Havana, Cuba

Havana, Cuba…the mere mention of the City/Country…invokes so many layers of heavy duty conversations…politics…embargo…revolution…dictatorship…infiltration…socialism…religions…rum…music…dance…cuisine…cigars…dare I say Guantanamo Bay…etc…yet most of the opinions that are so deeply divisive are held by people who have never been there…experienced the culture…spent time with the people…I’m glad I got the chance to…I was almost too late…in fact, while I was in a café eating a fruit cup…I looked up at the television and the news reported that President Trump had just rolled back the Obama Administrations loosened sanctions that had given U.S. citizens passage to visit Cuba…cruise ships were parked at the harbor and many U.S. citizens seemed to be enjoying their stop at port…there are still a few (I believe 12) categories that you can go under…fortunately, as a journalist I am able to travel strictly for the purposes of interviewing and journalistic activities…I’ll start by saying that the country is beautiful…the people are beautiful…they have their struggles…the embargo and lack of imports stifles Cuba and other Caribbean countries as well…almost every evening restaurants would run out of things like chicken or fish…you would have to wait until the next day in hopes that they would restock…on the last day my Airbnb ran out of water…I believe the construction workers next door were siphoning some of our water…still it was a wonderful experience…dealing with minimal inconveniences as such didn’t dampen the mood one bit…if anything, it may have assisted in helping me to relate a little more to the Cuban citizens…Cuba is so safe…crime is rare…penalties are steep…culture is rich…African influence is undeniable…the dance and music are vibrant…Santeria I learned was extremely misunderstood…and misinterpreted…the rum was the best ever…cigars best ever…I found out on a cigar tour that you are not supposed to inhale…you also shouldn’t use a lighter to light your cigar…I may make a video post explaining the proper way to smoke a cigar and why it’s done that way…the coffee was strong…regular coffee was “espresso” strong…as mentioned before I hope that this blog encourages people to get to know each other and respect each other…life is too short for hatred…humans are or at least should be too smart for ignorance…Might add more later…

I forgot to mention…this was the trip where I decided I would get a new tattoo in every new country that I visit…left bicep…Anubis and scarab beetle

Havana’s Golden Mile w/Alfonso

https://www.airbnb.com/experiences/166068

Cigars Rum and Coffee w/ Abel

https://www.airbnb.com/experiences/351852

Raices Afro Cubana w/ Adriana and Jose

https://www.airbnb.com/experiences/98728

The House of the Traveler Hosted by Manon

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/8588497?viralityEntryPoint=1&s=76