If you want to read about my C.U.B.A. trip chronologically from the beginning, start in Jamaica at http://peacefulroadwarrior.blogspot.com/2013/05/ya-mon-saturday-420.html and read the 12 posts in reverse order moving up the navigation bar.
As I wind up the tales of my wonderful journey, I am so thankful that Alisa invited me along. Alisa has decided that taking photos is not living in the present. She believes that photographers are so busy setting up the shot and viewing life through a len or viewfinder that they are missing the moment themselves. She thinks that if we take photos to share with others, we are robbing them of the opportunity to live in their own moments by forcing ours onto them. If we take pleasure in looking at our own old photos, we are living in the past and missing out in the present. So, I tried purposefully during this trip to take in the present moments but nevertheless managed to capture 800+ points in times. I have culled through these and posted just a small fraction on this blog.
When I returned to NY, I met a woman who had just gotten back from her own awesome Caribbean Ultra Bodacious Adventure. Her story is very different from mine. She had gone on a sanctioned cultural mission. She talked about the cuisine at the fancy restaurants, the nice hotels, seeing the Buena Vista musicians and going on guided tours. She didn't see the local markets, ride the truck/buses, eat the street pizza, sway to the plaza musicians, or use toilets without seats but had a just as memorable time. We all experience the same reality in our own ways.
Thursday, 5/2: We celebrate Guillermo's birthday with a cake and two coco glaces (coconut ice cream made with coconut and condensed milk served in a coconut shell). We had seen people walking down the streets with elaborate cakes out in the open air. The bakery we went to put it in a box. Maybe we needed to go to a peso bakery.
Yes, it was excellent ice cream. We walk it off along the Malecon back to our casa particular:
As I wind up the tales of my wonderful journey, I am so thankful that Alisa invited me along. Alisa has decided that taking photos is not living in the present. She believes that photographers are so busy setting up the shot and viewing life through a len or viewfinder that they are missing the moment themselves. She thinks that if we take photos to share with others, we are robbing them of the opportunity to live in their own moments by forcing ours onto them. If we take pleasure in looking at our own old photos, we are living in the past and missing out in the present. So, I tried purposefully during this trip to take in the present moments but nevertheless managed to capture 800+ points in times. I have culled through these and posted just a small fraction on this blog.
When I returned to NY, I met a woman who had just gotten back from her own awesome Caribbean Ultra Bodacious Adventure. Her story is very different from mine. She had gone on a sanctioned cultural mission. She talked about the cuisine at the fancy restaurants, the nice hotels, seeing the Buena Vista musicians and going on guided tours. She didn't see the local markets, ride the truck/buses, eat the street pizza, sway to the plaza musicians, or use toilets without seats but had a just as memorable time. We all experience the same reality in our own ways.
Thursday, 5/2: We celebrate Guillermo's birthday with a cake and two coco glaces (coconut ice cream made with coconut and condensed milk served in a coconut shell). We had seen people walking down the streets with elaborate cakes out in the open air. The bakery we went to put it in a box. Maybe we needed to go to a peso bakery.
As if we hadn't had enough sweets, we seek out the "best" ice cream shop in La Habana where one scoop costs one peso (4 cents). It seems that each city has its own "best" ice cream. While there are not a large number of obese people here, there are a lot of ice cream afficionados.
Yes, it was excellent ice cream. We walk it off along the Malecon back to our casa particular:
Friday, 5/3: Even bodacious adventures must come to an end. So, sadly, I say good-bye. Alisa will stay a couple more weeks and then join the crew of Die Stahlratte as it makes its way to Mexico, Panama and then Colombia where she will have completed the circle in mid-June that she began in mid-April.
And, I too complete my circle and find my way back home with wonderful memories (and 800+ photos).
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