Loving Heat

By Jan Rivas

            As the professor once said, always take advantage of any travel opportunities that come your way, and so I chose to be part of this wonderful trip to an Island that I expected to make me suffer due to its Caribbean location. My expectation became a reality on this trip, as a person that loves the cold, I was taking a salty shower every time I came into a room without the luxury that we have the privilege to become accustomed to. This loving Cuban heat sang into my ears, it whispered numbing songs, songs that drove me to slumber, I am ashamed of this fact. Thankfully, every time the heat sang strong enough to enchant me, some life saving rains pour over Matanzas. Without these rains, it would’ve been impossible for me to break away from the enchanting songs of the Caribbean heat.

As these songs became an issue, I wondered what I could do to avoid falling into the warm spells of Cuba. Obviously, covering my ears wouldn’t help, maybe taking cold showers every morning could help, this showers only muted the songs for a few hours. A possible solution that I never tried, but I wish I had, popped in my mind. The solution was swimming in the Oh so wonderful! natural spring that was safeguarded by one of the wonderful authors that we got a change to work with. This spring not only made my itchy mosquito bites disappear, but it cooled down my body to the point that the songs were muted for the whole day. Maybe arranging a daily dip in the natural spring might have helped me with the Caribbean heat, but it remains an untested hypothesis. Another downside or upside from the heat is that the amount of water in your body is lower, make sure to always have some water with you.

Apart from the numbing heat, I only have a few suggestions for those who decide to take part in future iterations of this trip. Make sure you’ve a VPN installed on your phone and maybe bring a battery pack, just in case the blockade blackouts are still present on your trip. Buy water from government priced stores, and buy some water before going to Habana. Finally, the most important suggestion: Buy a coconut in Varadero, cool it in the fridge and use it instead of getting single use plastic cups. Overall, this trip was an amazing experience, it highlighted the importance of knowing the environment in which your translation project was written.