The Gratitude Factor

The revelation of being grateful.. Stamps for renewal done, with the security guard asking me this time if I had my passport (funny guy), lovely sunny beach day in Varadero, and noticeably less ( not fewer, for, well, we now know who), rubbish on the beach. Has the global average temperature just dropped too? One drop can, and does start a river which can flow 4000km to the sea, so if we all do a small bit...so please do. I saw some more small fish getting filleted on the beach, there were a few which had already been done. One small sandwich for the kids at school tomorrow perhaps? I really shouldn't be so quick to judge, maybe 5 small fish can feed 1000 people, apparently it's happened before somewhere? Didn't see any loaves however. But all in all a much less frustrating day, although the check out chick in the supermarket did try and steal from me, but am not gonna go there, cos so caught her out, fucking rubbish. Luckily I'm sharp at maths...it's all the adding up kilometers that I've done which aided! Penny is feeling frustrated, it may be her broken stiletto or that she just needs to go and stretch her long lovely legs! Have you seen this chicks legs? Not too shabby!

I am a big fan of gratitude. Expression of it across different platforms, verbally, mentally and on social media hashtag, if that counts? Most of my posts on Instagram have a #gratitude hashtag attached somewhere. I have started a new thing since being in Cuba, and I am only referencing it now, as something extraordinary just happened to me. It's small and may have even gone unnoticed to some, depending on ones mindset and pre-condition, but to me it was about as much of a sign as I have ever got, that gratitude needs to be expressed, always. I take time around 20 minutes before sunset, just to sit quietly on the beach, legs crossed, with the sand in my hands, gently rubbing the grains together as it leaks out of my fingers back onto the sand, this I keep repeating, just appreciating that I am in contact with Mother Nature, the earths energy and how I appreciate and have gratitude for all that I am privileged enough to have been given by her. The beach, the ocean, the sky and sunsets. I try and focus on this stuff and all the great things that the day has given me. There is no time period to this, it just happens as it happens and when I am ready and done I go for a swim. Same thing. I get in and dip my hands in the water and rub them together and feel the water and am grateful that I can do this and have the salt water to cleanse the day away. It's a small thing, and I wouldn't have mentioned any of this, for the exception of what occurred when I exited the water. I didn't go in deep, just floated around, watching the sun setting, floating on my back, for about 5 minutes. The salt stung my body for the first time since being here, it was strange. Also, another part of this was that I haven't seen, or heard of, or anyone saying anything about sand dollars, or pansy shells in Cuba. I have found them by the dozen in Thailand, but not in Cuba. As I walked out of the sea, on the high water mark, 2 metres from the shore break, was the most perfectly formed sand dollar. I would have missed it had I been a meter either side. It was just sitting there on top of the sand like it was just put there for me. So, I probably think some of you are now thinking I have lost the plot, but those of you who know me well, understand how immense that sort of thing is for me. I cannot scribe the feeling I had, it was quite as if the world surrounding me then had gone silent and frozen in a pause mode, with me being the only one in motion. I have actually just showed it to the man who owns the Casa I am staying at and he had never ever seen one before, he actually told me he thought it was plastic. Haha. Anyway, so I am now even more of a fan of showing and expressing gratitude to the universe, why wouldn't I be, it just gave me a small (massive) thank you for a gift of absolute perfection. I was up before sunrise this morning to get to the Saturday market, before all the produce was gone, that in itself would take an effort, but I did manage to get some tomatoes and bananas. It's hard to find fruit and vegetables here for some reason. Not out near the farmlands, but the supermarkets don't stock fresh produce. After I had that all done I took Penny off for that leg loosener. I didn't know where I was headed, just a general compass direction as I have no maps of Cuba any longer. I wanted to get to a lighthouse on the way to Matanzas, just to see the viability for camping next week. On the return I ended up going quite far into the bush and just following donkey cart tracks as they presented themselves. It was some awesome riding, proper mountain biking, which I really enjoyed. I ended up doing 87km all told, Penny was happy and I was exercised, as I may have even started to feel flabby again with all this beach time and no exercise.

I think I'll go back to the beach bum resumption as of tomorrow, and as I have again taken up reading, after a good long absence, shall settle into this travel book I have come across, called Shadow Of The Silk Road. This also happens to be one of the areas I want to go and explore by bike. It has such a fascinating history, and that route, and versions thereof, date back millennia, and feature the advent of silk into Europe ( hence the name ), how religions passed to and fro and how spices and valuable goods got from East to West and visa versa. So interesting. I can only imagine the stark beauty of the high mountain passes of the Pamir and central Asian magnitude. Definitely a bucket list thing... After a lovely relaxing booking reading day, mostly in the shade of one or other palm, cascading over the beach, I took myself off to a restaurant, which the owner of the Casa had recommended, as I wanted a pizza. It was only 3 streets away. I sat at a table on my own and ordered a ham and cheese pizza and as I sipped on a Jameson's I noticed a tall, grey haired figure of a man who seemed to be slightly familiar to me. Now as I've mentioned previously, I often notice solo travelers as its not that common in Cuba. I squizzed him up and down and my gaze rested on his shoes. Unusual brand, wait, I know those shoes. I hadn't mentioned him in any blogs before, as we didn't actually have any interaction, we were just staying in the same Casa, in Caibarien, the one that went on playing music 24 hours a day and was literally at the end of a peninsula and had no foot flow whatsoever. Where I was rained in for days... I approached the table and pardoned the interruption, but was curious to see if this was in fact the same man and that the odds of us being here at the same time were immeasurably small. The Caibarien thing is acceptable, a random chance, but given that this was the first restaurant I had been to in a week, as had been cooking at the Casa, was quite astonishing to me and that he, was here at the same time and same place. After a brief interlude I returned to my table and finished my pizza, but my curiousity was still not quenched, I needed to know more about this person. No such thing as coincidence in life, so I asked if I could join him for a bit at his table. * I recall a clip I read before leaving South Africa, which made me think of this meeting, and coincidence and odds... A hitch hiker gets picked up by a passing car, and as he gets in, he says, "Well, that was kind of you but you didn't even check, I may have been a serial killer!" The driver turns to him and says, "The odds of 2 serial killers being in the same car are unimaginable!" From Switzerland, he travels to far away destinations as his wife doesn't like long haul, so he goes alone. He had been to Cuba a few times previously and had worked in Zurich with some and had made firm friends over years of work in a laboratory. He had been here the first time 22 years ago, when it was very different and regaled me with some stories of travel here when under the strict rule of communism. Fake demonstrations, getting followed by secret police, etc. so interesting. We sat and drank a beer and exchanged stories of solo travel, the experiences one gets, the introspective nature of it and how rewarding it actually is. There are always times of difficulty and strife, as I have shared with you over the last 4 weeks, but this is soul development material, food for thought so to speak, and a possibility of embetterment of oneself for others. It was wonderful to hear the insights of a fit, well travelled 70 year old, with an open mind and a heart for the adventurous experience. I honestly thought we were closer in age than 21 years, which goes a long way to show that getting out of your comfort zone is a fine tonic for youthfulness and eternal life...ok not the last one, but certainly worth a thought. I left the restaurant feeling so ultimately happy for this rendezvous with an obviously well educated and courageous being. My soul felt galvanized and I was elated in the knowledge that I still had many years of opportunities, and should never let the imagination of a number be a barrier of any sort. What a pleasure it was. I am going to do my major admin now, getting my visa renewed, then I am going to further enjoy my penultimate day in Varadero with some travel reading by Mr. Colin Thubron, in the shade of another palm. A recommended read. Somewhat verbose and intricately overly descriptive for the entire duration, but the basis of the novel is fascinating and gives one amazing perspective on how small we really all are in the total history of this planet. Unimportant in fact. I seriously marvel at the travelers of old, wading out into an unmapped, unexplored wild terrain, often never to return, now that's leaving ones comfort zone...on a camel. Everybody dies.... Not everybody lives... I'll just leave that there for pondering. Go out and smash your CZ. Miss you all and thank you for reading and perhaps sharing with others my amazing days of travel. I am truly blessed.