Epicuriosity

Monday May 24th

 First I just need to say that I love the fact I had to look at my previous day’s journal to see what day it is. Ican’t remember the last vacation where that happened.
Today we headed to el campo (the country). My grandfather’s family is from a small town called Palmira. It’s about three hours outside of Cuba. We packed the car full of more coffee, razors, meds, etc, picked up two of my uncles and headed out on the open road.
The countryside of Cuba is stunning! Sugar cane fields, giant royal palms and small towns where the main source of transportation is horse and carriage. It was like stepping back in time. We learned some political facts about farming. If you farm more than your family’s needs, then you must give the government 50% of your crop. So most people have small family farms and live off of their garden.  We stopped at yet another uncle’s house about half way through our trip. Everyone wants to feed us, but since our family in Palmira was going to have lunch ready when we got there, my aunt served a snack of home made cheese with mango and guava marmelade. Mark and I had two servings! YUMMY!
While we were there a neighbor stopped by and mentioned someone had been stealing his rice. NOT good. Rice is a staple part of the Cuban meal and there is already a shortage.
Before we continued the drive, my uncle loaded the car with some bags of rice, garlic and onions so we could take it to the rest of the family in Palmira. Family watches out for each other here. You have to. It’s the only way to make it. My dad asked my uncle to find him 100 pounds of rice so he could buy it on the way back to Havana to take to that family.
The closer we got to Palmira the more excited my dad and uncles got.They were so cute! They were telling stories about the family, answering all my questions about how and why they left the country and went to Havana (it’s not an easy trek now so I can’t imagine traveling 300 miles across Cuba in the 40s an d 50s.
We finally arrived! More uncles! More cousins! An entire street of Padrons! We started out at one uncle’s house where most of the family was waiting for us. Also waiting for us was a ton of food! Everyone insists that you eat and they continue to fill your plate regardless of how full you are. The food is SO freakin good! All home grown. All organic (chemicals and pesticides are expensive) Best fruit and veggies I ever ate!
After dinner my dad handed one of my younger cousins a big bag that had two pairs of shoes, two Barbies, two dresses, a pink purse and a bag of tootsie pops. I have never in my life seen a child so excited. She couldn’t believe she had a Barbie…much less TWO! She wanted to hurry and finish all her dinner so she could have a tootsie pop.
After dinner is began to rain, then pour. The mangos and avocados are off cycle this year due to lack of rain, They say that everytime my dad visits he brings rain. They were so happy to see it and celebrated with rum, of course. We watched the neighborhood kids play in the giant potholes as they filled with water.

It stopped raining just before sunset. The sky was absolutely stunning! Lots of shades of pinks and purples peeked through the storm clouds. I got the camera out and one of my cousins took us on the rooftop and showed us the view from there. Here we are in a tiny countrytown in the middle of nowhere Cuba, on top of a house at sunset after a celebrated storm. It’s an experience of a lifetime!

Before dark we headed to my tio Arturo’s house. He is 94 years old and the sweetest man. He’s worked on his farm his whole life and still gets around pretty well. My dad brought him some advil and bengay for his knee. His son (yet another cousin) and his family all live in the house. My cousin’s wife took me outside to their porch and showed me their monthly rations. Per person they get 4oz of coffee, 1/4 pound of dried peas, 1 pound of white sugar, 1 pound of raw sugar, a pack of some kind of noodle to add to soups, a bar of soap, and a tiny box of matches. Oh Fidel, your view of utopia is seriously twisted!  They are very lucky to have a farm. They have two ox for plowing the fields, tons of chickens, two houses of pigs and several cows (for milk only. killing cows is illegal due to their necessity). They also have a small field of corn and several fruit trees.

Mark and I squeezed together on a bed a little larger than a twin size and passed out. I woke up in the middle of the night and as I walked to the bathroom I noticed my uncle sleeping under a mosquito net in his room. When I walked into the bathroom I realized why. There were beatles and bugs EVERYWHERE!We might as well have been outside. Now I know why the shutters in our room are closed. Outside I could hear frogs, crickets and who knows what else. It was so loud. It was so cool!  I really wanted to go outside and just sit and listen, but I wasn’t really sure what all I would find out there so I headed back to bed falling asleep to the sounds of el campo.