Accidental locavores

We're spending a few days on Varadero, which is a Northern-Cuban peninsula that has been a resort spot for over a century.

The beaches are amazing. But restaurants struggled to make good food, because, there's hardly any fresh produce available. In most towns we've been to, there are produce markets available. But not here.

The reason, we're told, is that produce is almost always local. Because there are no farms on this sandy peninsula, there's almost no produce.

In fact, one comic scene on the bus ride from Trinidad to Varadero, the bus driver pulled over, then went produce shopping at a roadside produce stand while everyone in the bus watched.

I guess one perk of being a Varadero-based bus driver is that you get to buy fresh produce along your route.

Also: We did have fresh coconut. Kenny knocked one out of a tree.

(Pictured: one of the better dishes we ate in Varadero. It even had plant material on it!)

Fumigated four times in Cuba

For the past six weeks, we're told, the Cuban government has been fumigating every home, store, office, hotel and street in the country weekly against mosquitos. It's Cuba's response to the Zika panic sweeping Latin America.

I told you about our first surprise encounter with this policy in a post last month.

Our second encounter happened in a restaurant in Trinidad. Amira and I were having pizza and beer in a government restaurant for locals (both the pizza and the beer were $1 each) and a fumigation truck unceremoniously drove past the restaurant, leaving behind a super dense fog of insecticide in the street.

Our third encounter was really bad.

We learned later than fumigation normally hits the house where we were renting a room at around 1pm Monday's. Our host decided to not warn us about it, assuming we'd be at the beach or something.

Anyway, they showed up pretty early in the morning. Our host somehow convinced them to not fumigate our room, figuring that we'd sleep through it.

From our perspective, we were woken up by what sounded like a cross between a chain saw and a leaf blower on the other side of the door separating our room from the home's living room.

It was a WTF moment, to be sure, and it took us a few seconds to realized that the house was being fumigated, with us inside the house.

The windows of the room close with these old-school slats (everything in Cuba is old-school), one of which doesn't close all the way. Anyway, the dense cloud of pesticide started pouring into the room, a little through all the slats and a lot through the one that doesn't close.

We decided to run for it, but when I opened the door to the living room, the pesticide was so thick that visibility was exactly zero.

We started feeling the effects of the pesticide (headaches, nausea, dizziness) and realized that no matter what, we had to make a run for it through the living room.

So we covered our mouths with towels and moved from memory to the front door, then across the patio and down the stairs.

It really sucked. Making matters worse, the next day we were using the Internet at the nearest WiFi hotspot (some 17 blocks away), and were attacked by great swarms of mosquitoes.

The fourth fumigation happened today. For the first time, we got advanced warning of the fumigation, which was supposed to happen at 1pm.

During our third gassing, our lungs were affected, so our plan was to ask the fumigators to skip our apartment. So Amira hung around and waited. When they arrived, she explained our situation and they agreed to skip it.

Then a neighbor came over and said (in Spanish): "No, every apartment must be fumigated." She then implied that she'd report to the government both the fumigators and the apartment owners and they'd all get in trouble. So they fumigated.

SecondWorldProblems

Shady cigar deal

Amira was wandering around Trinidad and happened upon this cigar factory. She asked if she could take pictures, and they said she could, but only from outside through the window.

So she was taking a few snaps from different windows. When she got to a far corner of the building, some guy approached her from inside the building through the window and asked if she wanted to buy some cigars: 10 smallish cigars for $20 CUCs (about $23). Amira countered with $10 CUCs, and he agreed. The man said "wait there."

A few minutes later, a different man approached Amira on the sidewalk and said: "open your purse." She did, and he produced this bundle of stogies wrapped in newspaper from under his shirt and dropped them into her purse, then took the $10 CUCs she was holding and walked away.

So now I have 10 cigars which, by the way, smell really I good.

It's not easy to get the Cuban government to take your money

It costs $2.29 per hour to use the Cuban government's slow, censored public WiFi.

One would think that they would be eager to take your money. But one would be wrong. It's actually kind of hard to get them to take it.

Once WiFi is provisioned, the use of it is essentially free. So the sale of additional WiFi cards is just free money for the government. That's why it's confusing why they make you jump through hoops to give them that free money.

One example: We noticed that the bar at this luxury hotel in Trinidad sold WiFi cards (the hotels are also government owned here). So Amira tried to buy three 5-hour cards. The bartender said that we needed to buy drinks in order to buy cards. So she ordered two coffees and three cards. He said: "No, you can only buy two cards with two drinks."

There's an ETECSA office around the corner, so Amira tried to buy some cards there. So she got in the long line. A government worker at the door was pleasantly answering questions by Cuban customers. But when Amira asked her a question (in fluent Spanish but without a Cuban accent), she acted like Amira didn't exist. The woman also let other people who were behind Amira in without letting Amira in.

A really nice man who was also in line was disgusted by how Amira was being treated and suggested that someone else should buy the cards for her, and implored the woman at the door to let Amira in to no effect.

Finally, Amira physically blocked the front door, and the woman begrudgingly let her in.

When Amira arrived at the counter, the ETECSA rep literally acted like Amira wasn't standing there for like 15 minutes. She chatted away with co-workers, and even stared into space for minutes on end with Amira literally standing two feet in front of her. Eventually, she acknowledged Amira's existence and sold Amira the cards.

An hour and a half and $35 later, we can finally use the Internet.

The original Sonos?

Spotted in a Trinidad, Cuba, hotel lobby.

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.

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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....)

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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.

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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.