Cuba: Lost Files & Journal
When you think Cuba, naturally your mind goes to straight to Havana or Camilla Cabello, with the Havana tune. Scratch that whole picture though, as I was literally on the other side of the island.
Where I Stayed
I stayed in the city of Palma Soriano with my Cuban friend who has a house there. The city is home to about 76,000 people and about an hour away from Santiago de Cuba. I had the most laid back 2 week getaway. We had no set plans and no military itenary. Just pure vibes, good weather, and for the most part other than my friend who is bilingual I was the only English speaker. I didn’t do tourist Cuba, and for that, I had a real ass experience. I love getting the opportunity to live like a local and blend in. Palma Soriano has no hotels, and I don’t fling around the word authentic around often but this was the real dealio. I also visited Santiago and stayed in a hotel for 2 nights in Holguin. Both these cities had a different feel to Palma Soriano.
Photo Tragedy
I came back from my getaway with hundreds of photos and videos. Hundreds might even be me being humble, I had well over a thousand. Anyway, I get back to the UK with the most limited phone storage, to the point that I had to delete stuff and then delete the deleted stuff just to salvage a tiny bit of data. In the midst of all of that I happened to delete pretty much all my Cuba photos so yeah... I’m stressed.
I did, however, make an Instagram story on my highlights before I went on my deleting spree. Priorities right! Check the story out.
Frizzy journal
For the first time in I think ever, I consistently wrote in my journal documenting my thoughts of experiences on holiday daily. I always die of laughter when I read over things that I write. I always sit there thinking why do you have to be so savage? Then I reply “I didn’t choose savage, the life chose me.”
“Had lunch in a venue with a beautiful view. The food was shit again (shock horror) They brought me cold rice. And I didn’t have a drink with my meal because they only had beer. Sober life struggles.”
“Visited Santiago de Cuba today. It’s a lot more vibezy than Palma. More touristy and bright coloured. I visited a cathedral, to take pictures to send to my Ga’mama. Then I ended up taking a picture in the square with a Cuban Abuela. I’m pretty sure I paid her for this picture that I didn’t even want to take!”
“At 8pm we head out looking for a nail shop. After what seems like forever we end up in a nail shop in someone’s house. On the back of this woman’s door is a large machete... Must I say large? Is a machete ever small haha. I know I’m always in my own world, but now I have a fully functioning movie trailer to an epic movie that I’ve made up. Anyway I got my nails done, they are so beautiful. I’m in awe and gassed that I paid 20 pesos for them. About 60 pence.”
“I managed to get 10 minutes in the wifi spot in town before it started pouring down and I got backslapped too many times to count by the rain. When we got home we went up on the rooftop to play in the rain. It felt good to be carefree.”
