Sep 2009

So the adventure began early….Thank god Jan came with me to the airport. Hehehe. For those of you who were wondering, my bike box weighed 47kg!!!!! As you can imagine, they didn’t let me take it on because it was too heavy. Health and safety reasons. F.Y.I., as I had read on the website and should have remembered, no single piece of luggage can weigh more than 32kg. And, if your bike box contains things other than your bike, you have to pay. I had to pay for 1kg excess baggage but since my carry-on was 17kg and the max is 15, I had to try to fit some of the stuff in my other suitcase. So I was kneeling on it while Jan was trying to zip it up! We looked quite funny. In fact, people who were waiting in line thought so too! Jan took the box home and is keeping it for me. Thank you Jan.

As for Jack , he died. Apparently, he fell in love but his girlfriend lived on the other side of the road. You can guess the rest! I was sad when I heard.

Alex’s cousin gave birth to a healthy baby boy on September 16th.

They denied Alex his parole so he still has to go to the place where he does the work during the week. Luckily, his stepfather knows the guy who gives the passes so now Alex should be able to get his pass for Friday morning and only have to go back on Monday. It only cost a bottle of rum (although I’m not sure but it may cost one every week). Alex’s mother saw a friend of her husband’s who knows a guy who knows the guy who decides to give the parole or not (parole in this case means that although Alex would have to go to work for the state for the rest of his sentence, he’d be living at home). So, he’ll go speak to him and see what can be done. That’s how things work here. And we thought networking was important in Canada!!!! Speaking of which, today, I bribed my first government official. I needed a paper that usually takes 1 week to get. I needed it in the afternoon. I learned that bribes here are a lot cheaper than I thought. I was going to give the lady $20 but Alex’s mother told me that 100 Cuban pesos ($4) was plenty. I gave her $5.

Other than that, things are falling into place. Had a bit of a frustration attack the first day here. First when I went to the store and couldn’t find stuff that I wanted like toilet paper!!!!! Found some today but once again, it was because I saw a lady walking down the street with it in her bag so I asked her where she’d gotten it from. Would you believe that’s the 2nd time in my life I’ve had to do that???? Was also frustrated when I went to immigration to get the family visa and they told me that I needed a marriage certificate that wasn’t more than 3 months old (new law) because I could have gotten divorced in the meantime! But then I decided to take a deep breath, relax and told myself that everything would work itself out and it did.

No pictures with this entry but I promise that the next will have some.

I've decided to start writing in the blog again since I'll be leaving Canada soon (in 5 dodos!). This entry is more of a test because since I have a camera, I'll be adding pictures to my blog

As for the title, well, it's not 100% true. I will be going repping again with Signature Vacations, either in Cancun or Playa del Carmen. But first, as always, I'm going back to Cuba. I'll be going to Cancun from Mexico, probably in November.

The picture I uploaded is of some of the crazy people I was working with here in Montreal at the Holiday Inn Select Motreal Downtown. I had a great time there, met lots of great people (some not so great - that's you Gerard! Ben non, tu'l sais que j't'adore!).

As always, I don't know how often I'll update my blog but it will be a good way for you guys back here in Canada to get some news about where I'm at and what I'm doing.

And if anybody wants to come visit me during the winter....you're all more than invited. Of course, I suggest Playa del Carmen or the Mayan Riviera. I'll come see you there.

That's it for now.