Siesta time at a primary school in Trinidad

We were walking by a primary school in the center of Trinidad today when a lady sitting inside the school by the giant barred window signal me to approach her. She, no doubt, was one of the care takers. And I guess she realized that I noticed the kids napping and frankly, I thought they were adorable.

She asked me if I wanted to take a picture and I said I'd love to. After I took the picture, she asked where I was from. I said from the United States, at which point she responded, suggested, that I could give her one CUC (it's about $1.15 USD) or three, she added. I gave her one and walk away feeling a little creeped out. But this is kind a common theme these days in Cuba. If you're a tourist, someone is constantly trying to get money from you. If you're an American tourist, you're perceived as having dollar signs written all over you.

Everything is so different from our experience back in 2008. I'm glad we got to know the Cuba of 2008. So much has changed. And so much continues to change very rapidly these days, it seems.

And yet, I can't express enough how wonderful it is to be here before even more changes occur. We love Cuba and our time here couldn't be more magical. Life is good and we're grateful. -Amira

Checking out the local "Barnes & Noble

Amira shopped for Cuban cookbooks at Trinidad's book store.

Amira buying guavas from a street vendor

In Trinidad, Cuba.

Cuban chess club

In Trinidad, Cuba.

We moved to a new room, this time with a sweet balcony

It's the same casa particular, but a better and bluer room.

I have no idea what's happening here, but it can't be good

Saw this in Trinidad.

Cuban transportation 10 (a continuing series)

These old cars never get old.

My office today: the table outside our room in Trinidad, Cuba

Nice place to work, actually.

Amira enjoying a coconut at a Trinidad juice joint

Such establishments are far too rare in Cuba.

Cuban transportation 9 (a continuing series)

The tourist buses are air conditioned and comfortable.

This is how most of the locals ride the bus.

Shipping without containers

Cubans don't use containers for things when they don't have to. I've noticed that bread is one category deemed safe to transport container-free. They don't ship them in boxes or bags, but in piles or stacks.

Here's an example: The bread is stacked up in the truck. They move the bread by placing the stacks on some kind of fabric and carrying the fabric.

The upside is that it's eco-friendly. They're not using, then discarding, mountains of plastic. The downside is that the bread is being handled by multiple pairs of unwashed hands in its journey from the bakery to the store or restaurant.

(Come along for the ride! It takes 5 seconds to subscribe to my "Becoming Nomad" newsletter: http://eepurl.com/bTZCIT )

Why Amira is the ultimate restaurant consultant

We discovered a tiny joint in Trinidad called El Zaguán, which serves mainly coffee, juices and other beverages, but also has three or four food items. One of these is what they call "tortilla," which is like a thin omelette left unfolded on the plate. Another is a chicken sandwich.

So Amira asked for a chicken sandwich, hold the chicken and substitute the tortilla.

He made them for us and they were delicious.

But then everyone else who came into the restaurant and pointed to our sandwiches and said: "I want that." Soon this guy was making almost nothing but these egg sandwiches.

As I write this, a table of these egg sandwich eating tourists is commenting that it's the best breakfast they've had in Cuba.

Dude, put it on the menu! (And about that menu, Amira has a few more ideas....)

(Come along for the ride! It takes 5 seconds to subscribe to my "Becoming Nomad" newsletter: http://eepurl.com/bTZCIT )

These bananas are a different species

There are thousands of different species of banana, or were, and all the bananas in the US represent just one of those species.

Here in Cuba, we ordered a fruit plate and noticed that the bananas were different. These are creamier, stronger in flavor -- kind of like a cooked plantain. Very delicious.

(Come along for the ride! It takes 5 seconds to subscribe to my "Becoming Nomad" newsletter: http://eepurl.com/bTZCIT )

New meaningful friendships is one of the best things about living around the world.

My heart rejoices for the simple fact that we're in Cuba. But one of the most joyous moments we experience when living abroad are those when we meet amazing people who become our friends.

We've been fortunate to meet people with the warmest of hearts who have helped us way more than I could ever have imagined. I'm so moved by the kindness and generosity of people who just a few days ago were strangers but are now friends for life.

Living in a country like Cuba is amazing and adventurous but not easy. It's definitely not ready for the increasing and unprecedented number of visitors in the last two weeks.

Cuba simply lacks the infrastructure at this time. Car rentals, lodging and transportation are just some of the obvious areas of shortage. But even finding bottle water has been difficult. And when I find it, I usually clean them out.

Of course, by comparison, as a spoiled American, my issues are minuscule and insignificant. The real challenges are those faced every day by the Cuban people about which, given how much control there is here, I can't really give specifics while I'm still in the country.

But one of the most remarkable experiences for me is being the recipient of so many acts of kindness from people who have endured so much for so long. We've had some challenging moments at times but we have found more than a helping hand and warm heart when we have most needed it.

Lodging and transportation has been extremely hard to find when not booked well in advance. It was nearly impossible during the Rolling Stones concert when we had actually made plans to be away from Havana and, at the last minute, decided to come back. We've heard of people who had to sleep in the parks and in hotel lobbies. After literally trying dozens of Airbnb rentals, several hotels and walking a few miles going from door to door trying to find a casa particular to no avail, we thought we'd have to spend the night in a hotel lobby.

Thankfully, we found people with huge hearts who helped and saved us. We ended up in an awesome terrace apartment with comfortable beds, great air conditioning and a full moon shining over us.

~Amira Elgan

Giant doors and high doorbells make Amira look like a little girl

Havana homes were built (before the revolution) with massively high doors. Also: doorbells are high. Without any other visual context, Amira looks like a little girl ringing the bell.

There's got to be a way to pick a color and stick with it

I'm pretty sure that Havana in the 1950s was the most beautiful city that ever existed. The buildings are crumbling, but the architecture is breathtaking.

Just look at the gingerbread on this apartment building, which is pretty average by Havana standards.

Anyway, what's funny about this building is that one resident painted their portion and only their portion of the building in green and another resident did the same in blue. The rest of the building hasn't been painted in a while, probably since the 50s.

A pastry shop with no forks

This pastry shop and bakery has delicious cakes. It's very unusual and upscale by Cuban standards, and relatively expensive.

Curiously, they serve slices of cakes and pies for either "here" or "to go." They even have a counter with barstools for you to sit down and enjoy your treat.

But they don't have forks, neither metal nor plastic.

When you ask, they helpfully suggest that you buy a coffee, which comes with a tiny spoon for stirring in your sugar.

I'm calling this the Cuban pour

I've noticed that all waiters here pour a small amount of liquid in the glass for you.

This method doesn't give you the convenience factor of a full pour -- you still have to pour it yourself -- nor the control factor of pouring it all yourself.

I have no idea why they do it this way.

The past and future of Cuban food

We've been trying government restaurants in our Havana neighborhood. The food is super cheap, but unreliable. Sometimes it's pretty good. Other times, horrible.

Last night's attempt was horrible. (One of the pictures with this post shows the dish we got. You'll know it when you see it.) The restaurant was out of stock on most menu items. Whatever we did order involved an unidentifiable flavorless mass of animal flesh, rice-and-beans (not sure how you fuck up rice and beans) and some mystery side dish.

We couldn't do it.

So we went to check out a privately owned restaurant called 4You, which opened ten days prior.

The decor was brightly lit, cheerful and tasteful (a description you cannot apply to 99.9% of cuban restaurants).

A window at the back of the dining room revealed the tiny kitchen, with three men cooking (actually it was mostly one man cooking and two helping and/or watching).

Everyone in the restaurant took fine dining very seriously. (You can tell how seriously a chef takes his work by how close his face gets to the food he's plating.)

We had an enormous, freshly prepared chicken and rice dish, tricolor fettuchini in a cream sauce, a salad and sautéed vegetables.

It was very good.

The one was the kind of food that should and probably will be phased out over time. The other was the future of Cuban food.

My office today: in a restaurant above the lobby of the Colina hotel in Havana

This hotel is at the end of our street. They've got a $6 buffet in the 2nd-floor restaurant and a government WiFi hotspot across the street, which reaches here.

One advantage: bottomless cup of coffee (which is helping me with my chronic caffeine deficiency problem).