New Year in Cuba

New Year's in Cuba is a big deal, and I was excited to ring in 2015 in a warm climate. The owners of our casa particular, Lourdes and Jose Miguel, invited us to come to a dinner at their daughter's house. She also rents out rooms in her home along the water - 6 rooms, in fact, so it was like a small hotel. There was big buffet dinner on the patio, with a mix of tourists and family taking part.

Cuban new year has the familiar ingredients of dancing, fancy food, drinking and kisses at midnight. Traditionally, Cubans roast a pig for the feast. We saw one being butchered out on the sidewalk in Cienfuegos. The other big tradition is to build a scarecrow out of old clothes and newspaper. This is the old man of the year that has passed, with a big 2014 written on his chest. What happens to him at midnight? They light him on fire, of course.

I also learned from Surama and her brother that people who want to travel walk out of the house with a suitcase on New Year's Eve. They take it around the block, or to the nearest bar. This is the way to welcome a new year that will take you places.