Damla looking out at the ocean and a guard, at la Casa de las Américas
Happy day after V’s Day

The night of our first full day in Havana. The streetlamp and shop across from where we stayed in Vedado. Over our two weeks, we visited this shop a lot for colas and orange drinks, water, cigarettes, and snacks - which included cookies and the famously bad bacon chips. On this night, we’d just come from a swim in the Atlantic, where we’d climbed down (and back up) a rickety, skinny metal ladder and were taught how to climb out of the water onto the rocks. It was trickier than it sounded. I remember you had to let the waves boost you up and onto the rock, where under the water, you’d have to try and feel for some footing. We gathered outside this shop after the walk back and sat in the glow of the stall, smoking and chatting.

Mayo Uno, the morning of
Hamlet and the roast pig at Manuel’s home, again
Joomi, myself, and Ling in Manuel’s Havana house, with his twins before the party started
Forever growing my longing for faraway places (anticipations for Guatemala as a travel option for next year, squashed, for now)