Day 9—Water? No. Cuban Food? Yes.

The day after the storm, we woke up to a clear, beautiful, sunny sky.  Sean and I went for a morning swim, and then just putzed  around the condo. We both noticed that the water pressure was super low, and was only coming out of the kitchen tap at a trickle.  When Sean went to take a shower, there was no hot water, because to make on-demand water heaters work, there needs to be a certain level of water pressure. And then THE WATER STOPPED COMPLETELY! Just when I was feeling my most disgusting, sweaty, self…NO SHOWER!  Not even a cold one?  I’m sorry but another swim just wasn't going to cut it. I needed soap people!  Breakfast dishes languished in the heat, and I just tried to figure out how to brush my teeth. I ended up leaving fridge water out to warm up in a cup. It was like camping, but somehow a lot grosser.  So we gave up hanging out at the cottage, and headed to Chame for some Cuban food for lunch.  


This is an open air restaurant, which means that on top of being my sweaty self to begin with, I was most certainly going to add insult to injury just eating lunch. 

I love Cuban food, and I had high hopes for this restaurant.  Since we were the only ones in the restaurant, it was a little weird, but also good, because we got service right away.  We ordered drinks.  I ordered a Mojito. It was pretty good.  Way more subtle than the mojitos I’ve had before. Sean got a beer, an Emma a 7-UP (we still have the 7-UP bottle for a souvenir--???)  

Mojito

Emma also ordered an appetizer, which turned out to be two mashed potato balls, with a teeny amount of meat in the middle, deep fried.  They were Ok, but I think they could have been amazing if they added a lot more meat in the middle.  

Emma's appetizer

For lunch I got what translated into English as “pieces of pork mass.”  Which is essentially pieces of pork butt, fried.  I also got yucca with mojo(garlic sauce), and black beans.  In most Cuban restaurants I've been to, meals come with all of the accouterments: rice, beans, yucca, plantain, and onions.  At this place, for $8 I got my meat masses, and two sides.  That’s it.  It was $1.50 more for two more sides.  I felt this was expensive for what you got.  Emma ordered  fried chicken with French fries, which turned out to be a half a chicken deep fried (to extreme dryness!), and Sean got the Ropa Vieja with fried yucca, and black beans.  His was pretty good.  Over all it wasn't bad, but I’ve had much better.  And I think the price was a little steep, and they were stingy with the sides. 

Fried pork, yucca with mojo, and black beans

Fried chicken with french fries

Ropa Vieja with fried yucca

The check...not too bad.

When we got back to the condo , the water was beginning to come back on, but it was still only a trickle. When I asked a couple of people who reside full time at the condos, why this was happening, they were like, “Oh yeah, it happens once in a while, it will come back on don’t worry.” Yeah, but why is it off?  Nobody seems to concern themselves with the why, they just shrug and jump in the pool.  What is the Spanish phrase for Hakuna Matata? Es no problema...This is really fundamentally opposite my personality.  I always want to know why, and then I want to figure out a way to fix it, make it better, make it more efficient. 

So we spent the rest of the day swimming, lounging, and BB-Qing excellent chicken wings.  I think they turned out so well because the landlord said he had fixed the BBQ, but he really hadn’t. So after cooking the wings on the gas grill for like an hour or so, we realized that if we wanted to eat before 10 pm that night (and risk being incredible cool and European), we would need  to rethink our cooking strategy.  So Sean transferred the wings to a skillet and finished them on the cook-top, and you know what, they were really good.  I guess it was the combo of low and slow, and then being caramelized in the pan.  

Right before I went to bed, the water pressure was back, as was the hot water, and I took the best shower of my entire life!