We are back from Cuba and into the cool but not real winter

Finally got a chance to sit down and write something here on my blog. We got back from a work and ministry trip to Cuba on November 18th, spent a few days at home and are now going back and forth house and dog sitting at my SIL and her husbands every night. I feel like a non stop tourist or something.

Anyway, I wanted to put up a few pictures of things that we experienced. We arrived there on November 8th alongside the hurricane but did not have anything near us except rain as we drove from Havana to Palmira, about 3.5 to 4 hours in good weather. Palmira, in the province of Ceinfuegos, is a smaller city to a large town depending on your understanding of such things.
17 Canadians travelled together to provide a small work force to prepare the ground for a new church on a lot owned by the Cuban Brethren in Christ church. Link is to Canada sight of the church. We all stayed in the house which was used for services (on the veranda or deck) and several of the church women cooked meals and kept us laughing through it all. What a great group! They did their very best to make our stay comfortable and we were well taken care of. The banana tree hung over the fence from the neighbours yard. He watered a lot while we were there!

The work was very basic - dig out tree stumps, shovel earth and dig holes for the pilings. 1.5 meter square by 2 meters deep. 20 in all. We got about 8 or 10 started and left them in various stages of completion. We also moved a large number of beams and other steel to the roof of the house to get it out of the way.
The last stump to come out was from a still green tree cut down in August. The folks were very sad to see this tree go as it had had the best red mangos. We were left with a 4-4.5 ft high stump about 20-24 inch in diameter. We dug for several days to get as many roots cut as possible so that in the end they could get a tractor in to pull it and remove it. They did not want to spend money for a backhoe unless they had to as it is very expensive and actually hard to get to come and work. So in the end they found one to break the stump off and haul it away. The rest of the work was digging with a pick and shovel. Not easy in the heat and humidity and I admire the guys from Canada who hung in and worked at it. I cannot take much credit for the digging as I was just wore out in the heat.
This tractor came but failed to even wiggle the Mango stump! More digging and cutting needed. So some pictures of the work and also for the gardener/plant people some flowers which I have not yet identified.





One of the large fresh vegetable gardens in the city of Ceinfuegos. This is becoming common in Cuban cities as they move to produce local food.






Seeds/fruit on trees at the beach near Ceinfuegos. At sunset. This was really a beach for Cubans mostly but the sand was nice and the water was salty. Enough said.









Flowers - mostly around homes and in the landscape of a new development at the edge of Ceinfuegos.