Today I...don't know if I can find the words.

So I guess its a good thing I have almost a thousand pictures. If a picture is worth a thousand words I guess I have the equivalent of almost a million words in some of the most captivating images I could ever hope to capture.

Two nearly perfect days in Havana - in spite of the plague and a detour to the Tropicana when we should have saved our Pesos and just found some hole in the wall place with the most amazing live music that eminates from every corner and every side street in Old Havana.

In no particular order I...

Bought original art that is beautiful and colorful and captures Havana how I want to remember it. And what was such a small price for me gave three local artists hundreds of their local pesos.

Watched the restoration of a beautiful Cathedral.

Had the best Capuccino I have ever tasted! Actually...had two. And I believe Krista and I would still be there ordering up a steady stream had Old Habana not been calling to us.

Enjoyed cold afternoon cocktails in a tiny park while a Lenny Kravitz look-alike busked for spare change. For four pesos and a beer we were entertained by a Beatles / Bob Marley tribute for more than an hour.

Watched the live action version of Discovery Channel Cuba. There are a lot of dogs that need to be spayed or neutered in Old Habana!

Ate dinner in the square in front of Catedral de San Cristobal.

Stayed at hotel that is a gorgeous colonial restoration - with crap air conditioning but so much character we didn't care. Well...after my third cold shower I didn't care.

Bought a fascinating comic / sticker book that depicts scenes from the Revolution. Who wants some cheesy souvenier when you can have a book of propoganda that some child put together with absolute care and precision. Collecting stickers - are you ready for this? - that came in packages of cigarettes! Not your average "Need it. Need it. Got it." hockey card trading scenario to be sure.

Saw Habana Vieja (Old Havana) from the roof of Hotel Raquel and it literally took my breath away!

Ate an amazing, flavorful breakfast for four pesos at a tiny patisserie that we had watched locals lining up at every time we walked by - the best way to choose a spot to eat I've decided.

Walked for two days straight without even feeling the nasty infection in my feet because I was so captivated by what I was seeing.

Wished I could speak Spanish.

Nearly got a Havana cab driver arrested in Matanzas because we wanted to stop to take pictures and he was not licensed to stop outside of Havana. He earned his generous tip and we got some fabulous shots.

And...took nearly a thousand pictures which I will cherish for a lifetime.

Today I...have the worst case of deja vu EVER!

I am in Varadero, Cuba. It is gorgeous and sunny and hot. The beach is beautiful. The water is beautiful. The people I am travelling with are fabulous. The locals are funny and friendly and colorful.

We went for dinner last night. Outdoors. In February.

We toasted this fact, as one would, when used to hunkering down in a long cold deep freeze of a winter. In fact, we were practically giddy about it given that we were missing some of the coldest weather Canada has ever recorded.

And during dinner...I got bug bites on my feet and ankles.

And by the time I went to bed they were inflamed and red and angry.

Hmmmmm...this seems familiar.

Having learned my lesson in Cairo I did not choose to ride it out this time. I practically bathed in Benadryl spray and took two Benadryl capsules before bed. More spray and more pills in the morning...

And now, 24 hours later, I have been to the resort medical clinic because I have a ring of bites around my right ankle that are infected - one had swollen to the size of a loonie. And once again, I am hideously deformed with the plague. And once again my feet are twice their normal size. And once again I am having palpitations about staph infections and flesh eating disease in a third world country. And once again I am on some form of what I assume is penicillin.

Seriously, the moment I get home I am going to visit my travel Doc for an open ended prescription of Amoxycillin which will take up permanent residence in my travelling pharmacy!

I have to say though, the one departure from the nightmare deja vu is that this time I have a full on support team who are vigilantly watching over me.

Although, we did have to get a little creative in the absence of gauze. In a pinch, I have to say organic cotton panty liners are highly effective at keeping flesh eating disease wounds clean!

Today I...drained my camera battery in one day.

This is a first for me. Usually it lasts a week or more. So clearly I have a good camera battery or I have not been taking nearly enough pictures everywhere else I have been.

But today I was in Havana, Cuba. And I am sure I could have drained two camera batteries if I had more time.

What an absolutely amazing place. A city caught in a moment in time. A city on the verge of what could be a brave new world or the complete obliteration of a culture. A city that is so intensely vibrant and colorful and full of life in spite of the opression that you know lurks in every dark corner. But I have to say, the sun burns hot and bright there. On most streets, its tough to find a dark corner.

We are going back later in the week and I cannot wait. Now that I have the complete awe out of my system I can't wait to know what I will see and feel there the second time around.

This city, and this country, certainly gives one perspective. I am so excessively fortunate. I am struck by the sweet simplicity of not knowing that there is just so much "stuff" out there to want. Boys playing in the streets with a piece of wood and a ball. What I would have given to be able to give them baseballs and bats! Our covert source for cigars on the beach choosing which child he would buy new shoes for this month...and counting how many months before he could buy himself a new t-shirt. But not seeing them want more things.

Pesos for sure. There are a lot of beggars in Havana to be sure. And moms teaching their wee ones to beg or to pose for pictures to get pesos from the touristas. That is unsettling. And we learned a new word - Jinetero - male hustlers who work old havana and the markets to try to sell you crap cigars or force you to pose for pictures so you have to give them a peso.

But there are also a lot of enterprising "entrepreneurs" in Cuba who know how to make themselves a buck and not get caught doing it. And, I'll be honest, if I was to live and work there I would want to be a bar tender. On a good day those guys take home what a doctor would make in a month.

I've met a lot of new people this trip so I've been asked often about my job. Someone asked how many countries I have been to. I had to stop and think...and then I had to count again because it has been 7 countries in 6 months.

Now I know you can do 7 countries in 10 days in Europe if you're determined, but some people won't get to see 7 countires in a lifetime.

And each of them has taught me something different about myself or about the world or has shown me how to see the world in a whole new way.

Until today Cuba had taught me that I really can "shut it off" and be disconnected - and not fret about that. And the people that I have been experiencing Cuba with have taught me the deep importance of family. And I may possibly also have had a moment or 10 where I have learned that it is really ok if it is not always about me.

I haven't quite got my soul around what Havana taught me today. I can't wait to go back and work that out.