Meet Misty's litter of future service puppies. These five Labrador
Retriever pups were born on December 28th and have already begun very
important work — helping to heal the invisible wounds of our Nation’s
Combat Veterans. Recovering Service Members at Walter Reed National
Military Medical Center and the National Intrepid Center of Excellence
in Bethesda, MD are engaged in the critical task of socializing the pups
through puppy petting. The litter will spend the next two years lifting
the spirits of Wounded Warriors and giving them a therapeutic and
purposeful mission. By volunteering to train the pups through the Warrior Canine Connection program,
these Warriors will both address their symptoms of Post Traumatic
Stress and prepare the pups for future lives as service dogs for their
disabled comrades.
baseball is the national pastime in cuba. there were pick up games going on all day in every park. in the middle of the havana streets, little boys played "taco" - stickball using a cut off broomstick for a bat and plastic water bottle cap for a ball. i never saw a girl playing.
on friday night kevin, his parents, and i went to a baseball game. without internet it was hard to determine if there was a game, and what time. we heard it might be cancelled because the stadium lights were broken. the
stadium (estadio latino americano) is located in a rougher, darker,
part of town. we got in a taxi and said "beisbol? pelota? estadio?" and
the cab driver started yelling "beisbol! beisbol!" and was pretty sure
there was no game that night and the stadium would be dark.
we drove up and the floodlights were on and the game was on and starting at 8pm and excited fans were going inside. we were (nicely) directed by police to go buy tickets at a window charging $3 instead of $1 that locals paid, and ushered to seats on the visitors side through the farthest gate away.
the local havana team is called the industriales. their mascot is a blue lion, and they are like the yankees of the cuban league. they were playing the cigar makers from pinar del rio.
the stadium was big. and clean. and full of energy. and people. and people blowing vuvuzelas. air horns. there were drummers. non-stop. we walked around the entire stadium, and it was on the verge of out of control going through the home team side. they did not serve beer, which kept it from having a hooligan feel. it was exciting.
kevin was impressed with the pitching. 30 second video of the scene:
we had to meet people in old havana at 930, so after the 3rd inning the 4 of us left and went into the street and kind of wandered looking for non-existent taxis. a few older men were sitting on a corner stoop, saw us and said "taxi?" we hesitantly followed him down a dark alley and got into his small old honda civic-like car after he shooed a cat out of the front seat. he was not a taxi driver, he was a man with a car looking for some tourist cash. the gas light was flashing and his brights were on as he drove us over potholes back to town. we gave him $10.
if it seems i have been off the map lately, it's true. i spent 8 days in
havana, cuba, where US cell phones and credit cards do not work, and
the internet is sparse and difficult to access. it was the first time since 1994 that i have gone an entire week without checking email. slightly refreshing, slightly alienating. kevin's dad has
wanted to go to cuba for decades, and online research led him to a cuban
arts and culture tour run by a US college professor, they booked it,
invited us along, and there we were 2 days after christmas in the miami
airport boarding an unmarked charter plane for a communist country. the weather was endlessly perfecto. 70-80 degrees and not a drop of rain. the
air was deplorable. many of the cars driving around the streets are
from the 40's and 50's and have no catalytic converters, the newer cars
and buses were just as bad, and the smell of carbon monoxide exhaust was
omnipresent and overpowering. everything was covered in a dingy gray
film. we were on a tour (and tourbus) with 20 other americans.
the group tour thing can be tough, especially for people used to having
control, but we really lucked out and everybody was flexible and
positive and intelligent. the bus was newer and comfortable, though it
smelled of stale cigarettes and urinal cakes. i may be overly sensitive
to air quality. i would not recommend an extended trip to havana to
anybody with respiratory illness.
potable water. our tour bus in the background.
we were told not to drink the
water, or eat produce washed in the water. for somebody who would be
thrilled to have salad and only salad to eat every day, this was a
challenge. most of my meals were chicken and rice, most of my vitamins came from the peppermint in the mojitos. the
buildings are made of concrete because it is cheap and resistant to
hurricanes. many buildings are in ruins. the ones not in ruins are
painted vibrantly and kept neat. the streets are treated like a garbage
can. littering was rampant. there were also many street cleaners so it didn't accumulate, but it's still jarring to see people throwing trash on
the ground 4 feet from a dumpster. the people in havana are not
aggressive or hostile. i did not see one person who seemed strung out on
drugs. didn't even catch a whiff of weed. (sad face). seems like rum,
rum, rum is the drug of choice.
the street dogs were awesome. more stories and photos to come. (found this cuban woman's blog last night: http://www.desdecuba.com/generationy/ which speaks out against the human rights violations, repression, and censorship cubans are experiencing under the castro regime. not surprisingly, we were exposed to very little of this sentiment on our state-sponsored tour.)
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