Billy's Telling

Do's, Don't s, Will's and Wont's We decided to rent a much bigger, sturdier tent at Playa Jibacoa for our last few beach days in Cuba, a good decision in hindsight, as the weather changed quite dramatically with the advent of the fuller moon cycle. The wind picked up, it rained and the sea, well became sea...previously pretending to be lake-like. It would be a normal sea for South Africa, if not quite small, but here it's a hurricane. Anyway, Eldorette has one room in the tent and I have the other, both with mattresses on the floor and there is another compartment, the same size as those two combined, which has a us lounger in it, where I happened to be sleeping when I was awoken by some panicked screeching. Eldorette had a crab in her room which had somehow managed to find its way in and was walking around and had brushed her hand. Well, all pandemonium had broken loose. I asked her to hold the torch while I used a plastic bag to capture the beast and throw it o

Somehow it feels strange to write this and almost sad in a certain sense...I am in my last week in Cuba! Wow, what a journey it has been. Full, over-flowing with memories, emotions, friendships, heartwarming and heartbreaking stories of poverty and overcoming hardships. Many many kilometers of riding a heavily laden bicycle into winds, down beaches, up mountains. Being tanned, feeling fat, having no food or water, drinking rum with locals, eating funny food, seeing amazing sights, but most of all, the journey has healed wounds and centered me more than any journey I have taken on before. My aunt in Johannesburg, feels I have opted out of life after reading my blogs. My opinion on that is, that I am one of the few people I know who has actually opted into life, in a way most people wish they could. We can't ask for an understanding around this sort of undertaking, people either get it and most probably don't. It's not that I want everybody to experience what I have done or

Vinales and Cayo Jutias Having heard that the Cuban government had invested much time and effort in creating Vinales into their prime tourist attraction, I was sceptical about it prior to my arrival. I expected an attitude much like the other tourist spots which I had passed through in my past 6 weeks in Cuba. Alas, from the very start when we arrived in the Main Street running through the town, something felt different, almost a laid back sense of overachieved status unbeknown to the inhabitants. It's was a refreshing mix of quiet confidence about being Cuban and the fact that this really was one of the jewels in the crown of Cuba, offering much in the way of activities and food, to suit everyone's taste and proclivity. The guest casa was a traditional family house which dated back to the family as far as the owner could remember. She had inherited it as the youngest of 9 children and had kept the colonial style authenticity of furnishings and flooring. The family all live

The road to Vinales... After Eldorette's arrival in Cuba, as predicted, the dynamic of my journey has shifted slightly, not in any way negatively, just different, but such was my expectation. It is amazing how very different it is to travel with another person after being solo for almost 6 weeks without much of a conversation or sharing any of the travel stuff and experience one feels as one goes. From my side, I have had to also shift the way I operate on a daily basis, something I have had to adjust to also. Small things, much of it consideration before doing, which isn't always a bad thing to do anyway, but not always an easy adjustment to make, so perhaps I am just finding my own new rhythm? Her arrival has also brought with it a slight amount of disorganization. I think his is just down to the expectations that Cuba is similar to everywhere else visited thus far, ( which it ain't) and to find out that what was expected here, is not here. Not the right travel bags, to

When vultures go flying high above the sea and they are not sea birds, is there a reason? I was watching those vultures soaring high above and thought to myself that if there is one thing I would love to experience, it's that feeling. Maybe it's exactly that, and they do it because they can, and it isn't for the search of food, but cos it's just amazing. It's relaxation time after a hard day, so they go for a swoop in the heavens, can't say I can fault that. So, I am 37 days into my solo journey in Cuba, and all of a sudden, it's my last. I am not sure how I feel about that fact. I recall having 33 days left until Eldorette arrived, then, boom! Time literally flies, but often not when you are in it. I am so looking forward to seeing my mate and actually being able to have a conversation with someone, without needing a fucking ven- diagram and a game of charades. Quite honestly I'm over that now. The other side of the coin is I no longer have carte Blan

I am still finding it vaguely impossible that Cubano's have such little or almost no regard for littering. It's as if there is absolutely nothing wrong with throwing rubbish on the floor, anything, anytime, anywhere. Even when one talk about it, there is a sense that the other person thinks I'm completely mad. I still find myself continuing to collect rubbish, even here in Playa Jibacoa, where my tent is 40 metres from the shoreline of an intimate, immaculately small bay. As soon as I have picked up a packet or a bottle, another takes its place. I met an ex Russian, now Canadian, who reckons it's because the people have no ownership of the land so it's not in their interest to be proactive in the tidiness of it. An interesting perspective, and he went on to say it was the same in the Soviet Union, prior to the collapse of their Communist system. The place otherwise is nice and I have relocated those amazing, charming, friendly, warm locals I remember from the start