Surama's twin brothers and mom Victoria met us at the Havana airport. The guys took the heavy bag off our hands and put it on their moped. Victoria rode in the taxi with us to our room at Señora Elsa's apartment. While pointing out the sights out the window, Victoria told us she is a civil engineer for the agriculture ministry, which means that she designs silos and other agricultural structures.
The next morning she called and invited us to come over for her birthday party. For a traveler this is a pretty cool thing. Any time you can hang out with locals, it adds meaning to the trip that no guide book can replace. And in this case, all we needed was a little Nutella. But we also brought flowers.
When we arrived at the apartment Victoria gave us a tour. The place isn't big but it is brightly painted and nicely furnished. Victoria grew up in the apartment downstairs and her sister lives next door. As she showed us around, she kept mentioning things that son-in-law George (she calls him Jorge) had done or said or contributed to the family. He is a bit of a celebrity around there. After we met the aunts and uncles and cousins, the twin brothers showed up with some beer. They offered beers to Brian and me and we accepted, but after opening the cans we noticed that nobody was given beer except us. Then we sang happy birthday songs (several), took some photos and Victoria blew out the candles. Dessert was served. It was a papaya sauce with some fruit and soft cheese. I know they grow sugar in Cuba, but I have never eaten anything so sweet in my life. Brian and I had it on plates while everyone else ate from cups. When I asked why, Victoria told me it's because they like to pig out. Even though Surama's family made us feel welcome, it was hard not to feel like we were getting special treatment. We were also the only white people there, but somehow that didn't make us feel nearly as uncomfortable as eating our sugary papaya sauce from a plate.
The conversation was all in Spanish, except for when we talked with Surama's Uncle Tony, who spoke very good English. He and Brian got talking and we learned that Tony is a musician. He invited us to hear his band play at a restaurant in Old Havana. I talked more with Victoria, who told us that she was given the moped at work. It meant that she was pretty important, though the most important people get cars. She misses her daughter and asked how I think Surama is doing in Germany.
It was hard not to imagine about how a civil engineer in another country would be living. She certainly wouldn't have trouble finding soap, or getting enough beer for all the guests. Would she sport a hot pink dress and host an all-day birthday party? Probably not like Victoria did.
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