One can’t help but turn into a junior political science nerd while in Cuba. I’ll skip the analysis on the pros and cons of their particular flavour of socialism. However, it was interesting to see the various ways it impacted or complicated my Cuban week. I’m not entirely certain that I ever understood how things work in Cuba, or how much of what I was told was accurate. All I really knew for certain was that Cuba was not quite like other places, but it was still great.

Throughout Cuba there is an evident police and military presence. From the extensive customs process at the airport to the young national service police hanging out in Havana parks you were always within a stones throw of some authority or another. Consequently, it felt like the safest place I’ve ever been. Which was great as long as I was obeying the law. Even driving through the remote country side there were frequent roadside police checkpoints. A local told me that 60% of Cubans were either police, military, or informants, but I don’t know how accurate that statement is. I even learned that hospitality industry workers can’t be too friendly with visitors or they’ll invariably be reported for having suspicious relations with foreigners. It’s all a bit weird and clandestine, but it shouldn’t really be a factor for most visitors.

There was a distinct similarity in most Cuban menus. Unless you were somewhere terribly fancy you would have the same dining choices everywhere you went. It was quickly clear that the average menu was made up of variations on a base set of ingredients. Ham sandwich, egg sandwich, cheese sandwich, ham and cheese sandwich, egg and cheese sandwich, and so on. You get the idea.

Everywhere was clean, orderly, and pleasant. Part of my impression here might be because I was living in Haiti when I took my trip to Cuba, and nearly nothing in Haiti is clean, orderly or pleasant. Havana especially was a beautiful city with plenty of parks, great architecture and lots of public spaces. The entire country was really pretty though. I also noticed that everywhere in Cuba there were always people out and about. Much more than any place I’ve ever seen, there were hordes of pedestrians and bicyclists around. Maybe some positive cultural side effect from not having good TV channels?

The only complaint I can think of about Cuba is the absurd currency system. Cuba has two currencies, which is obviously one too many. I won’t even try to explain the system here because I don’t think any human understands all the specifics of which money can be spent on what and by whom. Unless you’re a masochist, just buy the tourist currency and forget that anything else exists. It’s only once you try and game the system that you realize how weird it is. Which I of course did right away and consequently got to spend the rest of my time trying to figure out exactly how it all worked.

Cuba was definitely a fascinating and beautiful place to check out. The people are super nice, and it was easily one of the most unique experiences I’ve had in the Caribbean or Central America. Here’s more pictures than you really want to see from my trip. Don’t say that I didn’t warn you.

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//shawn

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- Cuba Is So Very Cuban is a post from: Rerunaround

It’s going to be tough to validate any definitions of legitimate volunteer and morbid tourist. However, I would say the legitimate volunteer is the person that becomes a part of the community they’re helping. They also seem to make significant personal sacrifice in order to volunteer. Perhaps in the form of leaving a job, using every minute of their annual vacation time, spending a large percentage of their income to volunteer, or staying for a longer than usual time. The morbid tourist could probably be defined as those who volunteer for a short period of time, make little to no personal sacrifice, and most importantly are never really engaged with the local community.

There’s also a much less tangible aspect to volunteers that is the true defining factor between these two classifications. Their genuine motivation. Which, as you can guess, is sometimes quite different from their announced motivation. Volunteers seem to fall into two groups, which also mirror the legitimate and tourist labels. These two groups are the selfless and the self righteous. I’ve seen volunteers that were motivated by their own self righteous need to confirm their superiority. They need to validate how successful and great they are by having disaster victims shower them with gratitude. Then on the other hand there are the selfless volunteers that are not interested in appreciation or recognition. They’re simply interested in doing the right thing for the sake of doing it.

A large focus of the morbid tourist finger pointing is specific to the unskilled volunteer. People with clearly applicable skills, such as doctors, engineers, etc are seemingly excused from the morbid tourism moniker. However, in my practical experience, it appears that the opposite is more often true. I’ve seen plenty of examples where a skilled person will arrive at a disaster and spend their brief few days neck deep in photo opportunities and detached judgments. As though in a bubble, they stay separate from the people they are there to help. They leave as quickly as they arrived and then pronounce their experience to be genuinely life affirming, humbling and stunning. Whereas the unskilled volunteers I’ve encountered are more often than not desperate to help in any way they can. They eagerly throw themselves into any helpful task and are quick to engage the community that they’re helping.

Naturally, with every black and white comparison there is plenty of grey to go around. There isn’t a legitimately selfless volunteer out there who doesn’t slip into those moments of tourism or indulgence. On the other hand, there’s certainly times that the tourist gets caught up in the community and ends up genuinely moved to help. All this said, I’m glad to be able to say that the morbid tourist is certainly the rare exception. The overwhelming majority of volunteers that I’ve encountered has been genuinely interested in just lending a helping hand.

The moral of all this? I guess it’s to be aware of yourself while you’re in that beautiful pre-trip phase where you’re all caught up in the idealism of volunteering. Why are you actually going? Would the disaster victims honestly be better off with your airfare, or with your presence? Honestly.

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// shawn

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- Disaster Response Volunteer, or Morbid Tourist? is a post from: Rerunaround

Habit: Not a lot of comfortable seating, and no perks like wifi, make this a good choice for a latte to go. It’s perfectly located right downtown.

Street Level Espresso: Definitely a to-go cup establishment that embodies the true “hole in the wall” spirit of excellence. As a secret bonus tip, bring the barista a 1973 Canadian quarter and see what happens.

Discovery Coffee: A little less central than the other downtown cafes, but still well worth the visit. Also a sweet spot to pick up some good beans for home.

Caffe Fantastico: I haven’t made it to this one yet. However, it’s highly recommended by trusted sources. Plus I really wanted a 5th cafe to list. So there you have it. This is over in the newly cool Vic West area.

Buon Amicis Coffee: If you can handle walking a few blocks out of the downtown area, then definitely cross the bridge to Vic West and go here. Perhaps the comfiest of the five cafes, they have free wifi, nice chairs and a great latte.

I’m by no measure a coffee connoisseur or snob, but I do enjoy a nice latte sometimes. Sure I enjoy some Tim Horton’s as much as the next guy. Sometimes though you’re in the mood for something top shelf, and sometimes you’re in the mood for convenient and reliable. Know what I mean?

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// shawn

ps:  that photo is street level espresso.

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- Top 5 Cafes In Victoria BC is a post from: Rerunaround

Morale wise things here are going fine. There’s plenty of times where I can think of much better places to be. Then there’s other times where I can’t think of any place better. So it works out. The hard adjustment for me this week is getting used to people leaving. There’s some really cool folks volunteering down here and it’s quite sad when they head home.

For those folks curious what the various international presence was like here, it’s pretty mixed, but not as mixed as you might think. Léogâne was the quake epicenter, so we see a ton of relief groups pass through here. Generally, on the international front the largest impact group is the Canadian military. They began leaving this week though. Then I see a mix of smaller groups like the Japanese and Canadian Red Cross, the Korean army (arriving this week with heavy machinery), and a smattering of UN military police. Then there’s also various food and medical relief charities here and there. The only American presence in town is from private charities, not the military.

Well here’s a smattering of various photos from around town. A lot of these came from the market. Although it may not look much like a market to you. I’m off to see if I can find some leftover rice and beans.

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// shawn

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- Haiti Photo Potpourri is a post from: Rerunaround

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// shawn

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- Random Léogâne, Haiti Photos is a post from: Rerunaround

If I had to describe Haiti in one sentence; it’s just like some mad snow globe maker took equal parts people, cement, and mosquitoes, put it all in the oven, then shook the hell out of it. The devastation here is really amazing. Everywhere I look there are collapsed buildings and houses. There are shacks sitting in the streets made of out everything possible. Wherever there used to be a courtyard or field there’s now hundreds and hundreds of people trying to live in tents and under tarps. In this heat the middle of those packed solid tent cities must be pure hell. The streets are packed all day with people looking for work or running kids. I can’t imagine how they have the energy to run in this heat, but it’s really nice to see them having a good time. Despite all the suffering, the Haitians I have met so far have been quite nice. I suppose it says a lot about these people that they can be subjected to such catastrophe and still keep going.

The group I’m working with here is Hands On Disaster Response. We have a cool little base here in Léogâne built out of an old disco. We have  a lot of projects on the go all the time, but the one I started on was building some outdoor showers at a local hospital/clinic. Other projects are things like clearing rubble, transporting and organizing relief supplies, building fences and buildings, and so on. The projects change all the time, so the variety is fantastic. It seems like there are about three dozen folks here and everyone has been really nice. I suppose jerks aren’t drawn to travel really far to horrible conditions in order to volunteer.

So far I’m really happy with HODR and the projects here. I could do with a little less heat, humidity and mosquitoes, but such is life. Anyways, I’ll work on getting some good pictures soon — I feel bad taking pictures of people because it feels like the rest of the world just likes to gawk at the suffering. You know, like those jerks who slow down to stare at car crashes. If there’s anything you would like to know about Haiti, HODR, Heat, Humidity, Helicopters (you get to see some awesome UN and various military helicopters here), just holler.

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// shawn

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- First Impressions Of Volunteering In Haiti is a post from: Rerunaround

The plan is to spend about 3 months in Haiti. Although I reserve the right to cut that time short if the humidity and bucket showers are making me homicidal. I’ll be working with Hands On Disaster Response in Léogâne. I’m expecting a lot of hard work in a really bleak place. So we’ll see how that plays out. I haven’t really had to work hard for a few years, so that too will be interesting. It sounds like a lot of the projects we’ll be doing will involve clearing rubble and the such. At least to start.

I’ll do my best to get in some posts on what it’s like in Haiti. I’m sure my spare time will be unreliable though. If there is anything in particular you’d like to hear about or see from the area certainly let me know. Ted Beatie is also down there right now, so if you’re interested you should definitely check out his accounts of the scene.

After Haiti I hope to get to the Dominican Republic and Cuba. I’m betting that both those places will be great. Especially after months of labour. Then it’s up to New York for a few days at the end of June then… who knows. I kind of have my eye on Oktoberfest, but it’s just too far away to tell for certain.

As I said, I’ll be sad to leave Victoria. It really is a lovely city and well worth a visit if you have the opportunity to do so. I’ve met several great people in the past month here and had a lot of fun. So that’s pretty much the state of the union  for me. Keep on truckin’.

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// shawn

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- T-Minus 3 Days To Haiti is a post from: Rerunaround

We had walked past countless sailboats and it was just another morning in the harbour. All the proverbial chat topics were going on, “ohh that one is pretty” and “I could sail around the world on that baby”, and so on. Then amongst all the fancy boats this little beauty suddenly caught my eye and ignited my day dreaming muscles.

She certainly isn’t anything stunning to look at, I admit. I know the photo is a bit busy with all the rigging in the background and it came off my phone so the quality isn’t hot. How often do you see such a cute little sailboat like that though? Definitely older since she’s all wood construction. And even a wood burning stove chimney. You sure wouldn’t get anything like that these days. She isn’t fancy by any stretch of the imagination, but she sure has personality.

I have no idea who lives on there or what the boat’s story is. However, I’ve spent plenty of time imagining how if she were my boat I’d get up early to warm up the stove. Maybe have afternoon projects like replacing some rigging here and there or sanding down the deck for a fresh coat of stain. I wonder how she would sail. Probably fairly heavy compared to newer boats, but I bet she’d be seaworthy enough to go plenty of places. Maybe drift into a quiet inlet for the night. Nobody around but some dodgy looking seals and a random gull.

I have no idea what this particular boat’s name is. I think I’d name her Ingrid though. It sounds about right to me.

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// shawn

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- Look At This Boat! is a post from: Rerunaround

I originally saw this charger on Gadling a few months ago and have been using it exclusively ever since. I make a point of having only the most efficient gear in my pack, and this little thingy definitely meets my standards.

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// shawn

Edit: This baby is $36 at Amazon.

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- Review: Macally iPhone Charger is a post from: Rerunaround

It’s so warm and sunny today that the closest thing to snow here is the layer of cherry blossoms lining the sidewalks. I had taken completely for granted that I was walking around clean, safe downtown streets. Passing great architecture, interesting shops, and several tempting little cafes. I got to further considering the amazing amount of activities in this region and all the great spots to see. Just in this small, yet beautiful, corner of the world there’s more things I want to do than I can comfortably list.

To illustrate my original point a little bit, here’s what Victoria looks like from that random spot where I paused to let the photographer get his shot. Taking this hasty photo gave me something to do while I waited. It’s by no means the most picturesque spot in town. In fact, it’s a bit average. Which is what I find really exceptional.

No, I’m not canceling my future trips to instead stay here and partake in the myriad local experiences. I am however clear in my mind that as I continue to travel around, I’m not looking for something better, but am instead simply looking around.

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// shawn

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- Is The Grass Greener? is a post from: Rerunaround