4.  Victor Mesa is manager of baseball team of Havana.  He's been suspended over 20 items and is a controversial figure in Cuban baseball. 

5.  Marti-most important person in Cuban history.  Poet.  Writer.  

6.  80% of the economy is run by the government 

7.  School mandatory from 5-15.  High school and university optional. Must serve the government after university.  Men two years.  Women three years.  Men must do at least one year in army 

8.  Two currencies in Cuba-CUC has pictures of statues and CUP has pictures of real faces(of the same people on the CUC). 

9.  Fidel was a hero for old generation in Cuba-Johan's Grandmother has picture of Fidel and him.  638 attempted assassination attempts against him. DOCUMENTARY about this.   Now no one knows where he Cuban president lives 

10.  Dog ID cards-if dogs are living in public places they have these cards.  For example, a museum may take in a dog so they will register them with the government so people know the dog is cool to be hanging out there.  

11.  Wooden bricks in road at Plaza de Armas. 

12.  Carlos Cespedes-started war against Spain 

13.  Forts were built to defend against pirates(working for themselves) and privateers(run by governments 

14.  Havana was created in 1519 underneath a tree.  Each year on Havana's birthday, people take three laps around the replica tree that is near the harbor 

15. I saw Alex again!  I'm not sure I wrote about Alex, but he's a 17 year old kid that works for one of the restaurants.  His job is to basically talk with unsuspecting tourists(like me) and get us to go to the restaurant he works at.  

16.  Chocolate Museum smelled amazingggggggggggggggg

Tell Me How You Really Feel, Cuba

Thank You

I'm not sure the grief of being back home has ever set in before I was home like it is right now.  I'm sitting in the Havana airport and feeling a mixture of feelings:

1.  Glad.  

2.  Sad. 

3.  Gratitude(I count it as a feeling)

4.  Fear

I'm feeling glad because of the trip I've just completed. Last night was the cap to one of the most challenging and enjoyable trips of my life.  I arrived in Cuba feeling fear about what I was getting myself into.  It honestly took me a few days to get adjusted to what life is like here.  And by life I mean a variety of things:  the language, the appearance of the city, the people, the food, the weather, and the all around "differentness" that occurs anytime one leaves their comfort zone(literal and figurative).  What happened over the last few days was nothing short of amazing as I got more comfortable with my surroundings therefore making my own soil able to sustain some risks that I ended up taking.  I didn't write much about it yesterday, but the walk I took from the Malia Cohiba to the Havana Libre and then on to the Capital was extremely long and even more extremely awesome than I could have planned.  I saw the highs and lows of the city, got rained on and absolutely loved every minute of it.  Then to take the walking tour and meet great people made the day that much better.  The risk I took to ask another person if they wanted to spend time with me is one that I rarely take in everyday life.  I'm so glad I took that risk.  I was rewarded with something real that I won't soon forget.  

The fear I feel is that I'll fold back into myself and not take risks when I get back home.  I'm afraid that I'll get back to being ok with just life dragging me along instead of rather living life and making decisions based on the things that I want to do and based on the person I want to be.  For some reason I'm better able to do that when I travel.  In a sense it's good practice for me to travel like this and make decisions because I honestly have to.  The principle that I've learned the last few weeks is that once I make a decision to get moving, the subsequent decisions seem to just flow. And you know what?  None of them are perfect decisions and that's ok.  That's one of the things I do/expect:  I want things to be perfect.  Period.  And that's a huge distortion because, as cliché as it sounds, life is not going to be perfect.  I'm not going to be perfect.  You are not going to be perfect.   All of the above will just "be," and it's up to me to accept that or not.   I have a choice.  I know that. Oftentimes I choose not to accept that things are going to be perfect.  I'm hoping that this trip has helped me move just a little bit closer to accepting life on life's terms.  That's where I believe life begins.  Once I accept things as they are, I meet people, see parts of the world I've never seen and have the time of my life.  But none of that happens if I don't choose to engage with the imperfection that is life and other people.  That also doesn't happen if I'm in a constant frame of mind of worrying about what those around me are thinking/thinking about me. Nothing moves me to inaction quicker than that type of codependent thinking. 

I'm sad simply because I'm leaving behind a country and a city that I grew to love exponentially over the past few days.  I mentioned it yesterday but I've never encountered a place that revealed itself like Cuba did.  There was more and more to discover with every book I read, person I talked to and step I took.  Granted, a lot of things were revealed last night as Leslie shared some of things she had done in her two trips here, but still more and more was revealed the more I was looking for it.  Back to the walk I took yesterday:  I walked through some of the, what I think were, roughest parts of town and I loved it.  Put your mind at ease.  Cuba is extremely safe.  Flat out safe.  My point here is that I want to see more of those parts of the country.  And I'm sad that I don't know the language.  There were so many people, including my taxi driver this morning, that I wanted to talk to and just learn about.  And I couldn't because I only know a handful of words.  That's one of the major "funs" for me in traveling:  getting to know the locals.  I also love writing this and using "words" like "funs."  Clearly I'm making words up and clearly I don't care.  Knowing Spanish would open up another world to me.  Maybe learning the language is something I can engage in when I get back home.  

Lastly I'm feeling gratitude.  I don't know if I've ever been more thankful to be able to take a trip.  I'm thankful to have a job and a boss that allows me to take time off like this, I'm thankful to have the financial means to do this, I'm thankful to have friends that invite me to things like this, I'm thankful to have met and interacted with incredible humans, I'm thankful to have eaten and drank great Cuban food and drink, I'm thankful to have seen a part of the world that I legitimately may never get to see again.  Have I mentioned I'm thankful?  Like seriously.  Look at what I've been able to do for the last six days.  Yes, I'm tearing up in the Havana airport. And you know what?  It feels incredible.  I don't care what you, oh fictional reader, think right now.  My journey the last few years toward health has been the most amazing journey of my life.   Period.  I can now feel the feelings I'm feeling, acknowledge the thoughts that I'm thinking and share both.  I'm a work in progress.  I'll always be that.  And that's more than ok with me.  Right now I can say I'm so extremely blessed and thankful that I don't know how to describe it.  And this a travel blog so maybe this isn't the place to describe it.  ;)   Yep, that's a winkie face.  

Cuba.  Thank you.  Thank you for providing the backdrop for me to be stretched yet again.  

A Few Pictures From the Free Walking Tour

These tours are available in tons of cities. I can't recommend them enough. Of course the guide accepts tips and they are legitimately doing this for free. Such a near experience.

And yes, those are wood bricks in that road.

Last Full Dia

Where do I begin? What an amazing last full day in Havana. The day started with Chap and Mary leaving a day early because something came up that needed tending to leaving me with the whole day to do with what I pleased. I've learned over recent trips how much I enjoy walking, so walk I did today to the tune of about 31,000 steps around Havana. The day started at the Malia Cohiba to get some Google Maps routing done and off I walked up Linea to the Ave De Los Presidentes, then to the Havana Libre where I asked where the Capital was and they laughed saying it was about a 40 minute walk(I was thinking "sounds perfect to me.), then I met up with the Free Walking Tour crew for three hours of walking around Old Havana. What a wonderful tour it was. Maybe I'll post some of the notes from Johan and crew.  I highly recommend these tours.  I took one in London years ago and had a similar awesome experience.

I met a few Americans on the tour. One in particular, Leslie, and I decided to continue our trek which took us to the fort across the harbor. The views of Havana were absolutely incredible. Maybe the guide books I've read have talked about this fort, and I must have missed then, because it was incredible. The cannon firing at 9pm was really cool too.

We cabbed to La Cathedral for dinner after the fort. It was a blast getting to hear about all the cool things she had done in Cuba and about her life in NYC. Spending time trekking around the city and getting to know awesome people reminded me yet again of a few things:
1. I love traveling
2. I love meeting new people and finding out who they are
3. I love talking about real things
4. I love walking cities
5. I hate the night before I leave a city for home
6. I love keeping this blog as a way to remember some of the cool things I've been able to do
7. I learn tons about myself through traveling
8. God takes care of me in ways that I could have never imagined

This trip to Cuba was awesome. Flat out awesome. It was capped by an amazing day today with some unbelievable people. I can't thank Leslie enough for hanging out and tooling around Havana with me. I can't express enough in words the gratitude I feel for being able to come here, see the things I've seen, do the things I've done and meet the people I've met.

I really think I just scratched the surface of Cuba and with every scratch I noticed even more depth to be explored. Maybe other places are like that too, but it seems to be on another level here in Cuba.

Thanks, my fictional readers, for following along with this trip! It turned out better than I could have even imagined.

Front Row on the Malecòn

Airbnb #2

This one is quite classy and yes, pink. It's very clean and more comfortable than the first one. However I just fell in love with the first Airbnb because of the restaurant, El Balcon, that was around the corner, the service in the mornings with breakfast being made and Tania being helpful to get us cabs like she did. We are on our on with this one which is ok too.

It's close to the Malia Cohiba which we are treating as our home base because it has wifi, nice people and food close by. It's a nice hotel. Very Americanized which is ok at the moment.