SUNDAY, 7-31-16: 8:28 a.m. O'Hare looks very boring when you arrive two hours early and breeze right through check out. Well, actually, there was one small glitch: My bag was over 50 pounds so I had to pilfer through it and take out 2.5 lbs worth of "necessities": My jewelry and my charging gizmos.
No one ever accused me of traveling too light. I HAD to travel heavy this time because of all I read and heard about Cuba. The women, for instance, dress skimpy and detest travelers who wear "clunky shoes.: ie Birkenstocks. (Guilty) So I packed a lot of sun dresses and shortish skirts with lightweight tops. (It's supposed to be in the 90s there.) I also had to pack a little purse to wear with the sundresses- I can't exactly schlep a black cross-body travel purse around a lovely little sun dress, you know? Then there was the technology issue; Internet is hard to come by. Only in some parks and finer hotels will one find it- not at the regular internet cafes I'm used to finding while traveling. So, I had to pack my laptop. And, I already had the Ipad mini packed. I mean, who knows what opportunities will present themselves, right? I can take pictures with the mini at, for instance, a school and show the kids. You know,,.
Even though I travel quite a bit, I remain totally perplexed by the whole travel process, and stop and ask for help like four times before I finally arrive at my gate. A lady helped me with the automatic check-in process; I asked the baggage check-in guy where to go next, and I had to go to a different gate than was on my ticket so I had to ask for help from a "friendly" stewardess, or whatever she was.
But I'm here, sitting in gate K4 surrounded by a gaggle of people. Nine, to be exact, 6 of whom are staring at their phones, one who is reading, one chatting with her mother, and one final Indian guy slouched so low on his chair relaxing that he might slide off any time. He is chewing gum very intensely. Oh, and I see one novel open by a 20 something girl. In the background, "Make this country great" bullshit is krooning over the omnipresent T.V.s.
So, some of you may be wondering what the heck I'm going to be doing while I'm gone.
Jacque, the retired interior design college teacher- whom I met on a trip to Zimbabwe 20-some years ago, will be my host when I land in Merida, Mexico at 3:18 today. She has an incredible house right on the ocean, where you can get up in the morning, put your suit on, grab a cup of coffee, and go run out and play in the ocean in Chixilub.
We're going to hang out there for a day, then start heading to Cancun, from where I will fly to Havana. Half way (2 hours) to Cancun there is an art village where we're going to stay for the night and explore. Then, off to Cancun the next day. On August 3 I arrive in Havana.
Cool stuff seems promising there: I have a Canadian Facebook friend who is a Cuban art broker and travels there frequently. He is going to try and be there when I am (Aug. 3-13). If so, he has offered to take me to meet artists and experience authentic Cuban music! His "touch point person" in Havana - Nestor, an attorney, will be greeting me in Havana and taking me around a bit, too. Nestor is trying to find me a teaching gig there, but the schools are out for summer, so he's hard-
pressed to come up with results. English language schools ARE open during the summer, however, and I just got my M.A. in Curriculum and
No one ever accused me of traveling too light. I HAD to travel heavy this time because of all I read and heard about Cuba. The women, for instance, dress skimpy and detest travelers who wear "clunky shoes.: ie Birkenstocks. (Guilty) So I packed a lot of sun dresses and shortish skirts with lightweight tops. (It's supposed to be in the 90s there.) I also had to pack a little purse to wear with the sundresses- I can't exactly schlep a black cross-body travel purse around a lovely little sun dress, you know? Then there was the technology issue; Internet is hard to come by. Only in some parks and finer hotels will one find it- not at the regular internet cafes I'm used to finding while traveling. So, I had to pack my laptop. And, I already had the Ipad mini packed. I mean, who knows what opportunities will present themselves, right? I can take pictures with the mini at, for instance, a school and show the kids. You know,,.
Even though I travel quite a bit, I remain totally perplexed by the whole travel process, and stop and ask for help like four times before I finally arrive at my gate. A lady helped me with the automatic check-in process; I asked the baggage check-in guy where to go next, and I had to go to a different gate than was on my ticket so I had to ask for help from a "friendly" stewardess, or whatever she was.
But I'm here, sitting in gate K4 surrounded by a gaggle of people. Nine, to be exact, 6 of whom are staring at their phones, one who is reading, one chatting with her mother, and one final Indian guy slouched so low on his chair relaxing that he might slide off any time. He is chewing gum very intensely. Oh, and I see one novel open by a 20 something girl. In the background, "Make this country great" bullshit is krooning over the omnipresent T.V.s.
So, some of you may be wondering what the heck I'm going to be doing while I'm gone.
Jacque, the retired interior design college teacher- whom I met on a trip to Zimbabwe 20-some years ago, will be my host when I land in Merida, Mexico at 3:18 today. She has an incredible house right on the ocean, where you can get up in the morning, put your suit on, grab a cup of coffee, and go run out and play in the ocean in Chixilub.
We're going to hang out there for a day, then start heading to Cancun, from where I will fly to Havana. Half way (2 hours) to Cancun there is an art village where we're going to stay for the night and explore. Then, off to Cancun the next day. On August 3 I arrive in Havana.
Cool stuff seems promising there: I have a Canadian Facebook friend who is a Cuban art broker and travels there frequently. He is going to try and be there when I am (Aug. 3-13). If so, he has offered to take me to meet artists and experience authentic Cuban music! His "touch point person" in Havana - Nestor, an attorney, will be greeting me in Havana and taking me around a bit, too. Nestor is trying to find me a teaching gig there, but the schools are out for summer, so he's hard-
pressed to come up with results. English language schools ARE open during the summer, however, and I just got my M.A. in Curriculum and
