I went to Cuba with my dad for the first time when I was 11 years old. It was the first time back for him in over 30 years. He was excited about visiting his father who is my grandfather. He hadn't seen him or spoken to him in all that time. That was strange to me because my father has always been around.
I remember Cuba was very different. There was a lot of things missing- like internet, air conditioning, water heaters, no green vegetables. My father is big on healthy foods so not having a lot of green vegetables and a variety of fruits was hard. The no internet and air conditioning was a big problem for me. But we were there for like 16 days. The first few days it was so boring and hot. I was really mad I was there. I mean I was glad to meet my family in Cuba but I don't speak spanish so I could hardly talk to anyone but my dad and I was bored. Every day I took two baths. I had to stand in this room with a drain in the middle and my grandmother heated the water with a hand held electric heater. It took forever just to get one bucket full. Then I had to use the bucket to wash. Electricity would come and go and the food was strange to me except for fried fish and spagetti.
After a bunch of time, I finally made some friends in my grandfather's neighborhood. I saw they were happy and had a lot of fun just making their own games. I played kickball and baseball with them. They taught me how to make a Chivichana (check out the video my father made of us all making the chivichana) which is like a wooden cart you roll down a hill with. They just grabbed some tools and some wood from the street and someone had wheels and they started building it. It's my second favorite memory. My first favorite memory is when my father rented a bus and took me and all the family and the kids in the neighborhood to a carnival with rides. It was so much fun.
When we left, those boys in the neighborhood that had so little gathered a box of their favorite things and gave it to me. I still have that box.
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