Hi Everyone,
It's been a while since I have written everyone. I was gone for three and a half weeks with my mom and dad. We were in Cuba. They told me that I went last year, but I was really little and I don't remember too much. This time I had so much fun! I will share with you what I did on my favorite day in Cuba. It was a really hot day, and my mom and dad didn't feel like doing much. We went to this park in Santiago called "The Boulevard" to sit and hang out. We had some pizza at a restaurant first, and I had my favorite mango juice in the juice box. After we finished eating, we sat outside under the trees to escape the heat. My mom and dad are always sipping on a bottle of rum they keep hidden in my stroller. I heard some really good reggaton music playing in the center square. I saw a couple of older guys who had been drinking, and they were in the center of the square grooving to the music. I can dance good, so I decided to show them my stuff. I went to the very center of the square, and it was there that the rhythm of the beats took me to another place. I swayed my little body and moved my arms around. My feet felt light as I tapped the ground and moved in circles, round and round the center square. The music grew louder, and I heard a crowd of people gather around me, clapping and saying "baila nina!" I danced faster, and faster, moving my head and my body to the beat, I saw nothing and heard just the reggaton beats and the cheers of the crowd as I danced. Quicker than I knew it, my song was over. I saw my mom clapping and smiling at me, and there were other faces in the crowd that I did not know that smiled at me. An old man that was in the square dancing first looked at me, smiled, and gave me a peso. I earned my first money dancing in the square in Cuba that day, under the heat of the Caribbean sun. Later that night, after I had my bath and my dad was sleeping, my mom took me out on the patio so we could be by ourselves. She likes the night time and I like to keep her company sometimes if I am still awake. As we sat on the patio of our casa the night air was unusually cool. My mom climbed the stairs of the patio to the balcony so we could look at all the night lights. I heard chanting, sounds of a Santeria ceremony going on nearby. The grunts of a pig who lived on the other balcony next to mine filled my ears. The clock of the church in the center square struck nine times. I looked around at all of the bright lights, all the activity of the people living around me, existing in the moment. It's hard to explain but as I sat taking in all the night sounds and activity, I thought about what I did that day. I had actually earned money doing what I loved. I felt free. I felt like I could do anything. It was in this exact moment, alone on the balcony with my mom, looking at all the bright city lights, that I fell in love with Cuba.
