Day 3/2

After the interesting visit to Anap it was time to exprerience some hands on agricultural activity. The've been driven over to a so called urban agricultural project. The idea behibd this, i s to provide the majority of local people with vegetables without travelling too far.Once in the farm you feel like beeing in the middle of nowhere but in fact we were just few miles away from bustling Havana.The tour begun with a wee speech by one of the cooperative's founder where we've been given freshly squeezed orange juice - very very very nice. After that it was time to have a stroll around fields and see the impressive variety of produce. We also came across the ugliest fruit in the world - Napa.Attached to the farm there's a little outlet but there are also customers that go directly into the fields and pick their product !This project is another example of how Cuba needed this sort of idea after the fall of the USRR and lack of oil import.We boarded the mini bus once again and this time we were brought back to the city centre to have lunch in Chinatown. This chinatown has its origin thanks to the cjinese community that come over to build the railway line. To be sincere ks very small, just a couple of streets but the restaurant we went to was excellent.

Day 3/1

This was the first day were we moved away from the touristic trail. Even if still in the capital we started today to tackle the Fair Trade/ agricultural issues that will be at the centre of the tour from now on.First thing in the morning we visited Anap (Asociacion National Agricultores Pequenos) the associasion of small farmers. Tthis is a state run organisation that take care of the interests of their member around the island. Anap was also involved from the very beginning to the implementation of the Fair Trade model in Cuba.The person that we were supposed to meet (Deborah) was delayed when her car broke down. We anyway went on with the presentation and we had the luck to have her boss (Mario ) to do the talk. It was a very informal event that took place in their national building. Mario is the typical cuban, his resenblance are fairly similar to the one of Ibrahim Ferrer (late singer of Buena Vista Social Club). The clearly likes to talk and he entertained us with a speech that covered all the various tasks of Anap since the Cuban agrarian reform 1959. It was very enjoyable to hear from his mouth the important role that the organisation is playing in coordinating and helping small farmers. At the end he took questions and we went on for quite a bit covering vqrious issues including FT.

Day 2

The first proper day in Cuba begun with an early start. It was mainly due to the jet lag so me and Manu had our breakfast at 7.15 . After eating a comprehnsive meal we started our visit of Havana. Everything is perfectly organised with the mini bus always around to facilitate transfers.
The Old Havana is an impressive location, no wonder that UNESCO recognised it as world landmark. Streets are narrow but pedestrianised buildings are of very different types, mostly are painted in bright colours but the state of them range between delerict (about to come down) and recetly restored that look new. We started our tour from Plaza de las Armas up until the Plaza Vieja. During walking tour we came across a variety of characters approching us. The most commons are the one trying to sell you something; newspaper, coins, your poirtrait (done in 2min before approaching you). Second comes the one that offer to take a picture with you at a price, the most characteristic are a street singer, a man with a big sigar in his mouth and two women dresses in typical cuban dress. To conclude there are the one just asking for money ... But also a variety of dogs without owners that seems to be everywhere.
The picture is an installation just next to the American Interests Office. It's calle the "Cien Banderas" the 100 flags, it rapresents the fact will need stop fighting to keep its autodetermination. In a wind day like today it is really impressive.

Day 1

In order to celebrates such a special event, I decided to alter my look. If you don't notice any difference I going to be very disappointed! Yes, I've shaved my head. Both a practical and aesthetical decision; practical because I'm now able to put sun lotion directly on my scalp. There was also an attempt to try a new look; considering that a pony tail wasn't possible, this was the only way to go.
I don't know what you think, but I like it. It's practical and clean, you've to get used to it though . Now whatever I touch with my head (pillow, head rest) comes directly in contact with my skin ouch.. strange!
Feel free to comment on what you think.
About the traveling bit, just one thing 13 hours are a awful lot of time. Next time with the help of my readers I'll flight business! :-)

Less than one week away

Getting ready for a trip in never the easiest thing to do. Usually there are two factors that are affecting the size of the task: destination and length of the holiday. In our case there is a third one, very charateristic of this destination: an economic embargo that block the majority of goods to be sold in the country. In other words if you forget something home you won't be able to buy it on site.

Due to what seems to be a very complicated situation we decided to put a little more time and efford in order to prepare to our journey. At the end of the day this is going to be the only major holiday for 2007 and we're really looking forward to it. So now, less than one week from taking off, we've got the majority of things already sorted.

What we are going to TRY to do is keeping this page up to date with a sort of diary, in this area of the screen, and some pictures, on the right.

Please note that this is not the main site. You'll be able to follow my adventure using the Web 2.0 flash web page at this link.

As usual if you have question or comment, please feel free to ask.

Hasta Pronto
Marco