July 9, 2024 • 28 mins
I’m so excited to share with you all my trip to Cuba! I’m sharing what I experienced, saw and learned and what it all meant to me! I also answer the questions you guys sent me so enjoy!
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome back to the Overcome podcast. You guys, thank you
guys so much for choosing to watch and listen to
this episode today. I'm so excited because I am going
to be talking about my life changing experience in Cuba,
how my trip went, and you guys, I'm just so
overwhelmed with so much gratitude and I'm just happy. I'm
(00:30):
happy that I was able to go to experience that. Obviously,
I've traveled different places, but clearly nothing has impacted me
more than Cuba, and honestly, it is just it is
very humbling. It is a life changing experience. So I
want to be able to talk about that with you guys.
(00:51):
See maybe if you are interested and shed some light
on what exactly is happening over there, because it generally
changed my life. I was out there for almost two weeks.
I was staying at a hotel for the first couple days,
and then I went to go stay in Alkisa, which
(01:13):
is a little pueblito right there in Artemisa, like thirty
forty minutes away out of Habana. And let me tell
you well, when I first stayed in Habana, it is gorgeous, beautiful,
the architecture, you feel like you are time traveling, like
it's you're stuck in the I don't even know what
(01:35):
time era or age this would be. But you still
see people riding on horse carriages like that is their
form of travel. There's like these called BC taxis where
their taxis are, people on bicycles, what else. You just
see people. I'm gonna kind of go everywhere in the
(01:57):
sense because as I go and I remember everything, I
do remember like a lot of people walking without shoes, barefoot.
Some people liked to be barefoot, like there would be
kids playing in the little streets playing soccer, baseball. I
saw a lot of pregnant women with babies, babies without
(02:21):
diapers on, no underwear, nothing like they just and it's
so sad because you see people living over here and
they obviously it's a luxury. Honestly, living in the United
States is a luxury, and it is a blessing. You
do not know. And this is probably gonna be controversial
and people are gonna probably hate me for this, but
(02:42):
it is a legit blessing to live in the United
States and to be born here and raised here and
have the opportunities that we have because in a country
like that they Yes, it is a communist country. They
are given water, they're given power, they're given certain things,
(03:02):
but also limited. You go into a grocery store, there's
grocery stores don't even exist because they don't have things
on the shelves. There's two water bottles that they can
sell and that's it. There's no lady like hygienic hygiene products.
There's no wipes, there's no diapers, there's no baby food.
(03:23):
When you go into a restaurant, they always they always
let you know like, oh, this is what we this
is what we're able to feed you today. So if
I wanted croquettas one day and I would be like,
oh I croquetta. No, there's no croquettas. There's only petugaaio
rice beans and that's it, which is fine for me.
(03:46):
And I've gotten that question. I asked you guys on
Instagram questions about uh if you guys had any questions
for me about Cuba, And one of them was what
did I eat when I was out there? And let
me tell tell you, I'd never consider myself a picky
person until I actually got to Cuba, and I felt
very pushed out of my comfort zone. Because I don't.
(04:09):
Their main like food is rice beans, which I can eat,
but they have a lot of pork. They eat a
lot of yeah, mainly pork. They eat chicken thighs, they
they eat. I'm very picky. I cannot I ooh, sorry
for my personal preference. I prefer to have chicken breast,
which is again a luxury over there, Like it's very
(04:34):
you know, it's kind of hard to access and cow
if you, I guess, like if you kill a cow
over there, it's kind of like a law thing, like
you can't. So they have very little to none like
riss there, And it was a cool fact. Ropavia, which
is one of the dishes there in Cuba, is made
(04:54):
out of horse, which kind of made me sad because
I've never had horse. But I didn't eat it, but
again it kind of just shows you the neces si
that and like what they're limited to. Stayed there for
a couple of days, stayed at the hotel, which at
some point for me it was a blessing. Obviously I
had Wi Fi, but then I felt guilty. It's just
(05:18):
the type of person that I am. There's people out
in the streets, their houses are built out of like nothing.
Some of them don't even have roofs. They have like
aluminum the Some houses were flooding. There was one day
we were gonna go eat at a restaurant like out
of beach, and we couldn't because the current was coming
(05:39):
over the walls and it was flooding into the city
and into their houses. And people are just sitting there
like like so normal, and they were just sitting outside
looking and watching and there's nothing else to do. There's
literally nothing else to do but to sit there, drink beer,
play dominoes, and that's it. They don't have to to
(06:00):
technically get a job because they're basically given everything. And
it's really sad to me because when I was giving
out stuff, I had the opportunity, and I'm lucky and
I'm blessed enough to be able to take four big,
big luggages full of medicines because they don't have medicine,
(06:20):
all the stuff that they need, necessities close from over comfort,
just to give. And whenever I ran out, I would
give money, and they're like, we don't need money, like
we can't do anything with this money. Their currency they're
pricing is so insane, like for one pack of eggs
(06:41):
is ten American dollars, which for them depending on let
me see, let me do the math, let me do
that really quick, ten times. Like let's say that the
bessels at three fifty three fifty times, that's like thirty
three five hundred vessels, which which is and that's not easy.
(07:04):
Like doctors make twenty dollars a month and that's basically
what they live off of over there. So it kind
of puts everything into into perspective. They're very limited. They
can't you know, it's not accessible. And I'm so grateful
for this journey and for being able to go and
visit and really put things into perspective because it was
(07:27):
just it was just sad, Like it was sad for
me to see, you know, like little kids like they're
they were playing with rocks. They were playing with old, old,
little deflated balls and that's their normal life like and
I remember being able to give things out and I
(07:49):
took a bunch of candies, Vibe Relax, I took a
bunch of candies. I took candies, I took toys, and
their faces like they look like wow, like it was
Christmas for them and for me, I'm just I love kids.
I generuinely love kids, and I fell in love with
this one little boy who just looked at me with
(08:09):
his beautiful blue crystal eyes. He was with Rito, and
he just looked like, oh my God, like thank you,
like his eyes lit up. And every day ever since
that I've been back, I've been praying to God. I'm like, God,
just please bring some justice to Cuba, bring some type
of I don't know, something like they need, they're in need.
I had conversations with people. I spoke with a mom
(08:32):
who took her son to the doctor because he had
constant headaches, and they sent him home because they didn't
have anything for him. They didn't have ibuprofen, they didn't
have tylan all. They didn't like, we're sorry, we don't
have anything to give you guys. And for me, that
was so heartbreaking because I can easily get in my
car and drive two minutes or even get it ubered,
(08:54):
door dashed or whatever, get medicine, like it's so easy
for us, and they struggle. And I don't know, I
just I really didn't notice how much I take life
for granted until I went to Cuba. And I really
recommend everybody going there. To really just go with the
open heart and mind. People were asking me like do
(09:15):
you think I should go do Someone asked me, do
you think your siblings can do it? And I said no,
I feel like my siblings' hearts are so big that
it would just be too heartbreaking, Like they would probably
never want to leave. And I generally, at some point,
even with the power outages, like the government could turn
(09:36):
off the power whenever they want, there'd be times where
I would go to sleep without taking a shower because
the water would be turned off, you know. And obviously
as humid, it's like the air you feel sticky, you
feel gross, you're sweating. All day was nasty. And I
was like, wow, like thank you God. Like I came home,
I was like, thank you God for this home, thank
(09:58):
you for my ac thank you for this, thank you
for that. And it's really just opened my eyes and
you know, really learn to appreciate life. And I think
about them all every day. And I've gotten to the
point where I'm really praying and I'm really considering, like
i want to open a foundation, i want to end
a certain I want to close something and start something new.
(10:19):
To be able to be a blessing to help foster
children or you know, people in need like Cuba. I
don't know. That's just the dream of my heart. I
want to open a nonprofit over organization and really put
my dedication into this, because again, it is just you
don't know what life is like until you go visit Cuba.
(10:39):
We're going to go on a quick break and we'll
be right back to talk more about Cuba. I asked
you guys on Instagram if you guys had any questions
about my trip to Cuba, and I'm going to go
ahead and answer them now. Okay, my family and I
are going in November and want to help out. Where
(11:00):
do you recommend? Okay, I recommend taking a lot of medications, medications,
first aid, kits, bug spray, do you order it? Toothpaste?
I remember talking to someone and they said that they
spent a whole week trying to find toothpaste and I
(11:21):
had it in my luggage and I was like, you
should have told me I had it, and I had
given it away to somebody else, and I was like whatever. Anyways,
things like that, personal hygiene razors and I would I
feel like anywhere, I feel like there's not one specific
place where they don't need it, like they're all on
(11:42):
the same class level, where just I necessary that. And
it's just if you have the if you have the
time and the funds and to give something, please do, please,
please do. Can anyone visit Cuba? What is the process?
(12:06):
I was able to visit Cuba through tourism. I got
my visa for over there. It wasn't hard for me. Obviously,
if your family is from Cuba, you're able to say
you have your family visit. But the only thing is
is that and I didn't have this problem, but people
do have problems bringing stuff. If you're gonna bring stuff
(12:28):
for the refugees, you have to kind of act normal.
I don't. In Mexico, when you guys go through the airport,
you have to press like a red button or a
green button, and if you get the green button, you're
good to go. If you get the red button, they
have to check all of your luggages. Luckily, it's kind
of like that, but without the buttons in Cuba, they
just kind of just look at you and they they'll
(12:50):
let you go. If not, you have to get all
of your luggage checked. And if they check your luggages
and they see all the stuff in there, they can
either confiscate it and take it for themselves because they
need it as well, or they will charge you a
certain fee. So at that point it's all by risk
(13:10):
and fingers crossed and by praiers of God that you
get passed and they don't check your bags. Okay, how
did you get money there? Like? Did you take cash
to exchange a debit card? Okay, so you're not allowed
to open your BAC accounts over there. You open them,
(13:31):
You can open them. It's just you can't transfer the internet.
It just won't let you. The apps are very limited
over there, like TikTok does not exist over there, which
was I was so grateful for. So before leaving, I
took cash out in Miami because I had a label
in Miami. I would go and exchange and change the
(13:51):
currency at For Americans, it is depending on certain restaurants,
it may be better to pay in there than our dollar.
Either way, it's a lot. It's a lot lot cheaper
and um. For example, like a plate of lobster. If
you're out here in boiling crab boiling crabs, lobsters are
(14:12):
like what fifty bucks over there? I got lobster almost
every day for seven to ten bucks with a plate
of rice, beans and whatever. And obviously I'm not gonna
I would never want to take advantage of that, but
is what was available. But yeah, so I would definitely
recommend going to change it before you get there and
(14:36):
changing it before you come back, because they do not
accept any Cuban dollars in the airport, so don't go buying.
Don't go buy souvenirs at the airport with Cuban dollars
because they won't take it. They only take American dollars.
That was a fun fact. I figured out when I
got there. What was there something you couldn't find in
(14:59):
Cuba that you can find here anywhere? And honestly, anything
as simple as water, Like it's so easy to find
water here and it's so hard to find it there.
There was one time where I wanted to make them
semiche and obviously they don't have a lot of tomatoes.
Their tomatoes are like this small, onions are this small,
(15:22):
bell peppers are this small. They don't have any chilis.
So I would honestly say, everything is so hard to
find over there. One of my friends had gotten her
period and she had to use paper, towel wipes, toilet paper,
which also again is like, we can't use so much
toilet paper because this is the only toilet paper that
(15:43):
we have left. So you guys can kind of see
where it's at, and you know, prepare yourselves, bring your
own things. Also, bring stuff to give if you are
able to. Why did you decide to go to Cuba?
Cuba has always been on the list to go. I
love traveling in general. I was going for birthday, and
(16:08):
then it was somebody's birthday, and then I just wanted
to go in general. I extended my stage just to
hang around and you know, take in the culture and
experience it for myself, and I definitely do not regret it.
It was the connection I feel. I felt so connected
(16:32):
with people. My phone didn't work a lot of the time,
and when I did, I would even just not be
on my phone, like if I had signal. I'm just like,
I do not care about this stuff right now, Like
I'm enjoying my time being off of my phone, talking
to these people, hearing their stories, knowing you know who
they are and what they do. And honestly, it was
(16:55):
just it was so full of purpose, and again I'm
so so so grateful. Did you try a Cuban cigar?
I did not. I'm not a huge cigar. I feel
like that's more of like a boy thing. I would
be down. I just it wasn't for me. I don't
really care. But I did visit the I think I
believe it's Vigniales where they created the first cigars. Over there,
(17:17):
and it was beautiful. They have like a whole jungle.
I definitely recommend it. That's like two hours from Havana.
You can go in the jungles, you can go in
the caves, and there's like waterfalls and all that beautiful
stuff as well. Did you feel safe, Yes, I felt safe.
I'm just a very precautious person. Anyways. I always have
my purse on me, always make sure that it's the
(17:39):
doors are locked, all that stuff. But over there, there
was no crime. They have no guns, they have no weapons,
they don't have anything that they can harm you with.
That's pretty much it. I like, if they were to
hurt me, it's like a huge fine. Obviously I wouldn't,
(18:00):
you know, snitch or whatever, but it is very like
a huge precaution, like if they're surrounded by Americans. They
know that they have to be very, very very careful,
So yes, I did feel safe. How many days slash
weeks do you recommend going? So my original stay was
for a week. I stayed a couple days more. I
(18:20):
loved it. I generally just felt like I wanted to
be there. But you cannot go to Cuba unless you
have a flight back, so they need all that information
as well, So make sure you get a round trip
because they need to know when you're coming back. You
can't stay there. But I do definitely recommend going for
like a week. A week and a half really depends.
(18:41):
If you're like me, you might just fall in love
with it and want to stay longer. But yeah, I
feel like that's enough time to go ahead and visit.
I definitely do want to go back, just because I
feel like I want to go visit and tour the
rest of the island and get to know it. And
you know what's crazy. There's this place called in Malecon right,
and it's the there's a wall, and then there's the
(19:03):
ocean you're staring across and you could see Miami like
you could see the lights of Miami. It is ninety
miles away from Havana, Cuba, so they're just Cubans. They're
standing there looking and literally dreaming of just going ninety
miles to Miami. And it's literally physically not I don't
(19:25):
want to say impossible, because there's been people that made
the lanchas and they go and they go on the
boat and they've made it. Some people don't make it
and to go seek refuge in the United States, and
it was just, I don't know. Coming back home, I
would see it as like, Wow, this is a this
is a blessing to be able to say that I'm
born and raised here in the United States. Obviously I
(19:48):
love being Latina, but again, like I feel like a
lot of people take the United States for granted and
it's not like it's nothing like any other country. And
I just I'm grateful. I'm very grateful. We're gonna go
on a quick break and we'll be right back to
talk more about Cuiva. All right, you guys, welcome back.
The people were very nice. They know how to party.
(20:11):
They party, they party, they drink a lot. They if
you're Latina like me, Mexicans specifically, they have very limited
tequila over there. I was on Jose Equavo and it
was just you know, if you know, you know, it's
just not the best, but it is very I had
to try other things. I had to try ram I
(20:32):
had to try. I think it's called Havana Club. Their
their main alcohol over there beers. I stopped drinking beer
started drinking beer over there again because there was nothing
else to drink. So I would show them, like, this
is how you drink, like Amita Lada. I would put
the limon, I would put the salt, not a michella,
but I would just like like very very nice, and
(20:53):
they loved it. There was at a point also where
I cut the mangos and I had a little Tahm
bottle and they don't have nothing the piicanta over there,
so I was also stressed. I was like, fuck, like
I need spicy food like bad, and I know I
should have brought my thought up your bottle, but whatever,
I had my tahen. I had found it in the
middle of the trip and I gave mangoc on limoni
tahen and everybody loved it and they were all spiced out.
(21:15):
I'm like, you guys think it's spicy, but yeah, I
definitely as far as food, as far as the ambiance,
people being nice, like it's always a good time. They're
the sweetest people if you just sit down and have
a conversation with them and not being like scared or
being I feel like you have to humble yourself and
meet them there and kind of just listen to them.
(21:37):
You'll get along with them. How dangerous it is over there?
And anytime do you feel unsafe? I honestly, I don't
remember feeling unsafe. I felt pretty okay where I was
staying at even when I was in the Pueblo, Like
people don't come like they mind their own business. People
are doing the thing. Yes, people stare at you, but
you're also American, like you know when you're American, like
(21:59):
people know you're not a part of them. But it
never felt dangerous or unsafe, even when the power went out,
even when there was no water, like I just felt
like I was just a normal, normal day, normal lives.
So no, I don't feel like it's dangerous. The only
thing is that when I was giving stuff away, like
(22:20):
they would try to reach in and grab something else.
And that's the only only time obviously, Like I personally
would keep my phone away when I was giving stuff
away just in case, but other than that, like, no
one's going to go and steal your phone, no one's
(22:40):
gonna go and grab your purse. Like it's just it
is what it is, So it just again, I didn't
feel unsafe. What do you feel about the political climate.
I don't want to talk too much about it because
I also want to be able to go back to Cuba,
but I do want to say that it is very unfair.
It's very unfair. Like the people that work with the
(23:01):
government have these big, gorgeous houses with security guards in front,
they're gated, and then you drive five minutes away and
then you see these people's houses, little little small houses,
cement houses with no roofs, sometimes just sitting outside with nothing.
(23:22):
And these people that work for the government have these gorgeous,
gorgeous houses, cut plants, trees, everything looks so presentable and beautiful.
And the embassies were just gorgeous as well. It is
a little sad, it's very sad. And again, like I
would love to, I don't know somehow do more. I
(23:46):
feel like what I took wasn't enough. It's never enough,
Like I feel like damn, like I even manipulated or
gasped myself. I'm like, you could have done more, Like
what the fuck are you doing? Like why didn't you
bring more? But then I realized it's like, you know what,
like I I can't provide for the whole country, at
least not right now. I mean, I don't know. Maybe
one day I can. I'm able to, but it's just
(24:08):
it is unfair, and I want to go visit other
countries that are maybe in the same situation, like you know, Venezuela,
Russia are also communist countries. Puerto Rico is always out
of power as well. So I just have a heart
and I want to be able to be a blessing
to people as well. And I think more than anything.
Another question was what did it teach you? I think
(24:29):
it just taught me how to value life, Like I
stopped caring about TikTok and all the drama that happens
on TikTok or whatever. I come back, I turn on
my phone and I'm just like, wow, this is really
what everybody cares about, like the drama about you know,
social status, and it's just like no, like you go
(24:51):
when you're there, it's just such simple life like you
eat food, you play games, you drink beer, and you
hang out and you're just grateful to God that you
got to make it another day with what you had.
And again, obviously like I had more things, I was
provided with more things, and I was able to take
my own things. But seeing and if you were to
(25:12):
be in their position as well, waiting for the possibility
of their chance to get a family member to make
it to the States, to get parole and to be
able to claim you as a resident, like you have
to think about that. I would ask people, you know,
have you ever decided that you wanted to go on
the boat or have you ever decided to go, you know,
(25:33):
in another way of shape or form, And yeah, there's
people that have jumped on the boat, jumped in the
water three four times, and obviously they couldn't make it.
Then there's people whose daughters have had to leave them,
like they go and they make it through and they
don't see their families for a long time until that
family member gets their residency in the United States and
(25:53):
then they're able to claim them as a refugee or whatever.
So I think, more than anything, I've learned to appreciate
my life like I could be so angry or I
could be so stressed out about this, this or that,
and then I think about Cuba and what I experience
and it's just like I really have no reason to complain.
(26:17):
I really don't. And I took a moment to realize,
like wow, you know when you know, when people would
tell you, like you're not going to finish eating that,
there's people in Africa. There's kids in Africa that are starving.
And I really live those moments because I would get
fool I would get so full, and I would feel
so guilty leaving the food and I'd be like no,
like let me just let me eat it, because then
(26:40):
they would see it as disrespectful if I were to
give my food to somebody, and like you know, it
would be offensible to them. And I didn't want that
to happen either. But it's like damn, like, yeah, there's
people out here starving, really starving. There's people that go
to sleep hungry and they're not able to eat because
they weren't able to make money to go, don't know,
go get a chicken or find rice or whatever. But overall,
(27:04):
it was a beautiful experience. And again I really think
that if you have the opportunity, please go. And I
really just hope that one day I'm able to go
back and to be a blessing and to open my
foundation and really, if anything, I come back and I
want to share with you guys that life is so short,
(27:28):
and life is so little. It's very limited, and I
just would hope that it's not taken for granted. I
feel like God has a plan and one day, one
day Cuba will be free and everyone can live a
happy life. That is my dream. That's my dream for
(27:48):
the Cubans and people that live in these certain circumstances,
certain circumstances, but I think more than anything, I've to
appreciate life and just thank God for you know what
I have now, and really share my experience with you guys.
(28:13):
And yeah, that's pretty much it. I wanted to thank
you guys so much for watching and listening to this.
I hope it was some type of inspiration for you guys.
If you guys have any more questions, please feel free
to message me on Instagram and I will be more
than happy to share anything with you guys. I also
have a highlight there if you guys want to see
(28:35):
my trip to Cuba, everywhere that I visited, and yeah,
so I will see you guys next Tuesday. Bye. Overcome
for Podcasts is a production of Iheartmichael podcast Network
Welcome back to the Overcome podcast. You guys, thank you
guys so much for choosing to watch and listen to
this episode today. I'm so excited because I am going
to be talking about my life changing experience in Cuba,
how my trip went, and you guys, I'm just so
overwhelmed with so much gratitude and I'm just happy. I'm
(00:30):
happy that I was able to go to experience that. Obviously,
I've traveled different places, but clearly nothing has impacted me
more than Cuba, and honestly, it is just it is
very humbling. It is a life changing experience. So I
want to be able to talk about that with you guys.
(00:51):
See maybe if you are interested and shed some light
on what exactly is happening over there, because it generally
changed my life. I was out there for almost two weeks.
I was staying at a hotel for the first couple days,
and then I went to go stay in Alkisa, which
(01:13):
is a little pueblito right there in Artemisa, like thirty
forty minutes away out of Habana. And let me tell
you well, when I first stayed in Habana, it is gorgeous, beautiful,
the architecture, you feel like you are time traveling, like
it's you're stuck in the I don't even know what
(01:35):
time era or age this would be. But you still
see people riding on horse carriages like that is their
form of travel. There's like these called BC taxis where
their taxis are, people on bicycles, what else. You just
see people. I'm gonna kind of go everywhere in the
(01:57):
sense because as I go and I remember everything, I
do remember like a lot of people walking without shoes, barefoot.
Some people liked to be barefoot, like there would be
kids playing in the little streets playing soccer, baseball. I
saw a lot of pregnant women with babies, babies without
(02:21):
diapers on, no underwear, nothing like they just and it's
so sad because you see people living over here and
they obviously it's a luxury. Honestly, living in the United
States is a luxury, and it is a blessing. You
do not know. And this is probably gonna be controversial
and people are gonna probably hate me for this, but
(02:42):
it is a legit blessing to live in the United
States and to be born here and raised here and
have the opportunities that we have because in a country
like that they Yes, it is a communist country. They
are given water, they're given power, they're given certain things,
(03:02):
but also limited. You go into a grocery store, there's
grocery stores don't even exist because they don't have things
on the shelves. There's two water bottles that they can
sell and that's it. There's no lady like hygienic hygiene products.
There's no wipes, there's no diapers, there's no baby food.
(03:23):
When you go into a restaurant, they always they always
let you know like, oh, this is what we this
is what we're able to feed you today. So if
I wanted croquettas one day and I would be like,
oh I croquetta. No, there's no croquettas. There's only petugaaio
rice beans and that's it, which is fine for me.
(03:46):
And I've gotten that question. I asked you guys on
Instagram questions about uh if you guys had any questions
for me about Cuba, And one of them was what
did I eat when I was out there? And let
me tell tell you, I'd never consider myself a picky
person until I actually got to Cuba, and I felt
very pushed out of my comfort zone. Because I don't.
(04:09):
Their main like food is rice beans, which I can eat,
but they have a lot of pork. They eat a
lot of yeah, mainly pork. They eat chicken thighs, they
they eat. I'm very picky. I cannot I ooh, sorry
for my personal preference. I prefer to have chicken breast,
which is again a luxury over there, Like it's very
(04:34):
you know, it's kind of hard to access and cow
if you, I guess, like if you kill a cow
over there, it's kind of like a law thing, like
you can't. So they have very little to none like
riss there, And it was a cool fact. Ropavia, which
is one of the dishes there in Cuba, is made
(04:54):
out of horse, which kind of made me sad because
I've never had horse. But I didn't eat it, but
again it kind of just shows you the neces si
that and like what they're limited to. Stayed there for
a couple of days, stayed at the hotel, which at
some point for me it was a blessing. Obviously I
had Wi Fi, but then I felt guilty. It's just
(05:18):
the type of person that I am. There's people out
in the streets, their houses are built out of like nothing.
Some of them don't even have roofs. They have like
aluminum the Some houses were flooding. There was one day
we were gonna go eat at a restaurant like out
of beach, and we couldn't because the current was coming
(05:39):
over the walls and it was flooding into the city
and into their houses. And people are just sitting there
like like so normal, and they were just sitting outside
looking and watching and there's nothing else to do. There's
literally nothing else to do but to sit there, drink beer,
play dominoes, and that's it. They don't have to to
(06:00):
technically get a job because they're basically given everything. And
it's really sad to me because when I was giving
out stuff, I had the opportunity, and I'm lucky and
I'm blessed enough to be able to take four big,
big luggages full of medicines because they don't have medicine,
(06:20):
all the stuff that they need, necessities close from over comfort,
just to give. And whenever I ran out, I would
give money, and they're like, we don't need money, like
we can't do anything with this money. Their currency they're
pricing is so insane, like for one pack of eggs
(06:41):
is ten American dollars, which for them depending on let
me see, let me do the math, let me do
that really quick, ten times. Like let's say that the
bessels at three fifty three fifty times, that's like thirty
three five hundred vessels, which which is and that's not easy.
(07:04):
Like doctors make twenty dollars a month and that's basically
what they live off of over there. So it kind
of puts everything into into perspective. They're very limited. They
can't you know, it's not accessible. And I'm so grateful
for this journey and for being able to go and
visit and really put things into perspective because it was
(07:27):
just it was just sad, Like it was sad for
me to see, you know, like little kids like they're
they were playing with rocks. They were playing with old, old,
little deflated balls and that's their normal life like and
I remember being able to give things out and I
(07:49):
took a bunch of candies, Vibe Relax, I took a
bunch of candies. I took candies, I took toys, and
their faces like they look like wow, like it was
Christmas for them and for me, I'm just I love kids.
I generuinely love kids, and I fell in love with
this one little boy who just looked at me with
(08:09):
his beautiful blue crystal eyes. He was with Rito, and
he just looked like, oh my God, like thank you,
like his eyes lit up. And every day ever since
that I've been back, I've been praying to God. I'm like, God,
just please bring some justice to Cuba, bring some type
of I don't know, something like they need, they're in need.
I had conversations with people. I spoke with a mom
(08:32):
who took her son to the doctor because he had
constant headaches, and they sent him home because they didn't
have anything for him. They didn't have ibuprofen, they didn't
have tylan all. They didn't like, we're sorry, we don't
have anything to give you guys. And for me, that
was so heartbreaking because I can easily get in my
car and drive two minutes or even get it ubered,
(08:54):
door dashed or whatever, get medicine, like it's so easy
for us, and they struggle. And I don't know, I
just I really didn't notice how much I take life
for granted until I went to Cuba. And I really
recommend everybody going there. To really just go with the
open heart and mind. People were asking me like do
(09:15):
you think I should go do Someone asked me, do
you think your siblings can do it? And I said no,
I feel like my siblings' hearts are so big that
it would just be too heartbreaking, Like they would probably
never want to leave. And I generally, at some point,
even with the power outages, like the government could turn
(09:36):
off the power whenever they want, there'd be times where
I would go to sleep without taking a shower because
the water would be turned off, you know. And obviously
as humid, it's like the air you feel sticky, you
feel gross, you're sweating. All day was nasty. And I
was like, wow, like thank you God. Like I came home,
I was like, thank you God for this home, thank
(09:58):
you for my ac thank you for this, thank you
for that. And it's really just opened my eyes and
you know, really learn to appreciate life. And I think
about them all every day. And I've gotten to the
point where I'm really praying and I'm really considering, like
i want to open a foundation, i want to end
a certain I want to close something and start something new.
(10:19):
To be able to be a blessing to help foster
children or you know, people in need like Cuba. I
don't know. That's just the dream of my heart. I
want to open a nonprofit over organization and really put
my dedication into this, because again, it is just you
don't know what life is like until you go visit Cuba.
(10:39):
We're going to go on a quick break and we'll
be right back to talk more about Cuba. I asked
you guys on Instagram if you guys had any questions
about my trip to Cuba, and I'm going to go
ahead and answer them now. Okay, my family and I
are going in November and want to help out. Where
(11:00):
do you recommend? Okay, I recommend taking a lot of medications, medications,
first aid, kits, bug spray, do you order it? Toothpaste?
I remember talking to someone and they said that they
spent a whole week trying to find toothpaste and I
(11:21):
had it in my luggage and I was like, you
should have told me I had it, and I had
given it away to somebody else, and I was like whatever. Anyways,
things like that, personal hygiene razors and I would I
feel like anywhere, I feel like there's not one specific
place where they don't need it, like they're all on
(11:42):
the same class level, where just I necessary that. And
it's just if you have the if you have the
time and the funds and to give something, please do, please,
please do. Can anyone visit Cuba? What is the process?
(12:06):
I was able to visit Cuba through tourism. I got
my visa for over there. It wasn't hard for me. Obviously,
if your family is from Cuba, you're able to say
you have your family visit. But the only thing is
is that and I didn't have this problem, but people
do have problems bringing stuff. If you're gonna bring stuff
(12:28):
for the refugees, you have to kind of act normal.
I don't. In Mexico, when you guys go through the airport,
you have to press like a red button or a
green button, and if you get the green button, you're
good to go. If you get the red button, they
have to check all of your luggages. Luckily, it's kind
of like that, but without the buttons in Cuba, they
just kind of just look at you and they they'll
(12:50):
let you go. If not, you have to get all
of your luggage checked. And if they check your luggages
and they see all the stuff in there, they can
either confiscate it and take it for themselves because they
need it as well, or they will charge you a
certain fee. So at that point it's all by risk
(13:10):
and fingers crossed and by praiers of God that you
get passed and they don't check your bags. Okay, how
did you get money there? Like? Did you take cash
to exchange a debit card? Okay, so you're not allowed
to open your BAC accounts over there. You open them,
(13:31):
You can open them. It's just you can't transfer the internet.
It just won't let you. The apps are very limited
over there, like TikTok does not exist over there, which
was I was so grateful for. So before leaving, I
took cash out in Miami because I had a label
in Miami. I would go and exchange and change the
(13:51):
currency at For Americans, it is depending on certain restaurants,
it may be better to pay in there than our dollar.
Either way, it's a lot. It's a lot lot cheaper
and um. For example, like a plate of lobster. If
you're out here in boiling crab boiling crabs, lobsters are
(14:12):
like what fifty bucks over there? I got lobster almost
every day for seven to ten bucks with a plate
of rice, beans and whatever. And obviously I'm not gonna
I would never want to take advantage of that, but
is what was available. But yeah, so I would definitely
recommend going to change it before you get there and
(14:36):
changing it before you come back, because they do not
accept any Cuban dollars in the airport, so don't go buying.
Don't go buy souvenirs at the airport with Cuban dollars
because they won't take it. They only take American dollars.
That was a fun fact. I figured out when I
got there. What was there something you couldn't find in
(14:59):
Cuba that you can find here anywhere? And honestly, anything
as simple as water, Like it's so easy to find
water here and it's so hard to find it there.
There was one time where I wanted to make them
semiche and obviously they don't have a lot of tomatoes.
Their tomatoes are like this small, onions are this small,
(15:22):
bell peppers are this small. They don't have any chilis.
So I would honestly say, everything is so hard to
find over there. One of my friends had gotten her
period and she had to use paper, towel wipes, toilet paper,
which also again is like, we can't use so much
toilet paper because this is the only toilet paper that
(15:43):
we have left. So you guys can kind of see
where it's at, and you know, prepare yourselves, bring your
own things. Also, bring stuff to give if you are
able to. Why did you decide to go to Cuba?
Cuba has always been on the list to go. I
love traveling in general. I was going for birthday, and
(16:08):
then it was somebody's birthday, and then I just wanted
to go in general. I extended my stage just to
hang around and you know, take in the culture and
experience it for myself, and I definitely do not regret it.
It was the connection I feel. I felt so connected
(16:32):
with people. My phone didn't work a lot of the time,
and when I did, I would even just not be
on my phone, like if I had signal. I'm just like,
I do not care about this stuff right now, Like
I'm enjoying my time being off of my phone, talking
to these people, hearing their stories, knowing you know who
they are and what they do. And honestly, it was
(16:55):
just it was so full of purpose, and again I'm
so so so grateful. Did you try a Cuban cigar?
I did not. I'm not a huge cigar. I feel
like that's more of like a boy thing. I would
be down. I just it wasn't for me. I don't
really care. But I did visit the I think I
believe it's Vigniales where they created the first cigars. Over there,
(17:17):
and it was beautiful. They have like a whole jungle.
I definitely recommend it. That's like two hours from Havana.
You can go in the jungles, you can go in
the caves, and there's like waterfalls and all that beautiful
stuff as well. Did you feel safe, Yes, I felt safe.
I'm just a very precautious person. Anyways. I always have
my purse on me, always make sure that it's the
(17:39):
doors are locked, all that stuff. But over there, there
was no crime. They have no guns, they have no weapons,
they don't have anything that they can harm you with.
That's pretty much it. I like, if they were to
hurt me, it's like a huge fine. Obviously I wouldn't,
(18:00):
you know, snitch or whatever, but it is very like
a huge precaution, like if they're surrounded by Americans. They
know that they have to be very, very very careful,
So yes, I did feel safe. How many days slash
weeks do you recommend going? So my original stay was
for a week. I stayed a couple days more. I
(18:20):
loved it. I generally just felt like I wanted to
be there. But you cannot go to Cuba unless you
have a flight back, so they need all that information
as well, So make sure you get a round trip
because they need to know when you're coming back. You
can't stay there. But I do definitely recommend going for
like a week. A week and a half really depends.
(18:41):
If you're like me, you might just fall in love
with it and want to stay longer. But yeah, I
feel like that's enough time to go ahead and visit.
I definitely do want to go back, just because I
feel like I want to go visit and tour the
rest of the island and get to know it. And
you know what's crazy. There's this place called in Malecon right,
and it's the there's a wall, and then there's the
(19:03):
ocean you're staring across and you could see Miami like
you could see the lights of Miami. It is ninety
miles away from Havana, Cuba, so they're just Cubans. They're
standing there looking and literally dreaming of just going ninety
miles to Miami. And it's literally physically not I don't
(19:25):
want to say impossible, because there's been people that made
the lanchas and they go and they go on the
boat and they've made it. Some people don't make it
and to go seek refuge in the United States, and
it was just, I don't know. Coming back home, I
would see it as like, Wow, this is a this
is a blessing to be able to say that I'm
born and raised here in the United States. Obviously I
(19:48):
love being Latina, but again, like I feel like a
lot of people take the United States for granted and
it's not like it's nothing like any other country. And
I just I'm grateful. I'm very grateful. We're gonna go
on a quick break and we'll be right back to
talk more about Cuiva. All right, you guys, welcome back.
The people were very nice. They know how to party.
(20:11):
They party, they party, they drink a lot. They if
you're Latina like me, Mexicans specifically, they have very limited
tequila over there. I was on Jose Equavo and it
was just you know, if you know, you know, it's
just not the best, but it is very I had
to try other things. I had to try ram I
(20:32):
had to try. I think it's called Havana Club. Their
their main alcohol over there beers. I stopped drinking beer
started drinking beer over there again because there was nothing
else to drink. So I would show them, like, this
is how you drink, like Amita Lada. I would put
the limon, I would put the salt, not a michella,
but I would just like like very very nice, and
(20:53):
they loved it. There was at a point also where
I cut the mangos and I had a little Tahm
bottle and they don't have nothing the piicanta over there,
so I was also stressed. I was like, fuck, like
I need spicy food like bad, and I know I
should have brought my thought up your bottle, but whatever,
I had my tahen. I had found it in the
middle of the trip and I gave mangoc on limoni
tahen and everybody loved it and they were all spiced out.
(21:15):
I'm like, you guys think it's spicy, but yeah, I
definitely as far as food, as far as the ambiance,
people being nice, like it's always a good time. They're
the sweetest people if you just sit down and have
a conversation with them and not being like scared or
being I feel like you have to humble yourself and
meet them there and kind of just listen to them.
(21:37):
You'll get along with them. How dangerous it is over there?
And anytime do you feel unsafe? I honestly, I don't
remember feeling unsafe. I felt pretty okay where I was
staying at even when I was in the Pueblo, Like
people don't come like they mind their own business. People
are doing the thing. Yes, people stare at you, but
you're also American, like you know when you're American, like
(21:59):
people know you're not a part of them. But it
never felt dangerous or unsafe, even when the power went out,
even when there was no water, like I just felt
like I was just a normal, normal day, normal lives.
So no, I don't feel like it's dangerous. The only
thing is that when I was giving stuff away, like
(22:20):
they would try to reach in and grab something else.
And that's the only only time obviously, Like I personally
would keep my phone away when I was giving stuff
away just in case, but other than that, like, no
one's going to go and steal your phone, no one's
(22:40):
gonna go and grab your purse. Like it's just it
is what it is, So it just again, I didn't
feel unsafe. What do you feel about the political climate.
I don't want to talk too much about it because
I also want to be able to go back to Cuba,
but I do want to say that it is very unfair.
It's very unfair. Like the people that work with the
(23:01):
government have these big, gorgeous houses with security guards in front,
they're gated, and then you drive five minutes away and
then you see these people's houses, little little small houses,
cement houses with no roofs, sometimes just sitting outside with nothing.
(23:22):
And these people that work for the government have these gorgeous,
gorgeous houses, cut plants, trees, everything looks so presentable and beautiful.
And the embassies were just gorgeous as well. It is
a little sad, it's very sad. And again, like I
would love to, I don't know somehow do more. I
(23:46):
feel like what I took wasn't enough. It's never enough,
Like I feel like damn, like I even manipulated or
gasped myself. I'm like, you could have done more, Like
what the fuck are you doing? Like why didn't you
bring more? But then I realized it's like, you know what,
like I I can't provide for the whole country, at
least not right now. I mean, I don't know. Maybe
one day I can. I'm able to, but it's just
(24:08):
it is unfair, and I want to go visit other
countries that are maybe in the same situation, like you know, Venezuela,
Russia are also communist countries. Puerto Rico is always out
of power as well. So I just have a heart
and I want to be able to be a blessing
to people as well. And I think more than anything.
Another question was what did it teach you? I think
(24:29):
it just taught me how to value life, Like I
stopped caring about TikTok and all the drama that happens
on TikTok or whatever. I come back, I turn on
my phone and I'm just like, wow, this is really
what everybody cares about, like the drama about you know,
social status, and it's just like no, like you go
(24:51):
when you're there, it's just such simple life like you
eat food, you play games, you drink beer, and you
hang out and you're just grateful to God that you
got to make it another day with what you had.
And again, obviously like I had more things, I was
provided with more things, and I was able to take
my own things. But seeing and if you were to
(25:12):
be in their position as well, waiting for the possibility
of their chance to get a family member to make
it to the States, to get parole and to be
able to claim you as a resident, like you have
to think about that. I would ask people, you know,
have you ever decided that you wanted to go on
the boat or have you ever decided to go, you know,
(25:33):
in another way of shape or form, And yeah, there's
people that have jumped on the boat, jumped in the
water three four times, and obviously they couldn't make it.
Then there's people whose daughters have had to leave them,
like they go and they make it through and they
don't see their families for a long time until that
family member gets their residency in the United States and
(25:53):
then they're able to claim them as a refugee or whatever.
So I think, more than anything, I've learned to appreciate
my life like I could be so angry or I
could be so stressed out about this, this or that,
and then I think about Cuba and what I experience
and it's just like I really have no reason to complain.
(26:17):
I really don't. And I took a moment to realize,
like wow, you know when you know, when people would
tell you, like you're not going to finish eating that,
there's people in Africa. There's kids in Africa that are starving.
And I really live those moments because I would get
fool I would get so full, and I would feel
so guilty leaving the food and I'd be like no,
like let me just let me eat it, because then
(26:40):
they would see it as disrespectful if I were to
give my food to somebody, and like you know, it
would be offensible to them. And I didn't want that
to happen either. But it's like damn, like, yeah, there's
people out here starving, really starving. There's people that go
to sleep hungry and they're not able to eat because
they weren't able to make money to go, don't know,
go get a chicken or find rice or whatever. But overall,
(27:04):
it was a beautiful experience. And again I really think
that if you have the opportunity, please go. And I
really just hope that one day I'm able to go
back and to be a blessing and to open my
foundation and really, if anything, I come back and I
want to share with you guys that life is so short,
(27:28):
and life is so little. It's very limited, and I
just would hope that it's not taken for granted. I
feel like God has a plan and one day, one
day Cuba will be free and everyone can live a
happy life. That is my dream. That's my dream for
(27:48):
the Cubans and people that live in these certain circumstances,
certain circumstances, but I think more than anything, I've to
appreciate life and just thank God for you know what
I have now, and really share my experience with you guys.
(28:13):
And yeah, that's pretty much it. I wanted to thank
you guys so much for watching and listening to this.
I hope it was some type of inspiration for you guys.
If you guys have any more questions, please feel free
to message me on Instagram and I will be more
than happy to share anything with you guys. I also
have a highlight there if you guys want to see
(28:35):
my trip to Cuba, everywhere that I visited, and yeah,
so I will see you guys next Tuesday. Bye. Overcome
for Podcasts is a production of Iheartmichael podcast Network
Host
Jenicka Lopez
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