I Thought It Was Wednesday All Day Long!

According to my computer it is 1:03 AM, on Friday, April 4th, but my new surroundings teach me better – it’s 4:00 AM in Havana, and I’m wide awake after over 36 hours of no sleep.

I’m writing to the United States from a small couch on the sub floor of the 13th floor of our Cuban “Penthouse”. I have recently discovered that although plug adapters are not needed we do not have three-pronged plugs in my bedroom and I therefore am forced to do my writing in a common area. Not that I’m complaining – it’s a very nice room, and right now it’s moderately quiet.

A quick rehash of what has happened so far:
*There was an attempt to sleep during the 3 ½ hours to Mexico City, slightly accomplished.
*Waited/napped two hours in Mexico City to get to Cancun.
*My flying partner Avani and I decided to ditch the airport for 4 hours during our 10 hour layover and take a bus to downtown Cancun, which was hot and noisy and really cool. We learned the art of Mexican road crossing, which due to lack of crosswalks consists of running from island to island when there is a break in cars. Don’t worry: safety in numbers. We were very careful. Everyone in Cancun seems to really like to honk their car horns. It must be a really stimulating part of driving in a city so hot and poorly designed. We ended up walking about…2 or 3 miles down a hot road to get to a movie theatre, where we paid $3 to see a really bad horror movie in English. (It was air conditioned so it didn’t matter). At that point, my shoes started to blister my feet due to the heat, which will be fine eventually but the miles and heat and swelling due to altitude change got the best of me. Now I am bandaged and happy.

When we finally all got to the Havana airport, we were met by some very nice and helpful people who are employees of the Casa, who helped us fly through immigration (they didn’t even check our bags). One guy (incidentally from Santa Barbara, slightly socially stunted) had put his laptop in his checked bag and found it was stolen when he arrived. So we waited about another half hour for nothing to happen. The computer is long gone. Since then, the guy has also cut his finger on a window. What a bad day.

From what I can tell of Havana in the dark, it’s nothing like anything I have seen. It’s not like the typical Caribbean, not like Mexico, and certainly not like home. Most buildings are broken down, whether modest or huge. Even our building, one of the better places in downtown, is a bit shabby – but the people around it make it very comfortable. Everyone is so inviting and loving and always smiling. Gender roles are more defined here so we women were not “allowed” to lift or carry luggage anywhere inside the building. All the students are really fun and kind and it’s going to be great getting to know them.

You will be happy to know that I have used more Spanish today than in about a years time combined. Many people in the house already know I understand what they’re saying so they urge me to practice speaking to them in Spanish. Very little English is spoken anywhere except for by our teachers, and it’s already starting to help.

I am exhausted. In 5 hours it will be time to wake up, have breakfast (with café con leche!) and have an orientation. Then we were promised more sleep. Sounds fantastic.

With love,

Caitlin