Kefalonia, Ionian Islands, Greece

A friend of mine says the photo above suits his idea of the Mediterranean.
I particularly like the fact that it looks as if this woman arrived at the beach solo on the dinghy. I believe she is contemplating the settings... this empty beach is a rare finding along Kefalonia's coast. The rolling hills protecting the small bay submerge smoothly into the Ionian Sea, providing the perfect shelter for tiny-baby-fish to learn the way their fins and gills work :).


Snorkeling in these waters is a real bliss. Repeatedly, I took consecutive deep breaths... descended... and schools of fish surrounded me, almost rubbing me. But only until a certain depth, after which they kept an eye on, waiting for my return. When snorkeling, one of the things that scares me the most is the same that draws me the most: it's the varying intensity of the BLUE. First and foremost, it mesmerizes me. After a while, I start to think about sharks, seeing shapes materialize out of the blue... literally :). In this particular beach, nonetheless, it took more than that and the usual feeling of cold before I decided to say farewell to my fins&gills new friends and come out of the water.

After a few minutes soaking in the sun, I realized I'd better jump into this wonderful sea once again, as this was one of the last days in Kefalonia...

Contrast #1

Food rationing in Cuba. Every year since 1962, cuban families are given a Libreta de Abastecimiento, a booklet stating the portions of food that each family can buy at the local bodega at subsidized prices. Those portions vary according to the number of persons in each family and their ages. The government states that the amount of food each cuban is allowed to buy through this system comprises a third of the daily needs. The other two thirds are hard to get with an average monthly salary under $17 USD, as the prices soar outside the food rationing system. Careful meal planning is thus required, giving little space for futile needs to stem. You can see it in their eyes.

Florence, Italy

The man between the waist-high bars, the florentine sculptor (now sculptured) and goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini, as seen many couples writing their names on a lock and putting it on those same bars. It doesn't seem reasonable to think that Florence authorities would remove locks from time to time so that more couples crossing Ponte Vecchio could put their own lock. It thus seems passionate to think that true love really endures.

"8 de la manãna, Havana, Cuba"

The taxi driver barely payed attention to the traffic. Anyone on the sidewalk could wave him down and asked him if he would go some place for some pesos. It was up to him deciding whether the small (or big) detour, since there were other people on board with different destinations, would compensate for the pesos he had been offered. No hurries. Moreover, nobody on board seemed to bother.

What could be an uninteresting shortest path from A to B turned out as an apparently random sequence of streets, with different persons hopping in and out. A man holding a mango (possibly is lunch), a couple noticeably in love... All of us (sometimes a total of 7 persons) fitted inside the typical 50's american car.

Once in downtown Havana, the cigar / rum / paladares (family run restaurants) / accommodation (and other "commodities"...) vendors are by the dozen. If you reject some or all offers, you get an unresented smile and a warm "hasta luego" in return.


In one of the busiest streets in Havana, this woman gently asked if we would go to the groceries store and buy powder milk for her baby. At first, we were kind of apprehensive: where exactly is the store? just there, she said.

For obvious reasons, it was difficult to deny such request... even though we figured a big-iron-muscled-cuban boyfriend was waiting for such pure souls in some alley... but sometimes a "western" mind plays tricks on you. We were/are so embarrassedly wrong... At the store counter, though, one other woman immediately joined us. Well, powder milk for two babies then... no problem. They told the man behind the counter what they wanted and he swiftly took care of the order. He looked busy... As soon as we started realizing that maybe they had (a lot) more babies, they said an embarrassed thank you and a quick goodbye, and walked out the door with their hands full of bags filled with powder milk packages.

The bill was steep. But a far cry from cubans' needs. It seemed more than fair.