“I had a great trip to Cuba! We stayed in Havana for 2 days, in Vinales for 2 days, and in Varadaro for 2 days. It was a lot of fun traveling around the country. We stayed in ‘casa particulares’ which are basically guest rooms in people’s houses or apartments. Everyone we stayed with were lovely, though we felt bad at our lack of Spanish! Most people also couldn’t speak very much English, but we made it work with lots of gestures and a phrasebook 😉
Going to Vinales was really cool – it’s in the mountains so the scenery is beautiful. They grow a lot of the tobacco there, and we ended up going on a horseback-ride through the tobacco fields and met a farmer who explained the growing/drying/cigar making process to us. Vinales is also where we left the suitcase. We found a hospital there, and they were very happy to receive the supplies! I’m attaching pictures to this email. We didn’t go in very far, but it was a pretty big hospital – it was the main hospital for the area (though Vinales wasn’t very big).
I wanted to take the suitcase because helping others, even if it’s only in a small way, is always a good experience. The smiles on the doctor and nurses’s faces were definitely worth it. I’m glad I was able to do it. “
– Great work, Larissa!
– Shout out to Air Canada for the baggage allowance too!
