After my trip to the Oriente province on the Eastern half of the island, I am officially upgrading myself to Super Hero status.

25 hour train rides? No problem!
Taxi rides for $3 CuC? Heck naw, we ride for $1! Nothin' more!
Try to charge me as a tourist? Oh no he didn't...
Crazy hooligans stealing the new Santiago Baseball hat I bought off my head?
Take it! It supresses my lion man a.k.a. my source of super powers anyway.
Riding in a tiny Lada up and down steep roads to the Sierra Maestra mountains?
We ain't skeerd.

All in a day's work for LA FRESA SUPRESA! (strawberry surprise).

In addition to being a new super hero, I am now officially the worst tourist ever. I avoided them like the plague in Santiago, mostly because they were European women hanging out with jiniteros (hustlers) and I already had my travel posse.

duh.

Super things about Santiago:
I. MUSEOS
Sunday and Monday our super team explored as many museums as our little legs could take us. My favorite museums were: 1. Emilio Bacardi (because it had Cuba's only mummy! A MUMMY!) and 2. The Moncada Barracks- complete with bullet holes! Moncada is where Fidel and his revolutionaries attacked on the 26th of July. In short, the plan went terribly wrong, Fidel was taken prisoner (which is when he wrote "History Will Absolve Me"), the country was MAD, Batista felt bad because everyone hated him anyway, and Fidel was released.

I would be more than giddy to give you more details on the history of Cuba when I get back...

II. MUSICA
The music in the Oriente Province is like Havana, except it's EVERYWHERE. The eastern half is more isolated so it makes sense that they have developed their own sound. When we were in Baracoa, there was a group practicing for "Carnarval" in July banging on steel rings and drums.

It. was. AWESOME.

speaking of...

III. AWESOME WATERFALLS WITH NO TOURISTS
On a cold day in Baracoa, we hiked up to this seemingly secret spot (that I'm sure is filled with Europeans when it's warm) and swam in a natural pool with a HUGE waterfall that was ideal for jumping. Not only was I able to jump from this great waterfall into a great pool (that tamed my lion mane for the time being), I was able to drink FRESH hot chocolate afterwards (because Baracoa just happens to be Cuba's chocolate capital...SWEET!)