Estoy Aqui!

Ahhh ... dios mio!

Have I got some stories for you!!

Unfortunately, you're going to have to wait. Though I have a lot of stories, I don't have a lot of time. (Though, the hour wait and the $6.00 to get on this computer even for just a little while was well worth it to get out of the humid heat for a while.)

I'll just run down quickly a few key points from the last few days.

Saturday:

I arrived in Havana after the smoothest flight I have been on in a long time. (Has anyone else noticed how much bumpier the air seems to be? Or where the hell did all of this fear come from in my old age?)

I don't know exactly what it was - but the moment the plane landed, I was in love. There must be something in the air here. I'd been a little worried after wanting to come to this place for so long, reading so much, imagining such great things, that by the time I got here - there was no way it could live up to my expectiations. I was wrong about that. My expectations have been met and exceeded beyond my imagination.

The contrast in the airport from Cancun was a little eerie. Everyone was very quiet and calm and quietly filed into lines for immigration.

I felt a bit like I was in an old Russian spy movie. Though, now that I say that, I don't know that I can think of ever seeing an old Russian spy movie ... but alas, if I think of a better way to describe it later, I will certainly do so.

After crossing through immigration and getting my bags, there was a small (quiet) crowd of people behind a rope. In front of the rope was a man holding a sign with my name on it. I felt a bit like royalty and was immediately swept away. I met the taxi driver's wife and was greeted with kisses and we drove into the city.

I'm taking much longer than I expected, so I'll fast forward a bit to arriving at a house (casa particular) where I have been staying for the past however many days.

Fast forward ...

Sunday:

Today's chapter does not have a happy ending. Though, the middle was beyond fantastic, and by now (Wednesday? it's only Wednesday? I can't believe it - but that's what they're telling me.) so, by now - the story's ending is only a little blip - a small conflict to move the story ahead. However - I'm not such a good storyteller - and I'm going to leave the bad ending out for now.

I walked toward the Malecon, only a few blocks from my house, where I met Javier. Javier and I ended up walking to Callejon de Hamel. A place that was on my list of "to do" activities - but I didn't realize we were so close. This is a little street that has been painted by one artist, Salvador Gonzolez. All of the buildings in the street are painted and there are pieces of art, shrines, and all sorts of sculptures in effect enclosing the street like a tunnel. There were drummers and dancers scheduled for later that afternoon (always on Sundays) but first went in the morning. Javier lives in this neighborhood, so he knows the people around there. I met a lot of people, including Salvador Gonzolez himself. He was an elegant older man (not that old, maybe 50s or 60s) dressed in a black suit and drove an old black American car that Cuba is so famous for.

We walked around town a bit more, went to a Cuban bar and had a mojito and some rum. Later, we went back to Callejon de Hamel and danced with Santerias and drummers.

We went to his brother's house and had tostones (fried plantanes) and hung out with his family and friends who kept stopping by. (There's much much more to this story - even the good parts - but my time is running out ... so ... fast forward ...)

Monday:

I walked along the Malecon to Old Havana.

I met a man living in a monument. Apparently the only man in the world who lives in a monument, which would certainly not surprise me. I got to see his house. You'll have to wait for the pictures. Though, feel free to look up some pictures on Flickr for the monument "Maximo Gomez" - likely other people have met this man too.

I toured the Capitolio (their capitol building is a smaller replica of ours), I saw a militia man working on a tank, I walked through old Havana and sat in the plaza de Cathedral.

Tuesday:

Took a scary elevator ride to the top of the Hotel Libre for some pictures. It was far to high for my taste, but I was there, so I snapped a couple of shots and then immediately came back down. I walked through the University and the Coppelia ice cream parlor (those of you who have seen "Strawberries and Chocolate" might remember this place - for those of you who haven't seen it - you should).

I ran into Lector, someone I'd met a few days earlier, and kept running into (Cuban people are *very* friendly - I have no shortage of company and conversation - other than what I'm limited to by my poor spanish.) Lector had been out looking for me because the day before he'd told me about a band playing where he worked, he told me it was from 10:00-12:30, then again from 1:00-5:00 - I'd just planned on going in the afternoon because I'm a very busy girl and I can't get too distracted by just *one* activity.

We walked down to where he worked and the band was just packing up. I said I'd come back later - and I then walked down to the Plaza de Revolution and the monument Jose Marti.

Later, I went back to the studio where he works and pulled open the big wooden doors to find a ballet troup practicing. Lector was not there, and I was definately not invited to this party. However, the man who seemed to be more or less in charge gestured for me to sit down, so I did. Oh my - it was amazing. I'm just sitting in what we was a bit like a dirty old shop, holes in the wall and doors, dirt on the floor - and these amazing dancers practicing. And then, me. I felt really pretty stupid - but I decided feeling a little out of place was better than missing out on this. So, I stayed.

Fast forward ...

Wednesday:

I went to the International Book Fair. I was surpirsed how many Cubans were there. I could tell they were Cuban because of the long polite lines where I was immediately ushered to the front. It's a strange dual economy/society here. More on that later ...

I sat in on a lot of the talks, some of which I actually understood. There is a lot of discussion about the US. One of the panels I went to had authors of the following books:

The Biography of Uncle Sam
La Impunidad Imperial (The unpunished imperialism)
The United States or The Emporor from Bad to Worse.

more on this later ... there's a light flashing that means my connection is soon to be lost.

Tomorrow: Trinidad.

xoxo.