| a Telecommunications Building, Downtown Havana, | | | | in the living room. |
| Wednesday, April 13, 2005, 3:06 pm | | | | Furniture and decor are very basic and instead of |
| So I am sitting here in a new place and I gotta hurry | | | | upholstered sofas the furniture consists of traditional |
| since I bought a $6 CUC Internet access card and I | | | | wooden chairs that have a colonial appearance. One |
| only have 53 minutes left. | | | | of the cousins who was in from out of town got |
| At any rate, the dinner at Pedro´s family on | | | | married last year to a friend of mine in Toronto, so |
| Sunday was amazing. We took the GuaGua (Public | | | | she came to Havana to go to the Canadian |
| Transit System) and after about 1 hour we arrived in | | | | Consulate to get her visa to finally go to Canada. |
| the area of Marinao. From there we had to walk | | | | Getting to go to Canada is not an easy thing at all |
| another 30 minutes or so to get to his house. | | | | for Cubans, since it is very difficult to obtain a Cuban |
| There I was received by an entire Cuban family, | | | | passport. |
| Pedro´s wife and daughter, his sister in law | | | | We talked a lot about Canada and about the fact |
| and their two female cousins who had come in from | | | | that life is very different, the climate, the |
| out of town. It was amazing being in a Cuban home, | | | | environment, the concept of family. This discussion |
| after having spent a whole week in an impersonal | | | | was particularly relevant since Pedro´s |
| hotel. It was immediately obvious that the Cuban | | | | wife´s female cousin is hoping to come to |
| concept of family is very different from what I have | | | | Canada in the next 6 weeks as she is currently |
| experienced in Austria or Canada. Family members | | | | pregnant. |
| live in very tight living quarters since housing is scarce | | | | At any rate, the hospitality was great. I was |
| in Havana and often 2 or 3 generations live under | | | | received like a long-lost friend and the ladies had |
| one roof. | | | | really taken great care to prepare an outstanding |
| My friend told me that in his father´s house 3 | | | | dinner. The table was full of dishes: fried chicken, |
| of his brothers live in one bedroom (and they | | | | white rice with bean sauce, fried sweet plaintains |
| sometimes receive visits from their girlfriends who | | | | (one of my favourite foods) and a tasty bean salad. |
| end up sleeping in the same room), his sister and | | | | We had flan for dessert and it was one of the best |
| mother sleep in one room (as his mother is divorced), | | | | meals I have had in Cuba so far. |
| and the father and another sibling sleep in another | | | | I had brought a little souvenir for the family: 2 sets |
| room. It´s very difficult to imagine this type of | | | | of coloured pens for the little girl which she absolutely |
| crammed living environment, there is definitely not | | | | loved and some beautiful flowers for the ladies of |
| much privacy.... | | | | the house. The atmosphere was a little shy at first, |
| By Canadian standards, the home is very basic, | | | | but after a while we started chatting, asking each |
| located in a complex with about 6 apartments, this | | | | other questions about our respective lives in these 2 |
| apartment contains 2 bedrooms which are shared by | | | | very different countries. All the while I was there I |
| my friend, his wife and daughter (who together have | | | | felt very special and I felt truly honoured to have |
| one bedroom), his wife´s sister (who has the | | | | had an opportunity to be introduced to a Cuban |
| other bedroom) and the father of the 2 ladies sleeps | | | | family and to experience Cuban hospitality first hand. |