Escape to Cuba

In a previous post I covered some literary boltholes but I missed a very important and appealing one, a little fishing village is Cuba called Cojimar. A real town where a fictional fight happens between an old fisherman called Santiago and a giant marlin. The story is from the most beautiful book Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. A book when read at home you can almost feel the salty sting of the fishing line in your hands and the sun blistering the back of your neck out at sea, just imagine how the experience must be sitting outside waterside reading this book in the salt air of this little fishing village east of Havana? An experience I intend capturing within this next 3 months! Unfortunately, my Jura travel companion Rocky (my African grey parrot) won’t be able to join me, this adventure I fly solo and without much Spanish in my vocabulary I do expect to get lost at a few twists and turns but this is what I consider a holiday, not these “leave your soul behind as you disembark off the plane” all-inclusive lay by the beach and pool jobs, or these equally safe golfing holidays or guided tours. Why has evolution shrivelled up our sense of adventure? I want to experience the real people, the real places, make an arse of myself, the good natured Gringo trying to dance mambo when high on rum but smiling at his own foolishness mirroring the laughs around him. People tend to accept you if you are genuine without airs and graces, why arrogance and conceit when we are all the same under our skin on this little blue dot, only certain ideologies can separate us, money does not make people a better person. Although I have seen the worst of people, liars, cheats and manipulators who will invent a narrative of you to justify their own failings, I still believe in humanity and good grace appears to present itself in people who live a simple and happy existence, its therapy just being in such people’s company, in a western world where speaking out and wearing your heart on your sleeve is seen as a weakness it’s good to revert back to such company, I use the word “revert” but its evolve which is the weaker path regarding humanity in this vein. It’s not only the Hemmingway trail I want to see (it’s a short book which I intend re-reading in an afternoon by the sea whilst sipping from a bottle of Havana rum) there is also much to see…El Morro, Christopher Columbus Cemetery, House of Jose Marti and his memorials, Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabana….there is plenty, although these which I have just mentioned are touristy there are plenty twists and turns on the road to get lost and discover other places, the boxing gyms, chess games with locals over a bottle of rum. I am looking at accommodations, the hotels are not really the best across there but there are such places as "casa perciulars" where families rent out spare rooms where you can bed down and get a breakfast around the family table speaking (or in my case, attempting to communicate) with the real Cuban people. This would give the real feel for the distinctive Cuban culture and spirit and also helping out people instead of big hotels. The escape, the culture, the adventure and meeting good people and sitting around a table with a genuine family, this would be a paradise for me, and one which I will be jetting off to on an adventure soon, we are a long time dead so I don't intend wasting time, memories created now are the ones which sustain us when we are too old to create any more such adventures !!! **Update** Flights purchased, adventure secured for January .....Havana here I come ...whoop whoop ...solo Gringo planning to get off the beaten track, off grid and using "Casa Perciulars"across Cuba to get the authentic taste of this vibrant country. Better brush up on my Spanish and buy some colourful shirts :-)...off the grid and meeting some genuine uncomplicated people is looking very appealing.