Parque Metropolitano

This is a must-do when you are in Havana. It is a very unique place with lots of weird surprises, but it makes for an interesting and fun day. The fab four, Tara, Johandy, Jose and I headed to the park for the afternoon. We walked down the steps into a wooded, leafy, almost jungle-type park. After checking out the see-saws, we made our way down the concrete path, past couples kissing on benches overlooking the river, and to the little dock where you could rent a rowboat. Sounded like an awesome idea so we all piled into the wobbly old rowboat. Stupidly, us girls thought the boys would be able to handle the rowing but instead directed us in circles and into walls. The girls took over and we had a nice scenic ride down the river, past the tiny shacks on the river bank with laundry hanging out, past low-hanging green trees and little white flowers. We laughed and talked, sang and splashed. The boys couldn’t take being shown up by the girls so they had to take over again and led us, slowly and crookedly, back to the dock.
Next up: golfito. I was pretty excited about this because I love mini-golf. Little did I know that the Cuban version is impossible. You play with hard, bouncy balls, a lot lighter than a golf ball, and you play on concrete. Well, on the holes where the hole is actually in a conceivable spot, you have to hit the ball just right so that it doesn’t go flying and bouncing all over the place. Needless to say this made it interesting and not really that competitive since none of us could actually make it in the holes. We gave up about half way through and headed to the horses. Apparently there were horses in this random park. To our disappointment, there were no horses that day, but we did see chickens. I loved the randomness, turning every corner to see something else you weren’t expecting. I loved the scenery, and most of all I loved the company. That afternoon the four of us laughed, were silly without caring, enjoyed being with each other, and got in touch with the children in our hearts.