Day 4 – Evening – so Paul and I (my current roommate and a
good friend from Twins Fantasy Camp) decided to just go simple on our 2nd
night in Havana so we went to a Palador (which is a restaurant that is inside
of a home – we have went to 3 of them and the food is outstanding at all of
them) and were recommended to get a meal at Bom Appetit – they serve all sorts
of food but they have the best pizza in Havana.
We shared a Hawaiian – which was Ham (or at least that is what they call
it) and pineapple. Now normally I am not
a fruit on my pizza sort of guy but this was by far one of the best pizzas I
have ever had. We ran into a couple of
teammates who were meeting some “friends” at the place as well – and yada yada
yada – they made the team bus in the morning on time. The more interesting part of the evening was
we had about a 15 min cab ride on the way to the restaurant and it cost 10 CUC
(Cuban Convertibles) but on the way back I think it took about 7 mins – we were
riding in a Russian car – Lada (evidently is rivals such lemons as the American
Ford Pinto) and it was like driving back to the Hotel on the autobahn – it was
a fun ride – I ask the guy – how much – he says, “OCHO” – I gave him 11 CUC – I
guess the Lada was good for a discount and a fun ride.
Day 5 – Havana
We are bussed to an old stadium where the Havana Metropolitans
played (the team has since folded) – the country of Cuba has 15 professional
baseball teams (might be 16) and they all represent a province. The guys can only play on the team from the
province they were born – that is the only rule. Baseball is huge in Cuba – simply
amazing. So we were playing a bunch of
ex professional ballplayers a couple of them even played on the National teams
from the 90’s – to say the least we were overmatched today – I struck out twice
and lined out to right field – we played very poor defense along with their
good hitting – my guess was the score was 20-1 (or something like that) – we
still had a lot of fun. I gave away most
of my uniform today – my pants, shirt, and hat – also I brought additional
items to give away and was able to trade for two uniforms (shirts the other
guys were wearing) and will put together a picture blog once I get back – takes
too long to upload and tag pictures and internet is limited and somewhat
slow. I hit the pool this afternoon at
the hotel – it is like paradise, the hotel Melia Cohiba is outstanding. A 5 star hotel – simply great. I even have internet access (although not
cheap, but worth every penny). The bus
took us on a tour of the “Old Town Center” – lots of history here. Tomorrow we are going to play our 5th
and last game – we have won 1 game – so hoping to make it respectable and win
tomorrow for 2 wins on the trip. The
weather has been a little cooler (low 80’s) and less humidity than Cienfuegos –
lots of water and hydration has kept me energetic for the games. My legs (hamstrings) are feeling it today,
probably from pitching yesterday but all is good – no injuries, lots of fun and
tonight I am going to hang out with our 69 year old pitcher Lou – he is a great
guy who lives in the San Francisco area and is an International Business
Consultant – his company is headquartered in Malta – a small island off of
Africa – amazing stories all around.
One more full day here, we leave Friday morning – this country
is very strange – my last post will highlight the strangest that I have seen
and learned while here.
~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~
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