|

Visiting Cuba for The First Time

You know what it is to finally meet the other half of your family almost two decades later? You’re about to find out!

We had communicated through email for years… Never through social media or regular text message because it’s challenging to use wifi and data. In the island, people are very limited in their resources and how much they can make in their profession. But when you have a family like mine, we help them in any way possible.

The Shortest Flight Ever

Our flight was exactly forty-five minutes. We buckled up, took off, the flight attendants passed out water, and we prepared for landing. Quickest flight ever!

My cousin met us at the small airport in Santa Clara, Cuba and we literally had the longest group hug ever. We all introduced ourselves and drove to his house, which just so happened to be my dad’s childhood home. We met my aunt and were super excited to get to know the towns where my family lived.

After an exhausting day, we went to relax and unpack our luggage.

Playa Cayo Santa Maria

The place we stayed at was beautiful. It had all the Cuban foods we grew up with and wow… all homemade. From the mangos to the croquetas (a bread crumbed fried food roll usually made with ham), mojitos, guayaba (a pinkish paste made from guava), rum, and endless pastelitos (Cuban pastries of all sorts). There was so much food!

The water was extremely clear in the beach and it was so relaxing to explore.

We rode the catamarans, swam around to the tiki bars, and just hung out with each other. The only Cuban locals allowed in the area were those who worked there. Families weren’t allowed to bring their people to relax with them.

Also, fun fact: in Cuba, while their currency is the peso, they had different currency for tourists called CUC. Of course, they charged the tourists more because the CUC was like a gold mine for them but Cuba’s prices for locals weren’t the lowest either. I understood then why our support meant a lot to them to live that comfortable lifestyle. Thanks to the American dollar…

House to House

We would drive around visiting family from house to house because everyone lived in other parts of the town. Visiting Sancti Espiritus, where my dad was born was a treat because we truly saw where his school was and how everything looked like for him (obviously with a few more decades taken into account).

The photo on the right was the view from the backyard of my cousin’s house. It was insightful to see how they lived– with minimal air conditioning, access to wash and dry clothes, and transportation. The houses all look very old and broken down. But I love the spirit of their culture there. They take a lot of pride in it!

I really appreciated coming to visit the other half of the family because it feels more real. We truly are very privileged in the States and we sometimes disregard it because we don’t know or have not experienced how others live.

If you ever visit Cuba, I recommend:

  • Take medicine! More than you usually would, especially for your tummy, because the water isn’t as filtered as we have it in the States and it can mess you up for the rest of the trip. We probably visited every bathroom we could because some of my family got messed up bad. If this does happen, I encourage you to take toilet paper as well…
  • Someone in the group should know how to drive stick shift because a great majority of the rental cars are still stick shift.

It’s a beautiful country and the experience was unforgettable thanks to my family. I absolutely loved getting to know Cuba, playing dominoes and learning more of their day to day life.

XOXO, Mel

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

135 Comments

  1. My partner and I stumbled over here coming from a different website and thought I should check things out. I like what I see so i am just following you. Look forward to looking over your web page for a second time.

  2. What Is Potent Stream? Potent Stream is a male health formula that helps to maintain healthy urinary and prostate health by killing off all the toxins in the body

  3. It¦s actually a great and helpful piece of information. I¦m glad that you shared this useful info with us. Please keep us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.

  4. I want to voice my gratitude for your kindness in support of those people that absolutely need help on the concern. Your very own dedication to getting the message around became unbelievably important and has surely made those much like me to achieve their desired goals. Your amazing invaluable advice entails much to me and additionally to my fellow workers. Thanks a ton; from each one of us.

  5. Hi, just required you to know I he added your site to my Google bookmarks due to your layout. But seriously, I believe your internet site has 1 in the freshest theme I??ve came across. It extremely helps make reading your blog significantly easier.

  6. Hmm is anyone else having problems with the images on this blog loading? I’m trying to figure out if its a problem on my end or if it’s the blog. Any feed-back would be greatly appreciated.

  7. I haven’t checked in here for some time because I thought it was getting boring, but the last few posts are great quality so I guess I’ll add you back to my daily bloglist. You deserve it my friend 🙂

  8. But a smiling visitant here to share the love (:, btw great design. “Justice is always violent to the party offending, for every man is innocent in his own eyes.” by Daniel Defoe.

  9. An interesting discussion is worth comment. I think that you should write more on this topic, it might not be a taboo subject but generally people are not enough to speak on such topics. To the next. Cheers

  10. Its like you read my mind! You seem to know a lot about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you can do with some pics to drive the message home a little bit, but other than that, this is excellent blog. A great read. I will certainly be back.

  11. I savour, cause I found just what I used to be having a look for. You have ended my four day lengthy hunt! God Bless you man. Have a nice day. Bye

  12. Thanks , I have just been looking for info about this topic for ages and yours is the greatest I have discovered till now. But, what about the conclusion? Are you sure about the source?

  13. Thanks for the sensible critique. Me & my neighbor were just preparing to do some research on this. We got a grab a book from our local library but I think I learned more from this post. I’m very glad to see such wonderful information being shared freely out there.

  14. What Is Sugar Defender? Sugar Defender is a meticulously crafted natural health supplement aimed at helping individuals maintain balanced blood sugar levels. Developed by Jeffrey Mitchell, this liquid formula contains 24 scientifically backed ingredients meticulously chosen to target the root causes of blood sugar imbalances.

  15. What is CogniCare Pro? CogniCare Pro is 100 natural and safe to take a cognitive support supplement that helps boost your memory power. This supplement works greatly for anyone of any age and without side effects

  16. Thanks for the sensible critique. Me and my neighbor were just preparing to do a little research on this. We got a grab a book from our local library but I think I learned more from this post. I’m very glad to see such wonderful information being shared freely out there.

  17. Good – I should definitely pronounce, impressed with your website. I had no trouble navigating through all tabs and related info ended up being truly easy to do to access. I recently found what I hoped for before you know it at all. Reasonably unusual. Is likely to appreciate it for those who add forums or something, web site theme . a tones way for your client to communicate. Nice task.

  18. I needed to send you this bit of note just to give thanks again relating to the breathtaking solutions you’ve featured in this case. It was unbelievably open-handed of people like you to allow extensively what a number of us could have supplied for an ebook to help make some cash on their own, most importantly given that you might have done it in case you considered necessary. Those advice as well acted to be the great way to be aware that other people online have the identical dreams really like my own to understand a lot more related to this matter. I am certain there are some more fun periods ahead for those who read your site.

  19. This site can be a stroll-by means of for all the data you needed about this and didn’t know who to ask. Glimpse here, and you’ll undoubtedly uncover it.

  20. The next time I read a blog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as much as this one. I mean, I know it was my choice to read, but I actually thought youd have something interesting to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about something that you could fix if you werent too busy looking for attention.

  21. An impressive share, I just given this onto a colleague who was doing a bit of evaluation on this. And he in reality bought me breakfast because I found it for him.. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for the deal with! But yeah Thnkx for spending the time to debate this, I feel strongly about it and love studying extra on this topic. If possible, as you turn out to be experience, would you thoughts updating your blog with more particulars? It is extremely useful for me. Large thumb up for this blog post!

  22. When I originally commented I clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get four emails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that service? Thanks!

  23. Oh my goodness! a tremendous article dude. Thanks Nevertheless I am experiencing concern with ur rss . Don’t know why Unable to subscribe to it. Is there anybody getting identical rss problem? Anybody who knows kindly respond. Thnkx

  24. Great post. I was checking continuously this blog and I’m impressed! Very useful information specially the last part 🙂 I care for such info much. I was looking for this certain info for a long time. Thank you and good luck.

  25. Thank you a lot for providing individuals with such a superb possiblity to read in detail from here. It can be so great and also full of a great time for me personally and my office co-workers to search the blog a minimum of thrice per week to read the fresh tips you have got. Of course, I’m also always happy for the striking opinions you serve. Selected two tips in this posting are absolutely the most suitable we’ve had.

  26. hey there and thanks in your info – I’ve certainly picked up anything new from proper here. I did alternatively experience some technical points the usage of this website, as I skilled to reload the website many times previous to I could get it to load properly. I have been brooding about if your hosting is OK? No longer that I am complaining, but slow loading instances times will sometimes affect your placement in google and can harm your high quality ranking if advertising and ***********|advertising|advertising|advertising and *********** with Adwords. Anyway I am adding this RSS to my email and can look out for a lot more of your respective interesting content. Ensure that you replace this again soon..

  27. Magnificent web site. Plenty of useful information here. I?¦m sending it to several pals ans also sharing in delicious. And obviously, thanks to your sweat!

  28. Great post. I was checking constantly this blog and I’m impressed! Very helpful information specifically the last part 🙂 I care for such info much. I was looking for this particular info for a very long time. Thank you and good luck.

  29. Very good blog you have here but I was wanting to know if you knew of any discussion boards that cover the same topics discussed here? I’d really love to be a part of group where I can get suggestions from other knowledgeable people that share the same interest. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Bless you!

  30. Unlock the potential of your pineal gland with the potent Pineal XT Dietary supplements serve as a gateway to expanding one’s range of expression, and Pineal gland support supplements, in particular, can elevate mental and spiritual capabilities. Pineal XT vitamins offer a pathway to endless joy, prosperity, health, and love. These supplements are designed to bolster the pineal gland’s function, enhance overall body performance, and boost energy levels. It stands as a premier alternative for reducing the impact of fluoride, pollutants, and the natural aging process.

  31. I would like to express some appreciation to you just for rescuing me from this particular situation. Just after looking through the the web and meeting techniques which are not pleasant, I believed my entire life was over. Living without the presence of solutions to the issues you’ve resolved by means of your good guideline is a crucial case, and ones which could have badly affected my entire career if I had not discovered your website. The mastery and kindness in controlling a lot of stuff was useful. I am not sure what I would’ve done if I hadn’t encountered such a solution like this. I can also now look ahead to my future. Thank you very much for this high quality and result oriented guide. I won’t think twice to recommend the website to any individual who needs guide about this problem.

  32. I do consider all of the ideas you’ve introduced in your post. They’re really convincing and can definitely work. Nonetheless, the posts are very short for beginners. May you please prolong them a bit from subsequent time? Thanks for the post.