Hello, I'm Romina
-And this is my friend Janelle. -Hi.
-Today we are going to be talking about Cuba. -Yeah.
Fun fact both Janelle and I are Cuban
and we both recently went to Cuba for the first time in our entire lives.
I went recently and it's funny
because I have so many friends of mine that went to Cuba
and I'm like you're more Cuban than I am
because you already went and I didn't, that's kind of how I felt.
because of this we are going to be talking about being Cuban
and visiting Cuba for the first time
and kind of our impressions and what our expectations were
and if they were met
and that's it.
Yeah, basically we're just going to vent to you about our thoughts
you know, like an expectation versus reality.
The first thing that we are going to be talking about is...
Food!
Yeah!
Oh no, it wasn't?
You're so excited.
I love food.
Cuban food is super delicious.
And I'm not just saying that because...
-We're not being biased. -I know.
But honestly it really is probably one of the best.
I think so too, yeah.
It's one of the best culinary adventures that you could ever go on.
I grew up eating quite a bit of Cuban food
same yeah I mean my mom doesn't cook
and when she did,
-You know your rice and beans. -Rice an beans.
The quick fit for us is rice and also like with an egg.
-The plantains. -The plantains.
-Oh, with the eggs, rice and the eggs. -Platanitos.
Going to Cuba, one of the things that you have to do
if you ever find yourself in Cuba is visiting the paladares
and getting a reservation there and eating there.
So, paladares is just kind of a fancy way of saying restaurant.
I mean it's just like gourmet Cuban restaurant.
And the difference also too that I noticed
is like most paladares are at their homes
they're actually like they were homes before
and they turned their home into a business.
I actually went to a paladar
that was an apartment complex turned into a restaurant
but it was still an apartment complex.
So in order to get to the restaurant
you have to like pass through...
-People's homes? -People's apartments, Yeah!
As far as the food
because I had a pretty interesting experience
where I didn't just have the normal rice and beans and fried plantains.
There was a lot of fusion that was going on.
At least the restaurants that I went to.
So, I don't know if you experienced that but it just kind of,
I mean, it gave me like a different perspective on what Cuban food is.
Yes, and like for me too, and even like when it comes to the beverages
There's something called lemo, like it was like...
it's like a lemonade but it wasn't lemonade, I don't know.
They made like these tostones, like the plantains but like squish
but they put toppings in it, like it was like shredded chicken
and like shredded ham but I never had that before.
-This is making me hungry. -I know.
I think what was interesting about Cuba is that
they have different seasons for like the food
like it depends on whatever they have available at the time.
So, sometimes they would have something on the menu
and then if you come back like a week later they won't have that thing anymore.
That happen to me.
Me saying like, oh this was my favorite restaurant.
might not be my favorite restaurant you know six months down the line
because they might not have the dishes that I like.
So I went to, she recommended this and her mom
Kevon chef.
So there was a dish that we wanted to had chicken
and then we couldn't get it because they didn't have chicken that week.
-Oh! -Yeah.
They actually had a really cool like mango chicken salad thing
-That was like inside of an actual mango. -Mango?
Like they cut at it out
-What? -Yeah, it was real fancy.
Your mom would be so upset if she found out I just had a salad.
Who goes to Cuba and orders a Caesar salad?
-And a Caesar salad to top it off. -A Caesar salad?
Yeah, you know what happens to me, Cuba's very hot and humid
So, I felt like at the time I can't eat no more hot food
you know what I mean?
So, we were invited a town
which is about an hour and a half away from Havana.
It was right by the water so obviously like fresh fish
and it's super cheap, it was like 7 bucks
and you get like shrimp and fish and like chicken
but I really loved the shrimp
and then my friend got the same thing and I was like I was eating it
and she's like, Oh my god don't eat that it has like caca inside.
I'm like, what?
Like poop shrimp.
So they don't clean necessarily, like they don't fully clean their shrimp.
The shrimp and then I had like the line, it had the line.
I had like the intestines like filled in poop.
So just check your shrimp for caca, poop shrimp
Taste is really good though. so I think I was so hungry
I like cut around the intestines and like eat the other half.
That leads us into another topic.
The people of Cuba
So, I grew up surrounded by Cuban people
and I hadn't gone to Cuba
and actually met, you know, people in Cuba.
Cuban people are really, really nice
especially if you're not from there.
They're ready to like help you.
I mean Cuba's been open what, like maybe two years now
but it had like foreigners come in and out of the country.
They speak better English than Cubans in Miami
If you speak only English like you should have no problem
everyone for the most part speaks English
or at least can guide you in the right direction
Fun story, I got in a coco taxi at night and then we told him...
I got in a coco taxi at night too!
So cool, you got to do the coco taxi.
and we wanted to go dancing.
He was like so determined that we'd go to a good spot
he went with us.
he just like charges us to go to the place
and then like he got off and like got off with us
and like partied with us.
It was so cool, yeah.
That sounds like he was a little bit too helpful.
If you actually try to learn a little bit of Spanish before you go there
the people are also nice enough
that they won't be like, oh it's this foreigner like trying to fit in.
-They'll try to help you. -Yeah.
-Like they might laugh at you. -Yeah.
They'll try to help you and try to understand what it is that you're trying to say.
Of course, don't be like super confident, there's always like...
-But that's in any country that you go to. -Yeah.
-Don't always go dancing with the coco taxi driver. -Taxi guy?
There's a Cuban saying like,
un bicho malo, like a bad bug.
-And that in any country. -In any place, yeah.
That, you know, you maybe you shouldn't trust them
because they'll try to mess with you.
Next thing we're going to talk about is
expectation versus reality.
Growing up Cuban I had a lot of expectations of what the island of Cuba was like
what the people were like, what food was like.
I think one of the biggest things that was most shocking to me
was that in my head I just pictured Cuba being like small
I mean geographically.
-I just thought it was... -Smaller one?
A small Island.
I was thinking about all the islands I had been to in the Bahamas
and I was comparing it to that.
Where it's like you could literally walk from one side of the island to the other.
golf cart like through the island.
and you can't even do that in Havana
-Like Havana alone is like a country. -Yeah.
I was there for three days
except the other three days I did day trips to other parts of Cuba
and I regret, I mean I don't regret it
but I just want to go back because there's so much more to explore.
I didn't know how big it was as well
but then about a year ago
I like made more like friends that have been to Cuba
like, oh no, like you want to go to like such and such place in Santiago or whatever.
-And you're like it's like four hours away. -Yeah.
and you gotta have to stay over there.
I don't have a lot of family in Cuba
so I have like one distant cousin that still lives there.
So I didn't have like pictures that I've seen
like everything was like a mental
like what I came up with this like idea
-What I think it looks like. -Yeah.
But it's not like I had.
A lot of other Cuban Americans have family there
and like they send them pictures and stuff like that.
I think that actually leads us into the last topic that I wanted to talk about
which was just overall talking about Cuba
and you brought up a point about family in Cuba
and the reason that I went to Cuba was to visit my family
and to meet my family who I've never met before.
it was just interesting to see how they grew up
and like my cousin who's younger than me
and the things that she's interested in
and how she lives her life compared to mine
I didn't have connections before and now I do.
And so now she has my email and I have hers
and we send each other stuff every once in a while.
So, I think the minute I landed it was very very nostalgic for some reason
I had been wanting to go to Cuba but I have been waiting
because I really wanted to go with my grandmother or my mom
and unfortunately like just due timing and several other reasons
like they weren't able to go with me
but there's like this nostalgic that like,
Oh my god these are like part of my roots
What killed me is like I really want to go with her
because I wanted like know where she would hang out
and where she had went to school.
I did visit like the río de Almendrades.
I think it's river Almendrades I don't know how to say it in English
When I told her that I went,
She's like, oh that's where I went with my boyfriend.
that's where I had my first kiss
I was like, oh my good it's so cool.
and like that river is beautiful
it's crazy like we're very blessed
I mean I was very blessed to like live in the home
and grow up in the home that I did but like they're totally happy
and with what they have, you know, it's different.
Like to see though the conditions that they live in.
That's definitely one of the things that we forgot to mention about people.
-is that they're just so happy. -Yeah.
It's not because they don't have like a choice or, you know,
it's because that's just how they are.
That's how it is, the country has been that way
like when people say, look it's like time stopped, time stopped for 50 years.
So, like they make the best with what they have
with materials that they get.
I get it now I get it why people like...
I didn't understand like why people like brought bags and bags.
-I'm like, god they don't need that, you know. -Yeah.
She told me at this point we don't need clothes
we need like actual material
in order to fix our homes and stuff like that.
So, it's interesting how like things are changing in the country
and what they need or what they value.
Well that's all that we wanted to talk to you guys about today.
I hope that you enjoyed this video
if you did then please give it a thumbs up
and upvote it if you are on a Vidme
and before you close this thing
be sure to head over to Janelle's channel
where we are going to be giving you some tips for going to Cuba
-Like hotels... -Versus Airbnb.
What currency you should have and more.
don't tell them anymore they got to go over there to go watch it.
and if you haven't already then please subscribe and follow me
I am @redromina everywhere
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For now we're going to go.
-So, I will see you one see you, Bye! -Bye!
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