The commanding heights of Havana are controlled by two imposing forts on the east side of Havana Harbor. They’re impossible to miss from the Malecon, and for nearly four hundred years, with the exception of a brief British interlude, they kept Havana safe as a rallying point for Spanish galleons laden with successive waves of Aztec, Inca, and native-mined riches.
Continue reading “March 18, 2017: Havana, Cuba – The So-Called October Crisis”
For the last three mornings, Yurien’s Mama and Papa have prepared and served a truly titanic breakfast – honestly enough to bring lesser men to their knees crying, “Mercy!” Scrambled eggs, sausage, cheese, two kinds of sweet pastries, a heaping fruit plate of bananas, pineapple, and guava, bread, butter, mango marmalade, the blackest coffee you can imagine, and freshly pureed and chilled smoothie, all taken up on the roof of their little casa overlooking the sunrise on the most picturesque mogote. Continue reading “March 17, 2017: Havana, Cuba – Necropolis Cristobal Colon and Other Things Well-Named “
The manager was pissed. Continue reading “March 16, 2017: Vinales, Cuba – The Motor Scooter Diary”
It’s tempting just to share photos from today’s hiking and let the pictures speak for themselves. Continue reading “March 15, 2017: Vinales, Cuba – A Life in the Valley”
Cuba is one of the most challenging places I have ever traveled. Little about the way this place is transparent. People are very thorough, checking every box, but not necessarily in order. Continue reading “March 14, 2017: Vinales, Cuba – There’s an angry horse tied up on the road ahead.”
This morning, my mission was clear. Find passage for tomorrow to Vinales, by reputation the most beautiful countryside in all of Cuba. The state-owned bus company was no help – the only bus there being full and sold out online weeks ago. Thankfully, the lady behind the counter at Infotur, the state-owned tourism office was able to work a little private sector magic and get me set up in a shared taxi for just five dollars more than the price of the sold out bus. And apparently I owed her nothing more for this service than a sonrisas grande e un muchas gracias. Continue reading “March 13, 2017: Hemingway’s Havana”
I slept nearly 11 hours last night, which is unheard of for me.
I woke up this morning and took my breakfast in the street, a shot of thick, syrupy sweet coffee decanted and consumed in a crumbling doorway. Caffinated and high from an unhealthy dose of sugar, I proceeded to the Museo de la Revolucion. Continue reading “March 12, 2017: Havana, Cuba – Daylight Savings in the Time of Revolution”
I bought my tickets almost the minute that Southwest Airlines announced direct service between Tampa, my home base, and Havana, Cuba. Continue reading “March 11, 2017: Havana, Cuba – “This city may be beautiful to you, my friend, but not to me.””
Some timely, evergreen thoughts from a fellow TEACH fellow…
I don’t know if it’s stupidity or a renewed sense of “helping people is important, dammit” but after a 34-hour trip from Doha to Danforth and a shortish but passionate love affair with my bed, I made questionable decision #1 (I answered the phone) and followed it almost immediately by QD #2 (I agreed to help Travis move).
This actually worked out okay in that it helped marshall my thoughts a bit. Both Trav and Alan (intrepid partner in questionable decision-making) are pooh-poohers of all that is social media so when they asked about my trip, they were working from the blankest of slates.
“What’s the Middle East like?” asked Alan. “And is that how you pronounce ‘Qatar’?”
**SIDE NOTE: Ever since I did/did not date that Navy fellow, who was frequently shipped off to Qatar in between his deployments to Rivalries and OPT, where he flexed obnoxiously while wearing closed-toe…
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According to The Qatar Tribune, Qatari customs officials destroyed some 31,000 bottles of wine seized after routine inspections of incoming shipping containers in the nation’s port. Continue reading “November 22, 2016: Haram in Qatar, or How I Learned Not to Cast the First Stone”
open ended social studies 
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