Sunday, February 25, 2007

Ola!

I know I know, where have a been all week right????
Well it was my second week of vacation and I've been enjoying it to the fullest. I've been knitting of course :)
I was working feverishly all week hoping to get a sweater I was working on finished in time for church this morning but by saturday afternoon I realized it just wasn't going to happen. I made the sleeves longer than the original pattern ending up needing to order another ball of yarn NUTS!! Oh well it will be done soon enough.
I know you're all shouting "Never mind the knitting what about Cuba??????"
Well Cuba was good, alot of mixed reviews and emotions but I definately wouldn't have changed going for the world, no matter how bad the food was *insert throwing up face here*
I don't know if I'll be able to get all of our vacation stories out in one post but we'll see how it goes.
First off I'm sure you're all aware now of my ability to vomit with pretty much any motion... :) Well guess what??? I DIDN'T PUKE!!!!! You don't know how awesome that is, I even ate food before and during the flights and still felt fine. My secret was a new medication recommended to me by the pharmacist, its called Bonamine. It did make me sleeping but I didn't care, it was a long flight home. So.... on to Cuba.
Cuba is a very poor country, and you're all saying yeah we know that but when I say poor I mean REALLY poor!!!
Don't get me wrong, everyone has food to eat and a place to live but thats it, all bare minimum. Some of the house were just tin walls and a tin roof propped up. It was absolutely awful the conditions these people were living in. Then there are all these people coming to the resorts, drinking their faces off and not moving their butts from the resorts. Unless you actually got off the resort you would have had NO idea of the poverty. Yes our tour operator said its a very poor country but to wasn't until we rented Moped's and went out on our own that we came across it all. 90% of our week there was spent touring the areas on our own and giving away the things we had brought for them. I have never seen anyone so grateful for a simple bar of soap. The things we take advantage for in this country is unbelievable.
On our last day there we rented a moped and searched for some people to unload the last of our gifts too. So we're out in the middle of no where driving down this *highway* (more like a normal road) and Moose says we probably should turn around, we don't want to run out of gas. Around we go and *i'm sure you know whats coming* yup we run out of gas..................... Couldn't happen to anyone else but us. Somehow though every bad thing that happens to us turns into a blessing. So there just so happens to be a "farm" of sorts across the road from where we were stranded. When i say farm I mean a run down house with a few goats and chickens outside. We go in and no say "No Gas!" We were well out of Varadero so the chance that someone speaks english is very minimal. One of the girls understood Gas and said ahhhh gasonlina. I will definately remember that word. It just so happens they had a car. Now this car was most likely something that had been passed down from generation to generation, a 1950's car. The guy ciphened out gas from his own car and gave it to us, not expecting anything in return. I can't get over the generosity of these people that have absolutely nothing to their name and yet they are willing to give whatever they have to complete strangers. If only the whole world worked like that, we wouldn't have the poverty that exists in these countries today. So before leaving we unloaded what we had left to give out. There were about 3 generations of the family there. One lady was sooo excited to get soap and deoderant that she was waving it at her family inside and smelling it.
We decided after our trip that we won't be going back to an all inclusive again. Moose can't sit still for two minutes so there definately has to be lots of things to do. The food wasn't too hot, we of course knew it wasn't going to be very good before we arrived and we did find something to eat everyday but a week of fries and pizza for lunch and dinner was just too much. The weirdest thing was there was NO MILK! Not one drop of pasturized milk on that island. The only thing we could find was powdered and condensed milk. How in the world can you live without milk?? Let me tell you I craved that stuff from the day I got there until we left.
Well I think I've babbled enough for today, i hope to have all my pics in a folder for you by the next post to browse through. In the meantime I leave you with one of my favourite moments of the trip.
That is the first time I've seen a real camel before. I just went over to ask the man if I could pet them and take a picture but before I knew it he had lifted me up onto its neck and gave Moose the camera to take a picture. Oh Miseur Camel you were oh so cute.

6 comments:

Ren said...

aww! you're so cute on the camel!! : )

it was sweet of you guys to take soap and other things for the people there... seems like most people go to the resorts so they don't ever have to see the poverty at all.

glad to hear it was a memorable trip and i look forward to seeing more pictures! : )

Anonymous said...

Glad you made it back safely without getting sick. ;-)
I've seen that same poverty you talk about while I traveled around the Caribbean. It's a very different world than we are accustomed to.
Did you get any camel fur to spin???

Anonymous said...

Oh - such a wonderful memorable trip! I LOVE the camel pic!

Jeanne said...

Sounds like quite the vacation. An experience that makes you appriciate what you have a little bit, isn't a bad thing. That's a great photo of you on the camel.

Heidi said...

What a great "report" to read! Sounds like you did it in a way that really touched your lives and others, instead of just escaping from "real" life. Good for you for averting your eyes from resort life, to the simple truth of what really is Cuba. You found something to be admired there!

Anonymous said...

Kelly, you are such a sweetheart and so kind and giving. You make me so proud and thankful. I'm sure that part of your heart was left in Cuba, and those dear people will never forget your kindness. You have found the true joy of living and giving!

The camel looks like he was standing at attention for the lovely lady on his back - er - neck. Sweet!