Warm Feelings

By Kelly Campos

A week before coming home from a trip, one gets into a state of fear that time is running out and that there is still so much more left to see. At 21, I feel the same way in a sense. There are days that I feel like I have seen a fairly good amount of places and things, but then I realize that I actually have a lot left to see and explore. Being in Cuba for two weeks made me realize that the world has a lot to offer and that I must live the rest of my life exploring it. 

Every morning, waking up earlier than usual, the days I spent in Cuba felt longer and more productive. Walking everywhere while being sunkissed was an amazing feeling I did not know would fill my heart and feed my soul. At some point, I came to the realization that the amount of time I spend indoors in the United States was unfortunate and that I had to do something about it. Realizing how comforting and warm it was to be outside enjoying what Cuba had to offer me, it changed my perspective on how I should live, view, and experience everything around me.

Every evening, I would love to sit at the park that was nearby where we were staying named Parque de la Libertad, which translates to Liberty Park. I love its name because it made me feel the exact way it sounds, with liberty. I had the liberty to enjoy every bit of my emotions about being outside and embracing the fact that I was in Cuba, a beautiful island. Being outside was a huge part of my childhood, way before technology took over, so being able to enjoy it again was nostalgic.

Nostalgia is a beautiful thing. I can remember most of my favorite evenings on demand and fall in love with them all over again. I absolutely love remembering those evenings when I felt like nothing around me mattered, young on the inside, and with eyes that shine with happiness. There is an evening in Matanzas, towards the end of my trip,which fills my heart with content and makes me miss the two weeks I was there. I like to call this evening, “The Evening of Cotton Candy Skies”. Although the skies did not look all that much like cotton candy, they looked like that to me and even inspired me to want to write a poem about them with that title.

There is always something celestial about skies, especially when you have someone up there watching over you. This particular evening I will forever boast about, is my favorite memory about Matanzas. It reminds me of my childhood, the happiness I look for internally, and of the good that exists in life. These skies are those kind that you see in movies when people or events are bound to be happy. There were different gradients of the prettiest colors you can imagine the skies can be. I feel like I could go about the rest of  my life talking and writing about my love and experience in Cuba, but I do not believe I would ever find the right words to describe everything I saw through my eyes and embraced with my heart and soul.