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I finally made it to Cuba on January 30th. I arrived in Camaguey, a city about 200km north of thr city of Holguin, where I am staying. I rented a room in a casa particular (like a B and B) that night close to the bus station. You should have seen the owner´s face when I told him that for supper I di´dn´t want any meat!!! In the end, I accepted a small piece of ham. It was easier than arguing. The next morning I went exploring Camaguey, which is a city that was built as a maze to protect against pirates (although I´m not sure how many pirates they had since it is inland!). Walking around there was pretty nice except that if you didn´t know it, you would just think that it was a badly designed city!!!

I took the Viazul bus that afternoon to go to Holguin. Got to Holguinj at around 5pm, met up with my friend Alexei that I had met on my last trip. Poor guy. His brother, to whom I was sending the e-mails, had told him that I was arriving at 1:30 but I was actually leaving Camaguey at that time. So he waited for almost 4 hours for me. How patient!

I stayed in Holguin for a few days. I was supposed to go stay at Alex´s grandma´s house with him nbut because of the laws in Cuba, I couldn´t. For a foreigner to stay in a Cuban´s house who is not renting the room, you have to be married to him or a blood relative. So now I have to stay in casas particulares. I left Holguin because it was too expensive. But don´t worry, I´m fine. Everybody here has been really nice to me and helping me out. Alexei´s family is wonderful and they all try to please me and anything I say that I like, they get for me. They are the sweetest people...

Cuba is so different from Canada. Tranbsportation is a big prblem. What would take a couple of hours top do in Canada takes all day here. I´ve ridden on trucks, bici taxis (bicycle taxis), in cramped 50ies cars full of Cubans, on horse drawn carts and finally I´ve gotten a ride sitting on the back of someone´s bike. I like the trucks the best ´cause you´re high up and the wind is blowing in your hair. Plus I enjoy climbing up and down them. I think I´m still a little too Canadian for the horse drawn carts and bici taxis. Their slowness drives me crazy! I have to learn to be more patient. I have to remember that the attitude in Latin America is different from the one in Canada. Cubans seem to spend a lot of time waiting and this inaction is hard for me. I remember when I was in Panama, that same inaction and waiting for things t happen would frustrate the hell out of me. Oh well, I´ll adapt!

Food here is quite plentiful, much to my surprise. Cubans seem to malways have food cooking, any time of day or night. And it doesn´t matter what time you arrive at someone´s house, they´ll have a meal on the table for you within the hour. When you buy food using Cuban pesos it can be pretty cheap. Alex and I went to a Cuban restaurant the other night in Holguin. Our meal cost 24.95 cuban pesos i.e., about 1 convertible peso (CUC) which is about $1.30CDN. Pretty cool. Food is expensive though for cubans who earn about $15CUC per month. Yesterday I went to a market and we bought onions. They cost 15 cuban pesos for 2 bunches. However, that´s a lot if you consider that for 1 days work, they can get paid about 18 cuban pesos. Imagine working almost all day to be able to afford to buy onions!!! Food here is very greasy/fatty. A 750mL bottle of oil will only last about 4 days here. I´m having a bit of a hard time with that. Plus I´m having to eat meat. It´s way too difficult to explain. But for those of you freaking out, the meat here isn´t factory farmed so I don´t mind. Actually, last saturday at the grandma´s place, we ate a pig, slowly roasted over a fire. I had mentioned that I liked that type pf pork so the family decided to go out and buy a pig. It was the first time in my life that I had seen my supper alive before eating it! And when it squealed, I thought of you Wayne! I saw them stab it, bleed it, kill it, shave it. I saw the whole thing. It was pretty interesting.

I haven´t been out of Holguin yet. Haven´t even been to the beach. It´s been quite cold. The Cubans find it really funny that a Canadian is colder than they are! Next week I might go to Havana.

So that´s it for now. I´ll write soon.

Today is my last day at work which means the next time I write, I'll be writing from Cuba!!!!! I will miss everyone at work. I made a lot of friends there. And then there's Manon and Cassandre whom I can't put in any category!!!!

I leave Canada next Monday, January 30th. I will be leaving behind many friends and lots of family, whom I will all miss terribly. Everything is coming along, all the preparations. Now I just have to pack and see if everything I want to bring actually fits in my luggage!

Until next time, good-bye Canada, good-bye winter, good-bye cold, good-bye friends and loved ones. Even though we're far apart, you're all still in my heart and on my mind.