THE BEST FOR LAST

On our last full day in Cuba, the first thing we did was visit a cigar factory -- a "factory" with no machines, where every single thing was done by hand, from sorting the tobacco leaves by size and color to assembling the boxes, and everything had to be perfect. It was really quite fascinating. Our guide warned us that if we wanted to take photos we must be very discreet, which I am not good at, so I didn't even try. John was able to get a few good ones though and, hopefully, I can share those with you later. One of his favorites is a woman rolling cigars, wearing a San Francisco baseball cap, a baseball t-shirt with a ruffled collar, and with her glove and cleats tucked into a cubbyhole on her work table. In case you haven't heard, baseball is very big in Cuba! So big, in fact, that there is an area in their central park known as Hot Corner -- slang for third base -- where hordes of people gather every single day, just to argue about baseball!

The triumph will be in the sum of the effort of all.

From there it was a short trip down the street to Estadio Latinoamericano, the main baseball stadium. Unfortunately, the Industriales had just recently lost out of the finals, so there was no game to attend. Hubby's disappointment was assuaged by getting them to open up the stadium's gift shop for us, so he could buy a few souvenirs.

From there it was off to the historic Hotel Nacional de Cuba, to try what our guide Mandy declared to be the best Mojito in all the world!

The secret is that dark layer floating on top, which must be stirred in before drinking. Bitters, perhaps?

We liked it!

Then came a big surprise -- one that wasn't on our itinerary. Welcome to Fusterlandia! You can read all about it here.

Does this scream Becky T. Lane, or what? It was like Antoni Gaudi on steroids! And, since we had gone off script to get there, Mandy thought of a great little place nearby where we could have lunch. He had us at "Hello", when we had to walk through their impressive herb and veggie garden to get to our seating area on the water. Welcome to El Laurel.

But wait, there's more! Coming from one who hates coffee, cigars and most alcohol, you would probably never guess what was my favorite thing we did throughout the entire trip. This!

We got to have lessons on the right way to do all three! First you sip your tiny cup of the best Cuban coffee. Then you take a swig of good, seven year old rum and swish it around in your mouth a bit before finally swallowing it. Then, if you are me, you spend several minutes coughing yourself silly and, according to everyone else, making some pretty bizarre faces. But, then we were taught how to light thin strips of cedar from the candle on our table, holding it to the tip of our cigar, rolling it around until it's evenly lit, and how to take several puffs and hold the smoke in your mouth, never inhaling. We were also taught that the way the cigar is held in one's hand says a lot about a person. Are you a Churchill? A Groucho? A Frida? A Fidel? The Most Interesting Person in the World?

I'm sad to say that, after growing up with a father who smoked cigars in the car on all of our road trips, and coming to associate the smell with carsickness, I just couldn't make myself put it in my mouth. I regret that. For, then he told us to take another swig of the rum, comparing the taste to the  first one. Apparently the cigar smoke affected everyone's tastebuds in such a way that the rum now tasted so velvety smooth and delicious that, before long, it led to this!

Our last dinner was at yet another wonderful paladar, called Ivan Chef Justo, whose specialty was roast suckling pig - a specially bred mini pig that fits on a plate. Tasted great, but don't order if you are the type that doesn't like to be reminded that your meal was once alive. And, for sure, don't sit next to my hubby, who kept waving its poor little limbs at us!

And thus, our adventure came to an end.