Know before you go…..

So this trip to Cuba was put together rather quickly compared to our prior vacations out of the United States.  Of course, this was not a vacation, but a support mission, so it didn’t require as much advance notice.  That doesn’t mean it didn’t require any preparations.  While I said in the previous post, getting to Cuba was easy, just an hour non-stop flight from Tampa, the rest was quite different.

Once are flight was arranged and our Airbnb booked, we started the preparations for Cuba.  While my husband claims he is adverse in multiple languages, I can say I only have a command of one, that is American!  I say American because sometimes that British English might as well be a foreign language.  I mean they say “walk away”, call apartments “flats”, and some other words that aren’t used in America.  Cubans like most of Latin Americans speak Spanish.

My Spanish consists of “cinco de mayo” and thanks to Jose Feliciano….. you know the words too….  sing it with me….

“Felliz Navidad……. Feliz Navidad…… Feliz Navidad…. Prosper ano y Felicidad”  it’s never too early to think about Christmas!

Because my Spanish is so limited, we downloaded Google Translate. But our cellphones won’t work in Cuba, how did we get Google Translate to work you ask?  Well, Google Translate works without the cellphone provider.  It worked exceptionally well.  Except when my husband was telling people he has two wives…. one here (me) and one that translates (pointing to his phone).  He would type his questions and they would read the Spanish translation on his phone; the reverse also worked, they could speak and then Google would translate it to English for us.  This definitely made it much easier to communicate with the Cuban people without the support of a guide.  We were really able to speak with them individually and find out their needs so our support could be even better for them.

Anyone who has followed this blog knows I’ve talked about TP before, yes I’m talking about the little white squares.  Well you may think that I’m obsessed with it, but I’m really not.  It’s just one of the comforts in life that I like in soft two ply form.  In Cuba the seat is pretty much non existent.  That’s right, in public restrooms, no matter how nice the place, the seats were nowhere to be found.  Even in the airport!  Luckily, this South Dakota girl perfected the art (hovering) many years ago when she would go to the pasture and check cows or go to the Badlands for hours with her Grandmother.  Public toilets have never been my thing so this wasn’t a problem.  And yes, if you’re wondering the Airbnb had a seat with single ply.

The TP in Cuba, if there was any, was provided by an attendant (squares were counted) or just not at all.  I heard, prior to going to Cuba that I should bring my own, so for a couple of hours before our trip, I counted out squares and then rolled them like a Cuban cigar and packed them nicely into a zip lock back.  I figured our Airbnb would have TP (it was single ply) but figured we’d be on our own the rest of the time.  My aversion to public toilets was greater in Cuba than Morocco (and if you remember Morocco had just holes) so I tried to limit my fluid intake to times that I would be back in the Airbnb.  But honestly, it was so hot that no matter how much water we drank, it was coming out in the form of sweat.  It was very difficult to keep hydrated, but I think we did a fairly good job of it.  Needless to say I’m glad to be back in the United States where I can comfortably take a seat in my house and welcome the soft multi-ply paper.