Cuba Riffs. . .Vol. 2

So, we’re right next to sea – surrounded by it, actually (that, Glen, is why it is an island!), so it’s hard not to have a lobster dish every night for dinner!  Now I know why the mobsters liked coming here. . .speaking of which, our guide for our first day in Havana always referred to them as “American Italian mobsters,” I suppose Meyer Lansky would disagree.

When trying to make a turn at a crowded intersection, cars, motorcycles, etc. will line up four and five abreast and all take off at once. . .watching the vehicles all take off at once to compete for two lanes is breath-taking – how we haven’t banged into other vehicles is simply a matter of luck, because multiple cars attempt to fit in the same space at the same time.

So, we’ve been to a couple of nice restaurants that did not have toilet seats.  There were regular toilets, but no seats. . .it’s good to be a guy.  Another restaurant did not have toilet paper in the ladies room (so I’ve been told).  Most of the facilities have been good, but how do you NOT have a toilet seat.

Beyond that, if we stop normalizing relations with Cuba, we are making a huge mistake. . .the people are welcoming to Americans (and our dollars, I get that). . .but it also means a chance at a better life for them.

Smart phones. . .our iPhones are essentially dumb cameras.  Can’t turn them on because it burns data minutes, which is $2.99.  Occasionally I needed to in order to text, but that was only for work requirements.  Carol’s has been on airplane mode the whole time.

Some Cubans have smart phones, but you do NOT see them doing the “walk around cluelessly with their eyes staring at their phones” thing that most of the rest of us do.  In Miami, there was a woman on the sidewalk veering all over the place, and Carol tried to avoid her.  When the woman had to stop because she almost walked sideways into Carol, she gave Carol a dirty look, as though it was Carol’s fault the woman couldn’t walk straight.

Can’t wait to post some photos.

The hotel in Varadero has the saddest fake Christmas tree in the lobby.  The rest of the decorations and lights are quite beautiful, but this looks like Charlie Brown’s tree on steriods.  Huge gaps between the branches, and the fake evergreen looked on the verge of dying.  Every time we walked by it, we felt bad.