We returned early Saturday morning from two great weeks in the land of sun, fun, rum and friends. The south coast to be exact and thus very warm temperatures, snorkelling and hanging out with friends. Spent a few days at the beginning in Santiago de Cuba visiting and discovered that our friend had fallen on the way to work and fractured her ankle about six weeks previously. She had a visit at the polyclinic and I accompanied her so got to see the Cuban (non tourist) healthcare system at work. But that's a story for later on. Apparently hurricane Sandy last fall had really whacked Santiago and there were views we'd never noticed before across the city - this was because the trees were all gone. Roofs were being repaired as materials became available and various resorts were damaged or even completely washed away as in Bucanero. Down the coast for a week and enjoyed ourselves as usual on the island of Cayo Damas, the former Bacardi summer place. The hurricane had done a number on the ranchon (outside restaurant) completely removing the roof
and walls. There had been extensive work to the grounds required. When we ventured over to Chivirco we soon noticed the lack of trees there as well. Since last October there has been a real struggle in this area to to find fruits and veggies and bananas only became available recently as the crops were ruined. We found a reduced selection and higher prices in the market and shops. The rations are being cut back so only a few items are available now and there is talk of them being phased out. Not easy times for our Cuban friends. We managed with some connections and cash to pull off a pig roast and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Much easier when someone else is doing all the work of cooking and serving the feast. All the Cuban meals were (of course) wonderful and we had all our favourites, some several times. Although the sunshine was glorious, we were even treated to the moonrise behind the clouds.
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| And there it was........gone |
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| Home from work for almuerzo |
My Cuban nurse friend Elena (seen here on the left) had been to Havana for a course and has been diligently studying English for an interview to go to.....Qatar. The contracts are for three years and about five times the salary she receives at present. Clearly Cuba is able to export professionals and Qatar has no shortage of funds so... Below is the link to the facility. I was a bit surprised to see mandated pre-marital screening so am guessing that professionals from a state controlled society would be more cooperative with such ventures. Elena is pretty pumped so I hope she makes it.
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| Policlinic |
Speaking of Cuban hospitals in Cuba, I'm including some pics from outside the policlinic where I spent the morning hanging out with Lili. Although decidedly low tech (the orthopaedic specialist wrote the chart, the sick slip, the personal record which the patient keeps along with their X-rays) while the nurse created doodabs from a box of gauze. There were limited wheelchairs and very few crutches as well as a pretty gritty building but some of the situations in the waiting room did not require English to understand them, especially if you're a Canadian nurse.
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| Foot bath with disinfectant |
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| Hand wash station |
Lili was very disappointed to find out that she was to be non weight bearing for another four weeks. I wasn't particularly surprised as when her cast was cut off and back slab applied early on her foot fell completely over as in tendon or ligament damage from the sounds. If she manages to avoid surgery it will be surprising. Lili is already bored with the taped Brazilian novellas (soap operas) and movies she is watching so another month will be long.
I managed to read a total of ten books while working on my tan or enjoying the shade and the reading list follows:
Noon at Tiffany's by Echo Heron - an excellent read about the Tiffany glassworks
Bones are Forever by Kathy Reichs - latest Temperance Brennan novel with a northern twist - great
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce - excellent, really recommend it
The Light Between Two Oceans by M L Stedman - very good, disturbing at times, worth a read
Our House in Arusha by Sara Tucker - great story about Africa and relationships
Speak Swahili Dammit by James Penhaligon - a wonderful must read about Tanzania
Six Months in Sudan by James Maskalyk - about MSF and his mission there
An Imperfect Offering by James Orbinski - about MSF and his work, disturbing but really good
Growing up in Africa by Genny Nuckolls - good but a young reader title I discovered
How to Travel Fulltime by Colin Wright - interesting info even for part time travellers
The next vacation will have more scheduled activities so likely less reading but....just in case I have downloaded Will Ferguson's latest novel entitled 419 - that should hold me. There are more offerings on the Kindle awaiting so I will not be without. Speaking of e-book readers.....the shore captain killed the Kobo while on vacation. It did exactly what the Kindle did when it expired (a slice of what was being read stuck to the screen) but at least it was older and had lived a good life. And the slice was only a few lines of text so the book could at least be finished. This prompted himself to decide (since he goes to government/fishing industry meetings with young techies) that he 'needs' an iPad. I at least convinced him to look at the iPad mini as I couldn't imagine him dragging around (and likely dropping) the larger one. We played at the iStore in Pearson airport on the way through as I needed to be sure he could manage the gizmo. As the baby daughter said "it's pretty user friendly" though. I ordered it online through airmilesshops.ca though with free shipping to make sure those travel miles found a home. I have committed to picking up a sturdy iPad mini case at the iStore on my travels because if not....
As the shore captain lined up at Tim Hortons in Pearson he noticed a local lady waiting to order but didn't recognize the guy behind her. It turned out to be a former coworkers husband as they were all flying home from Alberta where the guys are employed. This led to catching up on the news while we ate our sandwiches. Not unusual to meet someone from home when travelling, especially in light of how many work out west. The copilot who was deadheading back from Yellowknife to Edmonton and sat next to me on my flight home told me that Canadian North used to do about 10 charter flights per month east to west and do at least 20, if not more now. These would be the employer funded travel and in addition to all the commercial self funded flights.
The flight from Toronto to Halifax was an entertaining one as the fellow from The Pas, Manitoba, who sat beside me explained he was meeting a former girlfriend he hadn't seen for over 30 years, since university. They'd married, raised families, divorced and now gotten together (through FaceBook of course) and had been chatting, texting, and skyping for six months. He was as nervous as a teenager heading into his week vacation and I was the diversion. I heard all about her, saw a photo, confirmed she'd be waiting and managed to distract him. When we head for the arrivals area though, he can't find her and becomes frantic. He pleads "I didn't wear my glasses, do you see her anywhere? she's tall". I look around but no one like her picture is there, so he texts her. By the baggage carousel is my former coworker (who is over six ft) waiting for her husband and I tell her the story and ask if the guy is looking for her as she's tall. She says "how do these people find you, do you attract them or what?" But I assure her it's a love story. As the luggage arrives I see my seatmate with his arm around a very attractive lady and they have eyes only for each other. "You found her" I say to which he replies "I sure did". Made me smile all the way home for the three hour drive.
There wasn't much smiling at the end of the drive though as about 3 km from the house we ran over something which banged into the wheel well of the truck. When we stopped in the driveway and I went to retrieve the dog, the shore captain (who has significant noise induced hearing loss) says "oh no, that's must've been something sharp" and the hissing from the tire made it clear it would be flat in a very short time. Thank goodness for compressors and puncture repair products.
Arriving home also brought the news that my cruise partner had become a Nana to a beautiful baby granddaughter while we were away. This is my excuse to pick up cute PINK things now at Frenchy's. I had been certain this baby was a girl so already had started a stash. I will get to see the little princess on Thursday as we plan to visit on our way to the airport hotel.
A friend's granddaughter is travelling in the east (and I don't mean the Maritimes) so keeping a wonderful blog - I offer the link here:
So, as I write about tropical adventures I check the weather site and see that the temperature in Kugluktuk - used to be called Coppermine (heading there in a few weeks) is still -42 c with the wind chill and ice crystals today. Lots of winter there yet. I was explaining to someone today that by the time June comes I'll have had three winters in the past nine months - Oct, Jan/Feb and Apr, not to mention a fall and spring at home and really two summers if you count the southern expeditions but.....who's counting?
So tomorrow we have guests invited for supper and plan to have arctic char steaks, baked potatoes and slaw with lemon cheesecake squares. Not going to feel one bit guilty to leave the shore captain on his own for ten days.
