cuba VI: vacation bible school

Keep with me friends - I still have more post! I'm telling you we did A LOT in Cuba!

On Friday and Saturday, we helped do a mini VBS in the mornings in a neighboring town called Zorrilla. We had the perfect setting: under a large shade tree, constant breeze with blue skies, and surrounded by palms and banana trees. Talk about Creation!

on the way to zorrilla

the coolest and only creature we saw in cuba

the bull we had vbs with

this is our talented friend pablo! we brought this guitar just for him...his very own. he is a talented musician and a wonderful guy. the boys presented him with the guitar a few days early and he had tears of joy and gratitude. he will be attending seminary in september.

I love spanish worship music

the locals did a drama for us...the story of jesus feeding the 5000...which was what our vbs was based around

matt, mark, patrick and sarah

they put me in charge of crafts :)

these are the bracelets we made...each bead representing something different. everyone wanted to add a pink bead so we decided that was for friendship.

precious

the group on day one

sarah and victoria
friday afternoon we went back to our house and painted the outside a lovely shade of blue




I love the blue with the terracotta sills and floor
te amo


vbs day two crafts


of course we ended each day of vbs with a dance party!

cubans really love the...jazz square!
so everyone knows, this was the only dancing I did the entire time in cuba!

our fabulous bus drive carlos in the jags shirt...
he wore a different florida sports shirt each day

the group on day two in front of the coaster

cuba V: varadero

on thursday we traveled to the world famous varadero beach with some of the local church members

12 miles of beautiful natural beach with crystal clear waters...formerly owned by the american dupont family

by far the prettiest beach I've been too

beach lunch with the group

TL with the youth

cuba IV: when in cuba...

...eat like Cubans!! The food was overall very yummy and I didn't eat too many things out of my comfort zone. Lots of rice, beans, plantains, fresh fruit, delicious cafe, and my favorite avocados. But not much added flavor...everything was pretty natural tasting and fresh. They use garlic of course but not many other spices like salt and pepper.

The hardest part was not drinking the water. We bought gallons upon gallons of bottled water during our stay and kept as hydrated as possible.

I tried not to disappoint and take several pictures of the food we ate...so without further adieu here is the food we ate in Cuatro Esquinas!

but first, here is the team of the 4 hardworking ladies that cooked for us all week!
leave it to the micas for bringing the gator nation to cuba! gracias!

this was our breakfast spread every morning...
smiling elizabeth gets the award for totally immersing herself into cuban food!

my breakfast looked like this every morning: fresh pineapple and eggs, cuban bread and a glass or two of cafe. I learned to eat eggs that week. not to say I liked them, but I needed the protein!

fresh guava, pineapple and mangos

dinner or black bean and rice, squash topped with onions, avocados and plantains that were to die for

we gathered in the main church room in the front of the house for our meals. this room also served as the boys bedroom.

this was an example of our lunch while out in the town...for some reason cubans really love pizza. I think they only make one kind - ham and cheese. no comment.

cooking lamb one night for dinner

each night for dinner we had a buffet...which was great because we could chose what we wanted. the only rule was...eat everything you take!

lamb, black beans and rice mixed together {there are so many ways to eat beans and rice!}, cucumbers, yucca, green beans topped with onions, and more plantains

the.best.dessert.ever
these were this amazing fine grain flour/cornmeal fried into pancakes with a very naturally sweet syrup...yummmmm.

we loved our cuban hoe cakes!

broiling lobster tails and frying tostones;
david was obsessed with this cooktop!

lobster tail...my favorite meal in cuatro esquinas

fish stew over rice, green beans, okra with bacon and tostones

cuba III: new friends

fr. carlos and david...
fr. carlos is amazing! he preaches at 3 different churches, in 3 different towns, each sunday and also runs the farm. he's a very well known and respected in the communities. he's also a fast man...one minute he'll be right beside you and the next he has vanished and comes back with fruit he picked off a tree {mamosias anyone?!} . he was not only our main contact in cuba but also a wonderful translator, tour guide, and leader.

fr. carlos and ariana just have a 6 mos. old precious baby girl carla marianna :)
we brought her american gifts!

david picked out sippy cups like sally kate's to bring to her...the next night we visited and she was already drinking out of them!

elizabeth, fr. carlos, ariana, carla, and justine~
e and j have been to cuba 7 times and then have known this family from the beginning!

carla riding in the coaster

this is freddy...he is 7 feet tall!

the micas brought him shoes to fit his size 15 feet

more bars - the newest cell phone advertisement

our boys with friends roy and juan michael