Beach. And then some more beach where we met our neighbors, Abby, Brittney, and Leah, and their two friends, all from Oahu (-ish. Many were from the Midwest, went to school in Santa Cruz, then moved out to Hawaii). Then a nap and some reading. Then beach.
Not the worst camp site
We ate dinner early, maybe around 6, and just kinda hung out with the cat.
Then sunset.
At sunset, Sophie and I started dancing on the beach and Abby, ran over and offered to take a video of us dancing on the beach. We politely declined, but she invited us over to some singing bowls being played. We grabbed our headlamps and headed over. We stayed a short while then peaced out. A little bit too woo woo. We stargazed for a bit, then called it a night.
We work up at 6am, ate some oatmeal, grabbed our bags and got on the trail.
Wooo, let's do this!Starting out fresh. All smiles
It was a hell of a hike.
We took a break around 11 at a gate into the national park. We had passed someone earlier in the day who told us to be sure to drop our packs and walk around the rock by the gate. That treated us to a ledge above an 800 foot drop to the ocean.
Beyond that, it was a pretty rough slog. Stopping for lunch was great, but it was tough going. Luckily, the river crossings were easy, and crawler’s ledge is easier. Sure footing and safe–just nasty consequences.
Just before Crawler's ledgeCrawlers ledge really isn't that bad...like, at all. Consequences, yeah, but it's some of the most secure footing on the whole trail
Around 4pm, Sophie mentioned she had a splitting headache and felt nauseous, so we took a break and cooled down in a shady area. We both felt much better after that.
The beach was one of the most welcome sights ever. Sophie’s face was priceless. There may have been some tears, but they were well earned. This was without a doubt the hardest trail I’ve ever done, and probably the most physically demanding thing I’ve ever undertaken. She’s a trooper.
After reaching camp, we set up a got some more water from a nearby waterfall. Several rocks dropped near us as we did, which was fun, and the water was a bit silty. Luckily, our neighbors (on vacation from San Mateo) had a filter, so that saved us. As soon as we could, we made dinner (Chili with macaroni), and passed out. I was done.
We woke up early and got on the plane from OAK to Maui, then Maui to Lihue.
Even at the airport, Sophie was stoked to be there
First stop was Hamura’s, of course. Sophie wasn’t terribly impressed by the saimin, but I’ve never seen her face light up like when she tasted the lilikoi pie. We ordered a second slice.
After Hamura’s, we hit up Walmart for propane and snacks. Turns out they only have the Coleman cylinders, so we ended up at Kayak Kauai, which luckily carries them. As it turned out, we could have just scavenged for them on the trail, but so it goes.
We got to our airbnb, then went to the beach! The water was great, and the weather perfect. At one point, we even got a sun shower.
We showered off, then went for drinks at the St. Regis. At the bar, the bartender asked if I was Ashley’s brother. When we facetimed my mom from the bar to wish her a happy birthday, we figured out she’s one of Uncle Lotin’s grandchildren.
After drinks, we bailed on our reservation, we didn’t feel like blowing so much money on an unremarkable meal that we would have rushed through to get to bed. So, we went back to Kapa’a and hit up the noodle house.
Woke up. Read. Breakfast at the house. Taxi to the airport.
Dealt with customs (because I didn’t get a certificate when I purchased the piece, I had to pay a whole $3 to get the painting out of the country). We got on the plane. Other than the poor babies screaming behind us much of the flight, the flight was easy.
Those were the first words we woke up to on Saturday morning. I don’t think she’ll be riding again soon.
Breakfast at the panaderia, taxi to El Nicho, then to Cienfuegos.
Walked around Cienfuegos.
Extremely interesting dinner. Turns out we definitely bought fake cigars. bought some rum, then hung out on the Malecon and smoked the cigar. Better than last nights, has some positive qualities, but not gonna be a regular thing.
Woke up early, spent the day horseback riding. Kinda wanna make this more of a regular thing.
Post ride, we came back and showered. I finally convinced myself that painting hanging in the gallery the previous day was worth it, and picked up, along with a second painting for Anand and Naudereh. The plan is to put it above my bed, but if not, it’ll work somewhere else.
We grabbed dinner at someplace called Jazz something or other. I had a cornflake crusted curry and lemon chicken that was surprisingly good, then met up with a few of the people we had met while riding earlier in the day. We went three rounds at this adorable bar whose owner looks exactly like Dina’s cousin Mark.
Dina and I went on a futile search for wifi. Dina semi-befriended some drunk ass blonde, while her Chris Hemsworth looking boyfriend chatted me up, pawned a cigar off on me, which unfortunately had none of the redeeming qualities I hoped for.
Got up, Luís made breakfast, we piled in a jeep, and headed for Trinidad. Got a beautiful hotel, El Atico, then bummed around. Looked at some art. Go drinks at a beer hall, had some great discussions. Had a fantastic meal at Redacion de la Liberal.
After the late night on the Malecon, getting up at nine to clear out of the house was rough. Luckily “moving” only consisted of packing up and walking across the street. We got settled while Naudereh and Anand went to the bus station to try to secure a ride to Trinidad for the next day.
Dina, Hanna, and I had a wonderful conversation with our host, Luis, about US-Cuba relations.
Luis took us around the corner to the neighborhood cafeteria, Don Bello. The food was good by Cuban standards and we spent lunch discussing the different ways countries (i.e. the US and Cuba) spread wealth.
Following lunch, we went to an enormous warehouse filled with art from Cuban artists. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many painted canvases under one roof. After several hours of deliberation, Dina came away the winner with two gorgeous pieces at a good price, though Hanna got a great painting of an elephant in the rain with an umbrella. I picked up something small for Sophie, and Anand and Naudereh got some maracas, then went and got beers next door.
“Next door” turned out to be another converted warehouse home to Cuba’s nacent craft brewing scene. They had three beers, “dark”, “medium”, and “light”, which were all fair. At least on par with the Bucaneros we had been drinking. The live band was perfect, and at one point the lead singer managed to snipe Hanna and get a nice dance out of her.
From there, we headed to Chinatown for dinner, which locals hasen to mention no longer has any Chinese people in it (I was one of probably a half dozen people of any type of asian decent we saw the entire trip). The food all looked pretty bad, and they were out of every vegetarian option, so we high tailed it.
We scored a ride from a sweet 1957 convertible (which I think was a Plymouth Belvedere). At a stoplight, someone in the car next to us looked over and gave us a thumbs up, “Nice ride! That’s the only one on the island!”. After dinner at Plan B (which included a malt soda that tasted exactly like raisin bran), we called it for the night and crashed hard.
We had a leisurely morning, followed by a wonderful brunch at Archangel Cafe. the place was adorable, the food was good, and the coffee was top notch.
See, adorable
Following brunch, we took a horse drawn carriage tour of old Havana. The tour itself was whatever, but it was great getting a better understanding of the lay of the land. Afterward, we hoofed it through old town in a direction vaguely towards the Abath Synagogue. Havana is beautif`ul.
Johnson's pharmacy. I have no idea why it was so nice. They basically sold bandaids.Dina and Hanna out in front of the Florida Hotel in Habana ViejaNot every alleyway looked like this, but many did. Incredible.
Pre-revolution, there was a significant Jewish presence in Cuba. Consequently, in 1963, the community broke ground on a synagogue in Havana. However, construction was hamstrung through the start of the revolution in 1969. So, the finished building was drab and angry, surrounded by barbed wire. According to the rabbi, at the start of the revolution, everyone with the means left. Following the revolution, anyone practicing a religion was excluded from entering government service and higher education. This practice lasted until the collapse of the Soviet Union, at which time restrictions were loosened. Despite the subjugation, there remains a population of a nearly 1,000 Jews here in Havana today.
Following the synagogue, we downed several rounds of mojitos at the Havana Club while discussing the finer points of index and hedge funds (the irony coming to Cuba to discuss this was not lost on us), then rendez-vous’d back at the house.
We showered, freshened up, and headed to dinner at La Guarderia. From the outside, it was completely nondescript and we would have never found it ourselves. Our cabbie himself had to ask directions twice, despite it being one of, if not the, most famous restaurant in the country.
The entrance to La GuarderiaDina and Hanna in the ballroom.
We entered on the ground floor (accidentally detouring into some poor guy’s living room on our search for the bar), ascended to the second floor, where Dina and I waltzed on the beautiful marble floor, took some photos, and then proceeded to dinner. While considerably more expensive than other restaurants we’d been to whole here (on par with SF), the food was absolutely top notch.
snapper carpaccio with shallots and tomato
ropa viejo, which managed to be simultaneously refreshing and hearty
salad verde
ravioli con pesto y pinoles
frijoles negro
Moros y christians
chocolates three ways
Lemon custard and crust with almonds
chocloate and strawberries
coffee and more rum than I care to admit to
The walls were covered in really interesting pieces
Dinner was wonderful, followed by yet another economics/political discussion. We grabbed a cab to La Fabrica (which we discovered closes early on Monday nights), then to El Zorro y Cuervo for some jazz.
Throughout the day, we were surrounded by art. People dancing in the streets just because, painting and selling their art on the sidewalk, playing music. How Cuban economy work to support that, or is it in such dire straights such that someone occasionally giving even one CUC makes it all worth it. The guide mentioned rationing, so it will be interesting to look into that further. Is it all black market, or is it more like a basic income? Internet would help this.
