Cuba 2024………part 7

This is the last post about Cuba. This shows some of the things that are about reality that many will not see. It is a beautiful country and the people are wonderful. It definitely shows (in my mind at least) the pitfalls of communism, socialism, whatever you want to call it. It makes for a very small middle class which is very important to a country. You have a greater difference between the haves and have nots.

No one is starving here, and food is plentiful. The country is very safe for the most part because if you break a law, you suffer the consequences. Which is the way it is supposed to work. Freedom of speech not so much.

The government owns everything the buildings, cars and motorcycle are a privilege that can be taken away, same as your home. The government building and the businesses that generate income from tourism are well taken care of. Then you look at where the everyday none government employees live it is totally different. Havana you can tell was one of the most beautiful cities but is slowly falling into decay. If you don’t own your home, why take pride in it, after all it can be taken away just because of your attitude.

One person told how his son works for 5 dollars a month and his wife makes 15 dollars a month as a teacher. He thinks things should change. He does not believe the current system is sustainable. This was in a small city we visited.

We stopped at an old gas station and store while traveling. I wanted to purchase a bottle of water, but the clerk said no, not yet. There were three pallets of bottled water sitting there but they had not been counted by a government official and released for sale. Until then, no one could purchase.

In Havana you can see the difference between the have a have nots much more clearly. An example was the restaurant near where we were staying on the waterfront. It was surrounded by buildings that were in need of work. This place stood out, had doormen helping people in. I only saw new cars there and young people who looked well off. Since it was close and had great views of the bay, we went there a few times. I was there on my last night in the country when the manager struck up a conversation with me. She was young, well dressed and spoke English like a native. She asked what I thought about the food and the service. I assured her that both were very good. Then I asked if the restaurant was owned by a government official and she had a surprised look and asked me why I would assume that. I pointed out that it was very nice place, the furnishing, and the fact that the building had been restored, and a lot of money had been invested. I was very curious but instead of an answer she and sadly ended the conversation by walking away.

Everyday Cubans would like the USA and their government to make amends. It makes sense, the past should be forgotten, and normal trade should resume. The US dollar is king here and many families survive off money sent from the USA. It’s not a secret and would be better for both countries, in my mind anyway.

I liked Cuba and the people. Sure, like all countries it has the tourist area where scams are the normal, but you cannot use that to take anything away from the country in general. Communism is working for some but not all, like it pretends to. Your personal choices are very limited because of it if you live there. I’m sure some people would disagree with me.

Would I go back to Cuba, yes. There are still places to explore. It is not high on my list but if the right opportunity presents itself, I would be interested.

The below pictures are near the waterfront.

Great food

Cuba 2024……….Part 5

La Habana…………….(Havana)

Where we stayed.
Monument for the revolution.
View of downtown from the top of the light house
Light house for the harbor.
Yes, a copy of the United States capital but of course a few feet taller and you can walk around it, on the outside anyway
View from a very nice restaurant next to where we were staying
90 miles to Miami

TO BE CONTINUED

Cuba 2024………..part 4

We visited a tobacco farm. They also have to give 90% of their crop to the government. I think it was some of the best tobacco I have tasted. These cigars were not 25 for 5 dollars but well worth it.

We went inside a huge cave with a river running through it. Beautiful

TO BE CONTINUED

Cuba 2024………..part 3

This is a police station along one of the highways. Notice the new paint and good condition. Very typical of buildings use by the government officials.
This is the standard bus between towns.
It works
They didn’t let me drive.
A very nice hotel just before you get into town.

TO BE CONTINUED

Cuba 2024………..part2

On our way to the coast, we stopped at a small farm. Now remember this is Cuba. The government owes everything. The land, the homes, they own it all. So that makes the farmers just workers. They have to give 90% of what they grow directly to the government. They can eat, sell or whatever they want to do with their 10%. If the government is not happy with the farmers, they just get new farmers. One in the group, Amie brought clothes and such and handed some out here. The family was super nice and let us wander around at our leisure. They do have the basics and plenty of food.

TO BE CONTINUED

Cuba 2024………….. part 1

This year I was able to spend just over a week in Cuba. Jonathan (a friend who has a travel company) had some friends that asked him to set up a little trip. Twelve of us flew from Ecuador to Panama then on to Cuba. The flight from Panama to Santa Clara, Cuba was completely booked so two flew into Havana and took a 4-hour taxi ride to Santa Clara in a 1956 Chevy. Nice start to the trip.

In Santa Clara on the first night, we had dinner where according to Ernest Hemmingway they serve the best mojito on the island. The mojitos and the food are very good. It is a very popular restaurant, and I believe has been in the same location for 100 years or so.
This is how we traveled from city to city around the island. A 1956 (?) Chevy school bus. I took the owner over a month to save enough fuel from his allotment for our trip.
Santa Domingo is where we stayed the second night. Very pretty town, lots of tourist, good food and music.
This is a local community store. The book the clerk is hold has a list of names from the neighborhood and as they pick up their allotment of monthly food from the government, he marks off what they take. At the end of the month is given a new book for the government. An example of what the government supplies per month is 2lbs brown sugar, 2lbs white sugar, 7lbs rice, 1lb coffee (if over 7 years old), and allotment of bread.
Someone getting her allotment of bread.
If you need more than your allotment this shows some of the prices of some items.
These are the reason we were at the community store. Medlen knew I wanted cigars but not just any cigars. I wanted what the workers smoked, everyday people. She was told that they would have at 10am the next morning. When we got there the owner said that he could not find them. An older gentleman sitting in the corner heard that and said he could get some. 15 minutes later we had our prize. 25 cigars for 5 bucks! We bought 5 bags total. Turned out it was a really good deal. Best I could find later was 10 bucks a bag.
When we made it to the coast, we visited a couple beaches then headed to the “Bay of Pigs”. We stopped at the museum that celebrated (and rightly so) our failed invasion before heading on.
We stayed a few nights at the Bay. Relaxing, Swimming, and even rented bikes to ride the coastline.

TO BE CONTINUED

February 2024

Well, I haven’t done a update in a while, just haven’t felt up to it. A few have sent emails asking if all is well. Everything is just dandy. I just have not been doing much. I am still kicking.

Many friends have shown concern for the increase in violence that has been happening here. The government is taking measures to curb it so we will see what happens. It has had a negative impact on tourism. I have not really worried about it, but it is on the minds of the people for sure. It has been increasing for many years. The influx of immigrates has had a very negative influence. The USA can relate as I watch the southern border.

The family here at Casa Kirei has been busy lately with a new project. They are turning the kitchen into two more bedrooms to accommodate more guests. The living room will now be a combination of kitchen and living room.

News with the family, Edwin has a new job as maintenance manager at the Wydham near the airport. A very good move up for him and better benefits for the family. Elena is busy as a guide and here at the casa. Everyone else is busy with school and working.

In the USA everyone is doing great. Kids are getting bigger, and all are heathy for the most part. Just Awesome!

Personally, with so much going on with guests, everyone’s work or school, and work on the hotel I just try and stay out of way. Been catching up on some reading and a couple of online courses. I should get back to learning Espanol, that has not happened since my two courses at the university. I am in the middle of taking classes for my motorcycle license. I have one more week before a final exam. I passed the riding test yesterday. I actually thought I was practicing riding the course when I was told that I passed. Made me chuckle. I am thinking about cartilage replacement surgery in both my Knees. I hate surgery and really haven’t got much feedback about it, so I don’t know. I have read a lot about it, but I have some questions. It would really screw up the next few months for sure. I can’t leave the country if I want a permanent visa so there’s that also. I can get another 2 year if I want too. Hmmm…………….

I haven’t been on any big trips lately. We went south close to the border of Peru to see the blossoms on the trees, but we were a day or two too late, blossoms were gone. Nice area, I enjoyed the trip, but it was too short for the amount of driving. I don’t have any pictures to share but it was beautiful.

Christmas, I planned a few days camping, but motorcycle trouble changed my plans. I had a wonderful Christmas eve and did see the full moon which was my reason to head for the hills outside of the city. Always loved the full moon at Christmas.

Christmas Eve in Atahualpa
They did get three new puppies here, so they are running out of room and are trying to get me adopted. I hope if adopted I go to a good home.

With that everything is up in the air. So not sure what the future holds for me. That’s the update, not much I suppose but it is what it is.

I hope everyone is kicking butt.

Smile and enjoy the ride of life. I am!

October 2023

Howdy, been 3 months since the last post. I am still kicking.

So, what’s been happening?

Just got back from an overnight trip camping in the mountains with friends. I really didn’t want to go after my last little adventure (not being able to keep up so the whole group turned around when I did, ruined the plans for them) but I went. Kept most of the way and only fell behind towards close to the first stop. A beautiful waterfall, after that they kept going and saw 4 more while I headed back to camp. Very beautiful country. I am still worried about my knees, but they actually did better than the first trip. So, I’m making progress.

The local neighborhood had their annual parade and celebration. It was the first since 2018 so a big deal. My friends all participated in costumes and dancing. I decided to just watch so I could see the whole thing for the first time. Well, plans changed, then got confused, then messed up, so I didn’t really know what I was doing and missed most of the parade. Ended up a frustrating day for myself, but everyone else’s was a party! My friends asked for pictures and at least I did accomplish that. Very cool.

Speaking of pictures, I dropped my camera and broke the screen on the trip in the mountains. I can kind of laugh tonight because it seems kind of appropriate. I did not take one picture on the little adventure. Not with the camera or my phone. I have kind of been rethinking the whole take pictures thing. I enjoy taking pictures and treasuring the memories they give, but with everyone carrying a phone with a camera there are so many memories kept digitally every day that maybe we are losing something. Or of course it could just be me. It is fair to share pictures of others on social media, should I ask for permission to do so? It’s one thing to keep the picture for memories but another to post it forever in the cloud. Some people don’t care but some people do.

I have gone so far as deleting most all on my phone and all of my posts on Instagram . Most were just me but some involved others, so I just got rid of them. I do admit that some were pretty cool, at least in my head, and I did enjoy checking them out. Now, I am thinking about my computer. I have many years of life’s experiences, do I need them? I bought a hard drive to make more space in my computer by storing pictures. Again, do I really need them, and some of them are great adventures but? I limit my posts on Facebook to only a few days unless they have some meaning to me. My post usually are funny (to me), stupid or something I find beautiful, knowledgeable. But no one cares if they are there for years, so I just keep what has meaning to me inside. That even changes

When pictures were something, you could hold in your hands I ended up with a lot of pictures. Photo albums, boxes of loose pictures, just a huge collection. When it came down to it, I only cared about a very few. Now when I look at my photo albums, I smile but I take the pictures and try to give them to whomever they involve. Share the smile. All of the photo albums are going to be taken apart or given away. Then burn what’s left.

What I do find a little humor in is when people just say put it in the cloud. People do not understand the price of putting it in the cloud. It’s not just the privacy issue but they don’t understand that the cloud uses more electricity than some countries and is just starting.

Enough of that crap let’s get back to what matters.

I am a great uncle again. JJ Parrish is happy and healthy! Congrats to Amanda and JD. All of the family and especially the children are doing great and that warms me immensely. That includes the USA, Ecuador and all points.

Going back to Spanish class soon.

The new president of Ecuador is a young lawyer. We will have to wait and see what he does in the near future. I hope he is not just an elitist, but he sure sounds like a politician.

I have even done a little writing, not good but what the hell.

Still looking at properties around here. I have my mind on a couple. Plan on going to the coast to check one out in a few days.

So, picture time and I was going to share a picture of the waterfall today taken by a friend. I changed my mind and deleted it. So, close your eyes and imagine cold water cascading down in a semi-tropical setting at around 7300ft. in elevation. Everything is lush, green and it’s a beautiful sunny day. Now take a deep breath and smile.

JJ Parrish
Suko, the newest addition to the Pallo Hildago family. Ugh
Augustin, the family let him go to greener pastures with more room. No longer living on the end of a rope. He is missed but I am happy for him!
My nickname in Ecuador, this or Mushpa
Bori being the patron

Update July 2023

So, I may be a great uncle again. Just waiting for the update. They have been in the hospital for a while now. Praying that everything is going well.

July 9th was the anniversary of my motorcycle accident. I woke up the next day (my birthday) in the hospital. So, to celebrate one year we decided to take a little bike ride. Total of 242 kilometers in 4 days of riding. I said kilometers first because it sounds more impressive than 150.37 miles. (smile) My butt was sore, and I was super tired the last day when we covered 102 km (63 miles) to get home. I am pretty happy that I made it and it proved to myself I could do more. I really had a good time and was not ready to come back to town. I still need to ride more but I can do it. (even if it means pushing the bike a few miles to get up a hill). Wonderful week!

On my university courses in Espanol, big bummer. I did not pass the second course. I learned a lot but to continue I will have to retake it over. My favorite new word “Mushpa”, in Kichwa it means dummy. I use it often.

I do not have any pictures of my biking adventure to share just to let you all know. I did take some but somehow deleted them.

There is a new restaurant in town that serves corndogs. They already remember my name.

Hopefully go to the Amazon in the next week or so for a few days.

Not much else to say.

I hope that everyone is enjoying their summer.

Regards, Randy

This is a birthday present I received, on my bucket list is swimming with whales in Tonga. Very cool gift.