La Habana, The Pictures #2

Don't you wish your boyfriend was hot like me (like me in the suite of a five star hotel....:P)....which was only like 40 bucks a head

Me on the Malecon, don't I look happy. I guess its either cuz I was in Havana or maybe because I....no never mind :P I guess some privacy is allowed :P

It was a wonderful feeling knowing that many famous people throughout the 20th and 21st century sat at that same spot I was sitting. I know this for a fact because it was right in front of the Hotel Nacional, thats where all the stars go. My friends almost kissed the ground that Naomi Campbell walked on.

This is down on the wave breaker in front of the Malecon. We jumped off the seawall. it was a short 2 metre fall. But we just had to go down and touch the water. It was in the cab ride back home that I realized that I could have just gone swimming in my underwear, everybody else was
doing it.

Thats me getting my feet (and pants *hmpf*) wet. It was so much fun, I think my face makes that pretty clear. This was my first 'blue-water-experience' EVER. I will never forget it.

I heard they like served lobster in Havana for like dirt cheap, so I HAD to try it. And I feel so sorry for myself, I feel angry at myself as well for never having tried it before. Lobster is by far the best type of meat I have ever tasted. It was so good I almost cried.

Yaaaay, were almost done looking at the pictures. Oh come on, don't tell me you didn't enjoy the previous 13. Nobody EVER sends me this many pictures. This picture was taken by my friend who took another cab to the bus stop, where we took a cab, not a bus. funny innit. Anyway, I was
telling him to take more photos. It was a funny moment.

As I didn't sleep as much, The cab ride did it for me. We found some luxury cab, a KIA minivan, which was actually only 7 years old in stead of the 1952-1953 cars we were used to. It was a nice change of transportation, a taste of back home.

Boo, we have reached the end. Well it dont matter.... This picture shows me having gratitude, looking relaxed and happy and comfortable with my situation. I guess that all I really needed was a nice ass trip to the Capital. It all makes it worth while, seeing that civilization had not skipped Cuba, all I had to do was look for it.

I'm looking out, and im thinking that my next big trip will either be towards Cayo Jutia or Cayo Levisa. Those are two small cays off the coast which have perfect beaches, I guess its about time I see nice ass beach for a change

Either way, hope y'all enjoyed the pictures....mail me if you want any more

Ciao bellas.....
Farid

La Habana, The Pictures #1

Oh gosh, just as I was about to write a cool and warm email about my things i've been through in the last weekend in HAVANA, I saw that there is a double cold front heading our way, tomorrow, 16 degrees, in two days, 15.....so much fun, it will give me the chance to pull out my
winterfashion I guess.
Anyhow, be prepared, these are my pictures of my weekend in La Habana, prepare yourself, hopefully all 16 of them fit on this mail :)

BTW excuse my french/english/spanish/dutch/qualquier lengua que hablaré...

The first thing that made us sure we had reached la capital, the José Marti monument. It is the tallest building in Havana, and I thought it was 130-something metres high. It has an elevator that takes you all the way to the top floor, and no, I did not go in, I had other priorities.

That same saturdaynight at the Wakamba restaurant. They were out of their famous wakamba chicken (what that tastes like I'll never know, and who the hell runs out of their signature dish....its like going to KFC and hearing that theyre out of chicken....:P)...So I just took fish
steak, which was awesome as well.

This is the view off the 11th floor of an apartmentbuilding. It shows the Malecon on the right (malecon is like THE street that runs alongside havana bay)....and it shows the Vedado district and the famous Melia Cohiba somewhere on the left, its a five star hotel. Its pretty high
as well ;)

Yep, I just realized that its 12 more to go...wow you people should feel so lucky and shit. Moving on: I just thought that the dutty (=dirty --jamaicans make me sick) street sign made so much more sense. It was a feeling of accomplishment because we had been dying to go to havana
for 4 (!) fleeting months.

This is the Yara theatre on La Rampa aka calle 23. It is right in front of Coppelia. Its the biggest cinema in Havana (therefore cuba as well)....they were showing Daddy Yankee videoclips....so I just passed. They had the infamous coco-taxis in front of it waiting to rob you outta
your hard-begged money.

Thats me in front of the Habana Libre complex. Back before 1962 it was called the Havana Hilton. Now its just another five star hotel with a huge shoppingcomplex with nice clothes, triple sec and some Mikimoto pearls. Funny isnt it?

The weird part is that I was robbed when I first came to Cuba. They took my not so diversified colelction of earrings and earplugs and whatnot. I bought a pair that I could swear were the same ones. Either way, this was taken in the souvenir market on La Rampa, they had some cool shit :)

Easter 2008

That small secondary wish I have had for like more than 4 months finally came through last weekend. It had nothing to do with any super hot cubans (though that wish MAY-have-come-through-but-im-not-sure-yet-which-sucks)

I FINALLY MADE IT TO LA CIUDAD DE LA HABANA

I know I know, but im still excited. it was the best weekend I have ever had in Cuba. After almost 5 hours of traveling la plaza de la revolucion came in sight, and at the sight of the Jose Martí memorial I knew that we had finally arrived in La Habana.

We stopped on calle 23 (La Rampa)....which is comparable to party/business central of Vedado (part of Habana). Like wallstreet mixed with times square all in one. ME and one of my friends stayed at the 5 star Hotel Vedado while the others all rented a casa particular. I was going to do that as well but my patience was running dry at the time, I did not want to waste any more time in search of a place to stay, because we only had the night and the next morning to do our bidding in La Habana, because the schoolweekends dont allow us much free time.

I was gonna go partying like a rockstar but I kinda met up with someone so we just ended up drinking, talking and walking(ON THE MALECON) Yes, it was full of miracles. I walked on the malecon. Thats the main road next to Havana Bay. I took a hell of a lot of pictures. There was this huge flock of fags there, dont ask me what they were doing, I was doing some flirting of myself with this incredibly hot guy I met.

Moving on, the next day, I went walking on the malecon again and this time me and my friends jumped off of it onto the breakwater and put our feet in the ocean. Oh yeah, and I realized that lobster is the best meat that has/will ever exist. EVER. LOBSTER IS GREAT. I cant believe I never ate it before.

Either way, pictures will follow. Havana is amazing. If you have it, take a trip to La Habana, if you're a tourist, its perfect....

Good Friday

Hey guyz, some pictures I took today
We took the train from Isabel Rubio all the way to Pinar del Río. We got the day off due to good Friday, but we had to return before 8pm, so no big weekend, we still have classes tomorrow.
After the shakey (shaky?) 2 hour ride we went to eat in Pinar and walked around a bit and then we took a cab home.
At least we made it there and back ;)
Oh yeah, we had to walk a lot :P

Medical Trials

Wow, this has been a while. I used to be this blog whore once who had access to internet and whatnot. And look at me now. A young man, sitting on his bed which is part of a 16-bed-room, eating a cracker with tuna that I made on the shared hotplate, while trying to hold in my fart so that the others wont look at me weird, wearing nothing but a jacket because Cuban food has made me even more insecure about my weight, looking at the students from the Solomon Islands with whom we have to share the room but-of-whom-were-actually-scared-because-they-make-war-canoes-and-murder-people.

My life has changed in a way that I never would have imagined. If it is for better or for worse is still under discussion. Have I regretted my decision in coming here?....of course….. everyday.
But finally I have concluded that it is better for me to stay here, in the municipality of Sandino, in the province of Pinar del Río. Try finding that on the map/google/wiki. Its that bad….
Being a doctor is my only wish…..but i'm not so sure if its to help my fellow man, or to help my fellow wallet.

Cuba has its own benefits. Aside from internet blockage and NO MSN (yes, it felt like a dagger through my heart just to repeat it)….it has a free health care system.

Man it has tried my patience, visiting all these doctors in Suriname who kept on telling me different things about the ‘swollen lymph nodes’. They turned out to be cancer. Nothing malignant though, its just lipomatosis. In the mean time I have already visited the medics many times. They sent me to a doctor first, then they sent me to a dermatologist who then referred me to a surgeon who said that I actually needed an endocrinologist. That’s who I visited today. And even if they tell you that the Cuban medical system is costless, it sure as hell makes up for it in trying your goddamn patience (which we all know I don’t have). I had to wait for 4 fleeting hours. I guess the wait was made easy with my oh so special iPod touch, i'm the only one in Cuba that has one.

They inject all of us school-faring folk with every vaccine they can find. I have been injected like 8 times in the 4 months that I have been here. I don’t even know half the diseases i'm immune to. They also made me take an extra blood test, which was horrible, they cut me open in different places and timed the amount of time it took until I stopped bleeding.

With them…..I mean the system….the Cubans…..

I should watch out what I say because ‘they’ monitor everything. But Im not afraid of them. I speak Spanish now. Isn’t it funny? :P

Anyway, I have no idea where to begin or what to tell you about the things I have witnessed/went through in the past couple of months. But I can tell you that you will find out soon enough. I'm having a friend post my stuff back on the net for all of you to read, and hopefully you will.

This is Farid, in Cuba…..signing in (finally…..)

Oh….PS…..I have pictures :P:P

That’s me in the river (a recreational one with a small waterfall) with some of my best friends and a bottle of rum. Imagine, I know its been difficult here, but yeah, I’ve been making the best of it, cant have it any other way ;) (and cheap Cuban rum definitely helps muchisimo)

If you want some specific pictures or whatnot, just leave comments, ill make sure to get them, but if you want to get the comments straight to me, my hotmail and yahoo are not accessible aqui, so mail me straight to my new email address:

FARIDK@ELAM10.PRI.SLD.CU