• We had a meal at a spanish restauarant in havana that will hands down go down in my history as the most hedonistically gargantuan I have ever had. A paella arrived that literally weighed about 8 pounds. I wish I were kidding.
• I had an amazing salsa lesson from Amelki in Vinales that has single-handedly turned me into a latin dance afficionado. It's now on my to-do list for 2008 (learn to properly salsa). Every cuban I met thought it was hysterical that I wanted to learn to salsa in los angeles.
• I can now add Cabo San Antonio to the list of remote and wild places I've traveled. CSA is the most western point in all of Cuba and is wholly inaccessible (by government decree) to all cubans. Our dive instructors and boat captain were all part-time military (and rumoured covert ops guys).

Was saddened to find out that our guides could not come along on our dive trip because cubans cannot go into the sea without a special travel permit (that even government guides cannot easily obtain). I pressed the issue saying "what about international waters? can't cubans just stay inside cuban waters?" Our guides were really saddened but resigned to this limitation on their personal freedoms. I loved cuba, but was grateful for being American (which isn't often a feeling I have had in recent years).

• I met the man whose photo is on the cover of lonely planet cuba on our last day in la habana. he took a photo with me and even gave me his autograph (for a small propina - ahem).
• I had excellent coffee everywhere. I miss it already.
• I had underage men hitting on me (which hasn't happened in a few years). It was the first time I had ocasion to say "I'm old enough to be your mother" and it be true.
• the cuban people are not quite as insulated as I had imagined (nowhere near). Everywhere I went, I met people able to discuss our upcoming presidential election (sometimes better than americans I know).
• My mom smoked a hand-rolled cigar on a private farm.
• The food was less exciting than I'd hoped based on my cuban restaurant experience in the states. A guide gently reminded me that cubans running paladars (unofficial restaurants) don't have access to the ingredients we do.
• Breathtaking natural beauty around every corner.
• Dilapidated, gorgeous facades on buildings hiding gems inside.
• have never been so happy to see american toilet paper. cubans are issued their ration by the government and there is none for sale in any shops or in any public restaurants. thank god we were prepared.
• My spanish is not as crap as I thought. To-do list item #281: properly learn spanish.