Jill Will Go...

"I have often wondered what I should do with the rest of my life and now I know - I shall try and reach Cuba." - Ernest Hemingway Big Hemingway day today. On our way to see where he fished from and where he lived, we stopped by for a quick photo op with El Morro. Specifically, the Castillo de Los Tres Reyes del Morro. It was started in 1589 and took forty years to build - the defense held back pirates and the British. Then it was on to Cojimar.  This sleepy fishing village is where Hemingway kept his fishing boat , the Pilar. When he died, every fisherman in the village donated a brass fitting from his boat to make the bust of Hemingway. A bust that today looks out over the water, and where you can still see fishermen on the rickety old pier.  Hemingway's skipper, Gregorio Fuentes, the inspiration for "Santiago" in The Old Man and the Sea  died in Cojimar in 2002 at the age of 104. And this is where I had the perfect illustration of what havi

"You can stare at the pretty señoritas because such staring is a compliment, not a crime." - Basil Woon, When It's Cocktail Time in Cuba We are headed back to Havana today by way of Cienfuegos, an nice small town with friendly locals (see above quote). We returned to Havana, and I took the opportunity to wander through the neighborhood around the hotel. Blocks and blocks of interesting buildings, people out and about (see quote above).

"You are interested in a person, not in life, and people die or leave us...But if you are interested in life it never lets you down. You don't do crosswords, do you, Mr. Wormold? I do, and they are like people: one reaches an end. I can finish any crossword within an hour, but I have a discovery concerned with the blueness of cheese that will never come to a conclusion - although of course one dreams that perhaps a time might come…"  Dr. Hasselbacher in Our Man in  Havana Trinidad is visually stunning. The colors are rich and tropical.  Much of the architecture is neoclassical and baroque, with a Moorish flavor. T he fourth of the seven cities founded by Diego de Velazquez in 1514, it earned initial prosperity by importing slaves into the port here.  The maze of streets was meant to confuse invading pirates (and future invading tourists). All the old streets slope down into the center because l egend has it that the city's first governor had a right

There was a purse snatching last night. One of the women in our group was walking back to the hotel from dinner, with a group of eight. A man with his face partially covered, ran up and slashed the strap and ran off with her bag. Luckily her husband had their passports, so she only had some credit and debit cards with her. Those don't work here, so I have no idea why she had them with her for dinner anyway, and that thief is going to be very frustrated. Today was a long bus day. We were on the move from Havana to Trinidad, by way of Santa Clara. On the way, our Cuban guide talked about remittances. Basically, how people get money into Cuba. She said that the Bush years were especially hard - if you wanted to bring something into Cuba, you wore it. She laughed and said, "People were wearing eight dresses apiece, they arrived in Havana looking huge!" Now they pretty much just do it Western Union style - although it did make me think back to the man in th