Pics! Of that fab beach I mentioned...

So, we finally got around to downloading the pictures that we took when we went to Cayo Levisa back in October or November or whatever it was (time flies when you are doing nothing...)

Where we came from:

Where we slept:

The view down the beach:

My view for 3 days straight:

So, now do you want to come and visit?

fly me to the moon...

Here is the cool thing about Havana.

I am living in history. It is a semi-functional museum that hasn't changed since 1959. The cars, the buildings, the president...

I love driving along the Malecon past the Hotel Riviera - Myer Lanski's gangster central. I will go inside in the new year, and see if I can take some funky photos.

Yesterday I had lunch at the Edificio Bacardi, which was the headquarters for Bacardi Rum, back in the day. It is one of the few well-maintained buildings in Central Havana, and it is an art-deco WONDER surrounded by crumbling buildings and decrepit streets.

But even better...

Last night we had dinner at the home of some British colleagues, and they live in Frank Sinatra's love nest. It is a lovely house, with a pool and a fantastic patio. Kind of off the beaten path, near the State school of music (which used to be the Havana golf club, before The Triumph Of The Revolution - which is how they mark before and after here). A nice house, but ever so much cooler when you know that this is where Frank brought the girls that he picked up at the Hotel Riviera when he wanted "a little privacy".

Wow.

garapatas

Yay! New vocabulary...

Crap! It means ticks...

Fox is now an outside dog. Something about her Japanese blood is absolutely delicious to Cuban ticks, and I can't stand the sight of the creepy little crawlers scurrying across the kitchen floor. We have fumigated inside and out, treated the dog at least 4 ways, and now she lives outside. Sorry, puppy.

Sam has a new friend here, an newly arrived American/British boy, and as always with Sam's friends, he is about 3 feet taller than Sam. And even more energetic and talkative than Sam - imagine!

I actually have some of Sam's writing to post, so I should get on that. He has blossomed as a poet, and is loving the Shakespeare component of his literature programme - and they are studying Romeo and Juliet! Imagine how much he would love the comedies. He wanders around the house quoting Shakespeare, and is able to remember whole scenes word-for-word. Yet, he can't seem to remember to pick up his socks...

And they are starting to get stinky.

Carrots!!!!

Ahhh... Carrots. You can't even imagine what you will miss until it isn't available.

Yep, found carrots today, and aubergine. Such riches - the season of abundance has arrived. At last... (and for how long, one wonders...)

Actually, I got a huge bag of veggies (carrots, aubergine, garlic, tomatoes, cucumbers, limes) for under $2. And coming from Tokyo, that's a shocker! And I've got 2 beautiful pineapples as well. But they were expensive, $1 for the two of them.

We are currently eating the lettuce from our own garden, and the mandarin oranges from our back yard tree. Waiting on two bunches of bananas, one of which will probably be ripe while we are freezing in Ottawa over Christmas.

People in Canada talk about the weather - here, we talk about FOOD. Where you can get what, what you have at home, a vaguely decent restaurant. It is almost inevitable that any coversation will eventually turn to edibles.