I never thought my Sunday would end like this. Honestly, and I'll start somewhere, this post was going to be titled The Reward...
{There's going to be serious trouble if someone steals this title from me} 🤣
(just kidding)
... but I'm going to tell you a lot of things. Make yourself comfortable. Look, don't I look like Miss MP writing? {lol} Don't get angry, MP. 😅
I wanted to wake up early, with the crowing of the rooster (cantÃo del gallo), as the peasants (guajiros) say, to clean some shelves and my closet, to take out things I don't use, to organize my life a little. This would take me two hours or maybe less and then, my plan was supreme: order a delicious meal and a pot of chocolate ice cream, which would be brought to my doorstep. I wanted to give me that gift.
So, in that wonderful contemplative state, I would write the post for Weekend Experiences. And what happened? It turns out that what made me open my eyes was a terrible headache and nausea that had me pretty bad for many hours. These are things that unfortunately happen once a month, and although it doesn't always happen with the same intensity, I can't stand these wonderful days! - Not even me!, they change my mood.
And that's how I was, after I managed to get out of bed, with one eye here and one tooth there, as Mecano's song says, made a mess, sweeping up another mess that Chanel does with her mad dashing and barking in front of the house, when my neighbor appears with the unexpected:
-Friend, I'll invite you to dinner, come on. I made delicious food, congrà rice, yucca with mojo, ground beef in sauce, avocado and let's have La Llave coffee.
Her eyes were shining and while she was talking to her husband (who is not in Cuba) on WhatsApp, she also told him, look, the friend (that is, me) appeared, I think a steamroller has run over her. Let see if she wants to go out to eat. She hung up the call and put me on three and two (as a batter in baseball): Are you going to go or will I hand you the plate of food by the wall?
I couldn't believe it.
I replied that yes, I would go, that I needed to give a twist to my fucked up day and I was sure that with her company I would feel better.
So you can see on the cover of this post the different moments. I confess that it's a solution to mask how bad the photos looked, but the fact is that everything else was great.
We talked about everything a little bit, but mostly about her trip to Punta Cana, we drank Presidente (the Dominican beer), she showed me many images of every moment and every excursion. She said that a photographer was paid to document the entire experience and that she always thought of me. Intense blue beaches, white sands, hotels, horseback riding, adventures on a farm with carts that was to get muddy... She and her husband really looked extremely funny and happy in the photos.
Cubans can access these trips if a family member or friend who lives abroad invites us. I found out about this from her. She said her husband paid for the hotel for seven days and their round-trip tickets, and it cost about $3,000 to do so.
Excursions there were paid separately. I was amazed because the management had been through an agency, and they didn't have any kind of stress with bureaucracy and absurd things like we usually have here.
You know, we always talk about things that we can't understand, like that a professional from this beautiful island can't pay for a trip like this normally, that he has to wait for an invitation from someone... (I didn't dwell too much on this, I wasn't there for laments, or complaints, but to enjoy her joy)
There was a moment when we were laughing at her stories, she looked at me and said: Isn't it true that things without so much planning often turn out very well? And yes, she meant that we were there, keeping each other company, having a good time, and it had all come up without a prior plan.
Before her son arrived, we were also talking a bit about him. A proud mother, of course, but it's no wonder. He is handsome and intelligent, plus he is very focused on his studies and self-care.
Living the unexpected can be a maxim of life, and it's about enjoying what comes because it's in your way. Period. It's nice and I think, I made the right decision. I got over my discomfort, got out of bed, gave that bad Sunday a tug. It's true that this outing is short, it's right next to my house {lol}, but I feel better now.
Greetings to all, I promise to catch up now with all your experiences. 🙃😉
Original content (text and photos), by
, unless otherwise noted.
All rights reserved ©, 2023.