My first postcard from Cuba

Of poems and liquors

4 Jul 2014 | From Anet of Cuba

POSTCROSSING SWAP

Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. Its capital and largest city is Havana. Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean. A multiethnic country, its people, culture, and customs derive from diverse origins, including the aboriginal Taíno and Ciboney peoples, the long period of Spanish colonialism, the introduction of African slaves, a close relationship with the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and proximity to the United States.

Written in the front of the postcard is a poem from Samuel Feijóo, one of the most innovative poets in Cuba.

Botella Al Mar

Un libro

es una botella al mar.

Yo quiero

que los míos

vayan

a las manos

rotas

de los

náufragos.

Using Google Translate, I got this as translation: A bottle into the Sea. A book is a bottle into the sea. I want mine to go to the broken hands of the castaways. The lines were simple yet striking. I wonder what feelings he had when he wrote these words...

Anet also sent me a little pin from the famous Floridita bar in Havana. She shared that daiquri (a family of cocktails whose main ingredients are rum, citrus, and sugar or other sweetener) was created there, and even the famous Hemingway drank at that bar.