jan 10, 2007

We are now in the eastern part of the island in a town called Baracoa where Alexei´s grandparents live. We´re staying at their place at the moment, but probably not much longer because there are no doors to the bedrooms and the only bathroom is in his grandparents´ bedroom and his grandpa is kind of sick. Alexei had a very hard time understanding why this was not an OK living situation for me... ha! we had our first fight about that last night but made up this morning and I think that he misses having privacy too.

Otherwise all has been great!! We have visited the towns of Trinidad and Santiago and taken all means of transportation, trucks that pack 'em in like sardines (this would have made jenken completely skiivish), a bus full of communist workers, ferryboats and illegal taxis. Getting there is always half the fun. In Trinidad, we rented bikes and rode about 30 km round trip to the beach. It was incredibly hot and humid, but fun nonetheless anda beautiful ride. The next day we rode horses through the valley, stopped at a farm where we had a refreshing cane juice with lime and listened to a crazy guahiro sing traditional cuban songs. Then we rode off to a 'waterfall' which was more like a trickle because there hasn´t been a lot of rain. We got to swim in a pool that in a cave with stalactites and the water reflections shimmering on the stones. It was really beautiful. I am STILL in pain from the horse. My horse was more mellow, but it´s been awhile! Alexei´s horse was totally insane and would just take off galloping... I can still hear Alexei saying Whooooaaaa! definitely a great memory.

In Santiago, we hiked up El Morro which is like the old fort. There´s a lighthouse and a beautiful view over the Caribbean Sea. It looked a lot like Pirates of the Caribbean. In my brain, I could imagine galleons landing on the shore and the pirates having a crazy time there with lots of rum.

After that we went to this fisherman´s island and met a guy who cooked us fish. We ate a yummy meal and watched the sun go down while the boats passed. Another unique experience.