I had just gotten off my flight to Havana, Cuba, at 8:22 post meridian. I was so ecstatic about being able to visit Cuba for the first time. What really made the trip worth wild was the fact that the week I was staying there The Carnival of Santiago de Cuba was being held. I had been saving up my money from my second job, working as a body guard at night for a local club, just for this occasion. It had always been a childhood dream to go to Cuba. Both of my parents were from Cuba, but came to America via a boat for the possibility of a better life. At the time of their departure the Cuban Revolution was taking place. My mother was pregnant with me, so my parents made a mutual decision to leave for America.
Finally being able to step foot on such a talked about place in my family felt kind of nostalgic. Since there were no direct flights to Santiago I had get off my flight in Havana and take a cab to Santiago. As I approached the outskirts of Santiago I could see the streets buzzing with activity. By the time I had reached the inner city the cab barely had enough room to navigate because of the surrounding people. After setting foot out of the cab the first thing I did was go to the local cigar shack to buy the much praise about cuban cigar. As I lit the cigar walked into a bar not far from where I was located. As I waited for my glass of rum I began to listen to the hostess sing. Her voice was so soothing almost hypnotizing. The drunken old men around the bar were going crazy over her. From the smirk on her face you could tell she knew what she was doing. She displayed confidence in her craft like no other. .
As my drink arrived we locked eyes. The world seemed to come to a halt as I stared the very essence of beauty dead in its face. Throughout the remainder of the night we locked eyes frequently, butterflies forming in my stomach with every look. As the bar began to close I had drunk another glass of rum to muster up the courage to talk with the lovely woman.