I’m sitting here in the airport in Cancun, feeling pretty proud of myself for failing to fail to update the blog, at least for one week. At this very moment (while I write – I’ll have to post this later because the Cancun airport sucks and only has paid wifi (I know, rough life Phil)) I’m 16 hours into my approximately 52 hour door to door journey from Havana to Ushuaia. Granted I shot myself in the foot right from the start by getting to the airport 1.5 hours too early, but so it goes. I’m waiting for an overnight flight to Lima, where I’ll hang out for 6 hours before getting on a flight to Buenos Aires, where I’ll have the incomparable pleasure of a 10 hour overnight layover before heading to Ushuaia early Sunday morning. Needless to say this whole deal is self-inflicted; I’m hardly following a well worn path, to the point that the guy who checked me in here in Cancun told me that it took an extra second because he had never seen the destination Ushuaia and had to look it up. Points for trailblazing I guess…

My last few days in Cuba were nice, if uneventful. Las Terrazas was small and quiet and, aside from walking a couple of hours to a cute river where I listened to the water burble as the mosquitoes ate me alive, I pretty much just sat around and relaxed. Continuing the self-inflicted theme, I got sick on my last night there after an ill-advised experiment with the local water, but it only lasted one night and I regret nothing. Just so y’all know though, even if you’re feeling cocky after a few drinks with melted ice in them, it only takes half a small cup of water. Not more than 4 ounces. Anyway, after that I caught a short and pleasant bus ride to Havana, had a delicious hot shower and shave, and then headed out early the next morning.

I feel like I should give Cuba some sort of wrap up but I don’t really have any Deep Thoughts. It’s certainly unlike any place I’ve ever been. The lack of internet and economic infeasibility of travel make information much harder to come by, so that even just asking someone in Havana for advice about Santiago de Cuba is pretty much useless. Between that, the cars, and the buildings, it’s really easy to feel like you’ve stepped straight into the past. Even with all that the charm is undeniable. Every city has a beautiful central square, if not several, where people meet and hang out. The buildings and cars are beautiful, sometimes tragically, and the people are warm, welcoming, and curious. Cubans pride themselves on having the best possible time with whatever resources they can get, and I’d have to agree. It will be fascinating to see what happens there, because of opening relations with the US but more so because of the opening up of internal politics. I imagine that the next time I make it there it will be very different.

One last stupid/funny thought for the road. In Cuba (and also Mexico if I remember correctly), when you thank someone, a common way of saying you’re welcome is “por nada”, literally “for nothing”. The similarity to English responses like “no problem” or “don’t mention it” is obvious, but for some reason the first time someone said it to me it stuck in my head, “-Thanks -For nothing”. Now every time someone says it I hear, in perfect intonation, Maggie O’Hooligan from Caddyshack saying “Tanks fur nuttin Danny!”. Thanks for reading, hasta luego!

P.S. Posting this from my own nice slab of granite (or some sort of hard rock, whatever, I’m not a geogolist) in the Buenos Aires airport before I curl up for the night. Currently 41 hours in. Alarm is set for 3:30am, will to live is low. I know, rough life Phil…