Sunday, June 18, 2017
Wipe Your Shoes Por Favor
Manolo
Even with that being the case, Manolo has been a gracious and warm driver for us and bent over backwards to make sure we are comfortable. The search for white rice and black beans yesterday was epic. Let me know if you'd like to hear that story and I'll tell you sometime.
He has shared his thoughts on culture, history and family. Thankfully Chap has been there to translate so I can understand.
Manolo is an extremely engaging human. I can't help but say, even though I can't truly understand him, he is a wonderfully gracious man. He seems to be thankful for all that he has and that comes out in how he acts and serves.
Yes, he's getting paid to be our driver but he is one of the few people I've encountered that doesn't seem concerned with the money. During the time he spent with us yesterday hunting black beans and rice, he could have picked up several customers, but he didn't care.
Manolo is my guy. I'm so thankful to have met and interacted with him. I have a feeling we might see him again before this trip is over.
And oh yeah. He drives a 1950s(?) Plymouth and yes, that's a Nissan steering wheel. It's been neat to see how they keep these old vehicles running with mismatched parts.
Manolo!
La Playa
6-18-17 11:58am
We're about to check out of Airbnb number one and head to Airbnb number two. Tania is here to help us check out. This house has been really nice. Chap and I both love the back patio. It's provided a scenic and comfortable setting for some really good conversation. The rock formation flows right into the back patio and foliage grows over the rock. Quite beautiful. Every morning while I sat out there doing my reading and writing a hummingbird bee has come to feed.
Yesterday's trip to the beach was teetering on disastrous. Chap got in touch with Manolo who offered to drive us to the beach for $40 round trip which was $30 cheaper than anyone else. Right when we pulled up and got out, we heard thunder and soon thereafter the rains came. A little bit of a bummer and that's ok. At least we got to see what beach life in Cuba is like....PACKED
Two more full days in Cuba.
Saturday, June 17, 2017
La Casa
I really didn't think we would have AC anywhere in Cuba. Much to my surprise there was a window unit in my bedroom at the house. What a gift! (Until I figured out it didn't work and actually made the room more humid and uncomfortable!)
And you know what? It's cool. Well, in the figurative sense it's cool. It kind of takes me back to my expectations thing. I didn't expect it, and therefore I'm not really disappointed. Would it be nice to not wake up in the middle of the nigh multiple times sweaty? Sure. But honesty I don't care. I'm extremely, extraordinarily thankful to be in Cuba. Like seriously. With the news yesterday, that Chap had to translate for me, I may be one of the last people from the US to be here for quite a while under the current travel regulations. Even if that wasn't the case, I'm in freaking Cuba. I'm so thankful to Mary and John for thinking of me when they were making their plans to take a trip. Honestly, I would never have thought to come here.
I'm glad I did! It's way different from the US norm and that's cool to me. A ton of the culture is lost on me and that stinks a little bit I've learned a ton about it since being here.
There are some really warm and jovial people, some people that are only interested in money and people in between. Sounds like life to me!
A Few Pictures
Here are a few pictures that didn't really fit into some of the writings I had done over the past few days.
Among them are:
A of picture of crumbling concrete. It's interesting how the sidewalks and roads look. It's like they were awesome back in the 60s and nothing has been done to maintain them since.
My little lizard buddy that snuck in my room last night, realized it was too hot even for him, and he left.
A picture of Chap and Mary while an artist was drawing them on a card. The artist was really chill and had a neat way about her. And what a great business idea. She finishes a drawing, shows it to the person, jokes about it and says "you have it for free, 5 pesos, 10 or a million. Whatever you like."
Some pictures of the airport.
The greatest outdoor rocking chair known to man.
The Ho Chi Minh monument right around the corner from our AirBNB
A tienda(store) right around the corner from the house.
A picture of El Balcon, the restaurant we ate at again last night. Turns out it's right above our house even though it's a about a 1/2ish mile walk there.
A Little Out of Order
I wrote this as we got on the plane Thursday, so it's a little out of order from my other posts or el posts:
6-15-17 8:24am CLT
Am I nervous you ask? Yeah. Sure. I don't know what to expect out of Cuba, and you know what? That's ok. It really is ok. I have 37 years of experience to prove that things will be ok. I've learned a ton about fear lately and how it affects me if I buy into it and decide to hold on to it/run away from it. The more I run from it, the larger it seems. The more I run into it, the more I realize that it was never really there in the first place. Fear is an interesting thing in that way. It's not really real unless I believe that it is. Right now, in this moment, I'm feeling pretty good about it. I'm a little anxious, sure. But, am I fearful? Not at all. There's actually some freedom in not knowing what to expect out of this trip.
Expectations are something I've learned about recently. I have expectations for a lot of things in my life in both my personal and professional lives. Most of the time those expectations aren't met. Does that mean I shouldn't have expectations? I don't think that's the case or at least that's not what I'm choosing to believe right now. What I'm choosing to believe is that it's ok to have expectations and I can be ok when those expectations aren't met. Now, there are some steps and processes that I can go through from expectations to being ok, steps like anger, disappointment, etc. But once I work through those, I can let it go. I think it's ok to want good things out of life(expect good things). The difference here is that I don't have to EXPECT that things will be like I want just because I expect them to happen. I'll need to work for things, and that's ok too. And just because I work for them doesn't mean that I'll get them. I can only give my best effort and believe that life will be good even though life may not turn out the way I believe it will.
I do believe there's a power greater than myself at work in my life right now. And He takes care of me. All I need to do is just show up. Kamal Ravikant says that there is an extremely small amount of fears that are actually life threatening. The others are fears can be walked into, or run into, and when I do either or, I can't describe to you how much better I feel. Just pushing through that deep, dark feeling I get in my gut when I'm fearful makes that feeling go away.
¿Why am I posting content like this on my travel blog? Execellente pregunta. I truthfully just started writing and it all came out. So yeah. That's why. Thanks for asking though.
Sent from my iPhone
True BNB
6-16-17 1:08pm
Breakfast at the house made by Yoana? Check
Walked the streets of Havana with Chap to buy some toothpaste for less than a dollar? Check
Cab ride with Monalo, the warm, friendly and inexpensive cab driver to Old Havana? Check
What a cool ride in an old Plymouth. He was extremely helpful and offered to take us to the airport, beach and wherever we wanted for less than any cab driver we've encountered yet.
End of Day 1
6-15-17 11:14pm
Day one of Cuba is in the books. I like it here. Again I'm reminded that the degree to which I like the people of a particular region of the world is the degree to which I like said region. And again, like Seattle, I've really enjoyed our cab drivers. First of all, there's a $10 flat fee for cab rides within the city which, for here, is probably steep but I honestly think it's fair. Our cab drivers have been very warm, especially the one that took us to dinner tonight.
That's one of the things I've noticed about Cuba. It's inexpensive. We just ate at an upscale restaurant near the Malecòn for $37 dollars(three people). Not bad at all.
I do wish I spoke more Spanish. It would be nice to be able to know more of what was going on around me, but thankfully we hung out a hotel tonight for a while that had a lot of English speakers. It was nice to feel "at home" for that hour or so. It gives me a ton more perspective for those that are not native to the US and how they must feel when they're there.
Sent from my iPhone
Cuba
6-15-17 2:36pm Havana
Yes. Havana. Cuba. Uh huh. We're here. And wow. What an interesting place. I can honestly say I've never seen a part of the world like this. Words, especially mine, cannot accurately describe this country and what I've seen of it so far. But here are a few words:
Hot. Lush. Old.
It's really an interesting area. I know the word "interesting" is extremely expressive and paints you a vivid picture of this place 🙄, but that's all I have right now. There are people on motorcycles, in buses, in cars and walking around everywhere.
So far it appears that people love Americans here. Maybe it was when our Spanish speaking cab driver exclaimed, "I love Americans because they tip big!" that gave me that clue. But so far it's been a nice experience. We met Tania who is our Airbnb host. She gave us some tips of places to go and eat. She is also our contact for a taxi if we need one. No Uber here folks(unless there's a version for the horse and buggies I've seen).
We just had lunch at one of the places Tania suggested. El Balcon(yes, same name as the Mexican place on Bremerton Island, WA....congrats. You win $1 CUP(which I think is a Cuban peso)) was very good food. All three of us are very well with a table full of carne, pollo, arroz, frijoles, and plantanos(all sp?) for a total of $27 CUP including tip. I would recommended this place to anyone. Our server was very patient and kind and conversed quite a bit with us. Thankfully Chap is fluent in Spanish and can help Mary and I in conversation, but our server was very kind in helping us with pronunciations.
We are back at the casa now and relaxing for a bit before heading downtown.
If my pictures work here are some pictures of the view from our street, my food, my dietetica(Dee-eh-teh-tih-kuh) cola, and the walk back to El Balcon.
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