Part I
Kissing an almost stranger on the Malecon at sunset was never on my (or his) bucket list. But it happened. With a rainbow of whimsical pink and yellow hues melting into the horizon, the twinkling lights of the city, and the romance that buzzed among other Malecon dwellers – it was one of those ‘perfect’, can’t miss, must do opportunities. A little magical, you could say.
Kind of like the entire Cuba vacation.
The magic started as soon as we made it through airport security and were thrown into the chaos of Cuban culture. Tropical heat, mixed with quickly spoken Spanish, and dozens of taxi drivers, tour bus leaders, and tourists from all over the world trying to pair up and find their way away from the faded yellow paint of the airport. At this point, it was late and dark and our driver spoke extremely minimal English. For the most part, the drive to our first casa in Varadero was quiet, but somewhere along the way we had a moment – and our well-dressed driver gifted me a traditional Cuban bill equivalent to 3 pesos. My first souvenir: a “welcome to the country I love” gift from the first of many dark and handsome Cuban men I’d encounter over the next 9 days.
Hours of travelling put us to bed almost instantly upon our arrival. The next morning, we were welcomed to sunshine, deliciously strong coffee, and the gentle smile of a warm host with breakfast: freshly cut papayas and pineapple, ham, cheese, and eggs – that we’d soon learn were staples for every meal of our entire trip. The next night as we laid in bed, our hosts were blowing their speakers listening to Elvis, Billy Joel, and even some of the sing-along hits from “Grease” until at least 2AM. I’ll admit that Varadero hadn’t blown me away in one day, but if there was one thing I knew, it was that the Cubans knew how to have a good time with a little bit (a lot) of rum and good music playing on full blast.
An entire day of travel, followed by an entire day of mashing Spanish and English together and trying to find transportation between cities and one last place to rest our heads during this vacation had tuckered us out right from the get go. But my world had finally collided with Cuba… and I was excited.
Little did I know that Varadero had nothing on the stories Havana had waiting for me to live.
