IM BACK!!!!

Hello followers :)

So this past Sunday I got back from our weekend trip to MATANZAS! Matanzas is another province of Cuba, and it is BEAUTIFUL! It's definitely an entire different feel from Havana which is all hustle and bustle. Matanzas was much more peaceful and calm.

1) The first day there we went to a slavery museum that traced the history of slavery in Cuba. Really interesting stuff.

2) Then we went to Ediciones Vigía, a publishing house that produces beautifully hand-crafted books using ALL kinds of materials and an old mimeograph machine. No digitalness, no computers. It was magical. All the books are made by hand. Seriously. It's amazing. We volunteered and helped cut out some stuff that is going to be used to make a book that will be released at the Book Fair later this month! I can't wait to see it! I'll definitely be posting pictures of Vígia very soon! MAMI I BOUGHT YOU A BOOK FROM THERE AND I THINK YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE IT!! :)

3) Checked into our hotel. Nice hotel, but nothing to write home about.

4) The next day we went to the Matanzas museum. It was kinda weird. It was the randomest compilation of stuff.

5) Then we went to this pharmacy museum. It's a lot cooler than it sounds. It's this old pharmacy from the l800's that operated like it did since it opened until the early 1960s when it was closed. Then soon after it was opened as a museum. EVERYTHING, I repeat, everything there is in its original form from the 1800s. And the medicines and oils that are in the jars are the last that were used. It was so awesome.

6) Third day we drove to Varadero, which is in the province of Matanzas, but not in the city of Matanzas. It was about a 30 min drive. OMG VARADERO IS SOOOO WEIRD! It's like tourist central. It is NOTHING like the rest of Cuba. There's a bunch of fancy hotels and too many tourists! But Professor Behar wanted us to see for ourselves the tourist side of Cuba is like. We stayed at the Hotel Internacional, which was built in the mid 1950s. It was all-inclusive, so we definitely hit the bar up a few times ;) Also, it was right on the beach. The strip of beach that our hotel had was SOOOOOOOOOO beautiful. So I definitely spent most of that day chillen on the beach.

Okay so don't get me wrong. I'm still in school and eventhough we are doing all these really amazing fun things, I feel like I'm learning sooooo much. I may not understand everything, but I'm definitely taking it in and learning a ton. Oh! And we still managed to have class while we were in Matanzas! We held class pool-side!! It was great!!

Alright loves, it's time for me to go! I have class from 10-1pm. Oh and I will post pictures to this same post later on!

I hope you all have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!