Friday, already?
The Cuban vacation was going by so quickly.  We were settling into the resort life and feeling quite relaxed and rested.  Our conversations with Jorge Luis were proving to be informative about life in a small village in Cuba.  He didn't seem to mind our questions and was willing to share about his family and his faith.  By our third meal in his section of the buffet, he was finding out about our life in ministry and invited Walter to come and share in special evangelistic meetings in his village sometime!  How do our vacations turn into invitations to minister?  The same thing happened in Dominican Republic with our Haitian friend, Louis-Jean.  Walter still communicates with him on Facebook.
We didn't have specific plans for the day.  After we finished breakfast and lounged around the lobby area with another slush drink and attempts to hook up to the internet, we decided to wander over to the market.  Walter hadn't seen the souvenir options that I had scouted out so we had a purpose for our "browsing"!  The day was hot and sunny.  We had some Cuban Pesos burning a hole in my tourist-fanny pack!
The first person to greet us was an elderly man, brown leathery skin wrinkling as he smiled and greeted us.  He waved us over to the stairs and offered to take us up a small tower to view the ocean.  He offered to take our pictures, as well.  When Walter offered a small tip, he actually turned it down,  Free.  Then he waited for us on one level as we wound our way up the narrowing tower to the top for a lovely panoramic view of the resorts on either side of the market and of course, the gorgeous Caribbean sea.
Unhurriedly, we stared out and gazed at the surreal sights.  It was still unfathomable that we were so far from home and were so blessed to have this opportunity!  Eventually, we dragged ourselves away from the beauty and thanked the gentleman.
Today, there were not as many vendors and they had chosen to set up more in the shaded areas of the square.  Our eyes fell on the various wooden sculptures, the displays of jewelry, the racks of t-shirts and various knick-knacks.  And then we spotted the 1950's wooden model cars, like I had bought for Walter for Valentine's Day-the day he was sick.  We chose one and the guy said he could engrave a name for the same price!  We also selected four jewelry boxes (small with decorated lids) that could also be engraved. Walter chatted with the vendor who described the process of assembling the cars at home and how he traveled to many such markets to sell his wares.  Somehow, Walter and I questioned whether these were made in China and were distributed as locally made.  But we didn't want to share our cynicism!
We moved down the tables and looked at some t-shirts.  There were none in Walter's XXL size.  But we struck up a conversation with the man tending the booth and found he was a professor at a college or university.  But as we had heard from others, he chose to go into the  tourism industry as it made more than a professional career paid in salaries!  What a crazy system!  He showed us a picture of his twin daughters, Kaylee and Kaitlyn!  Adorable, dark haired cuties about 4 or 5 years old!  His picture was on his cell phone.
Around the corner on the north side of the market, we found wooden baseball bats - smaller ones, ranging up to almost full-sized bats painted in various colours with "Cuba" printed on them. A basket had small baseballs in various colours, as well.  We chose two of each for our sons.  Then we continued to examine the other goods along this booth and again, struck up a conversation. "Jose Mendez Jr." looked after the main business.  His father, was the craftsman for the wooden items.  And cousin Tito (or Ramon?) handled their cash transactions.  We got to talking to them, with various efforts at Spanish, English and charades to communicate.  It was very interesting to learn from them about life and economy in Cuba.  Jose Jr. was an athletic teacher and baseball coach but went into the family business instead.  Soon, Jose Sr. was busy explaining how he made certain mugs and items from various types of wood.  He pointed to trees that looked strange to us and the names he gave them were also foreign.  But Walter wanted to honour this older man (63 so not much older than Walter) and his son was the same age as our son Mark!).  So Walter bought a lovely carved beer mug with the "Mendez" family name engraved on it!  Then he gave me a bracelet as a gift, and also a small wine glass (wooden).  We felt very blessed at the interaction and tried to express our gratitude.
By early afternoon, our Pesos were spent and so were we.
So we decided to spend the time reading and finding snacks.
At 7:30 pm we had a reservation for the Oriental Restaurant and we were quite hungry by then.  We ordered Teriyaki Beef and Stir Fry Chicken.  I had Miso soup and Walter ordered sushi.  The food was tasty and the atmosphere quiet and relaxing.
That evening we again felt so lazy that we retired early.  Boy, we are boring as far as the night life opportunities around the resort!  But hey, it's our holiday!