Mon, 2 Jun 2003 11:35:35 -0700 (PDT)
Another quick update

Not much new in the past few days. Every time you walk down the street, some cuban guy tries to talk to you and follows you around. In fact, the other day, I just started talking to one guy just to see what would happen ... well, we (me & other students) were walking to a club, and the guy followed us all the way there (like a lost puppy dog), then when we got there, we went in and each paid our own cover charge .... it was obvious that the guy wanted one of us to pay his way in by the look on his face, but there was no way in hell that I was going to pay for him, let alone his drinks afterward ... so, they didn't let him in, which was fine by me .. the guy looked like he was going to cry.

Last night I went down to the Malecon (the main street along the Ocean), and ran into a cuban guy (Nadan) that I have talked to every day or two. This guy was OK, since he never really asked me for anything more than a sip of my beer. So last night, him and I went walking around, and on the way he got stopped by the police. It was just a routine check, but apparently the cubans are not really allowed to talk to the forigners. I think it is to prevent them from begging and harassing the foreigners. Afterward, we kept on walking, and decided to get some food (which of course I was obliged to pay for). We went to a peso restaurant, and I paid about $1.00 for 2 meals (in small paper boxes). When they came out, they were the most disgusting things I have seen, tasted , or smelled. It was basically fried (rotten) pig fat on top of rice and beans. I couldn't eat this slop, so after Nadn finished his meal in about 15 seconds, I gave him mine, which he promptly devoured. It was funny to watch because there were no eating utensils, so he ripped the lid off the paper box, and made a sort of shovel out of it, which he used to shovel the food into his mouth. Then after, we went to another more expensive place, which I paid $6 for 2 meals, and the food there was decent. I asked him why he was so hungry, and he told me it was because he hadn't eaten all day ... I guess that was my charity work for this trip.

I also met a swiss girl (Nicole), who I am planning on doing some travelling around cuba with next week. She is 31 years old, looks like a model, is a medical doctor, and speaks 5 languages.