MLK weekend in Little Rock

One of the unusual places on my bucket list has been Little Rock, Arkansas.  I know what you're thinking, Arkansas?????? Who would ever want to go there????? I promise this was a question that I was asked the entire time that we were in Arkansas. People could not believe that we were there on a vacation. It reminded me of the time that I visited Jackson, Mississippi for spring break. 😂

I decided to do little rock for MLK weekend because of the rich history that Little Rock has when it comes to African Americans. It's a history that I don't even think people in Little Rock truly understand how profound the town is. 

Most people may know that Little Rock is the site of Central High School, which is where the Little Rock 9 integrated when segregation was struck down by Brown vs Topeka Board of Education. I've always grown up knowing the story of the Little Rock 9. mostly Earnest Green due to my father. However, nothing in life prepared me for the experience or the knowledge that I gained by traveling to Little Rock. 

Magnolia gas station, where journalist stood, is still the same from 1957

Additionally Little Rock has also been on my destination list because of its attachment with Bill Clinton and since I'm trying to visit all 50 states of the United States, you can understand why we ended up going to Little Rock for MLK weekend. And what a perfect weekend to go. MLK weekend! 

Believe it or not, it is actually expensive to fly into Little Rock from Florida. I have tried to book tickets twice before but paying $500+ for a domestic flight is just not the way that I fly. So, when we saw that there was a sale from Miami to Little Rock, we just felt like it was the perfect opportunity. 

We arrived into Little Rock at like midnight and the first thing we noticed is there were no Ubers or Lyfts. As someone who travels often, I can tell you that this is pretty weird. I caught an Uber at 3:30 in the morning in New York. Ubers/Lyfts are usually always available at the airport. Welcome to Little Rock! We ended up taking a taxicab (who uses these anymore) to our hotel which was about 20. mins. The next day we immediately got a rental car and went about our merry way. 

Our first stop was Central High School.  As soon we rode by the school, I immediately got emotional. There is something about going to historic places, especially those that deal with African American history or trauma, that is so intense for me.  There is always like this energy at these places that is so hard to explain unless you have been there. But as soon as we passed by school, I immediately just wanted to cry. I could already tell that the history that we were going to be learning for today was going to be deep it

After we rode around the school, we found the visitor center which is located across the street. The visitor center is also a museum dedicated to the Little Rock 9 and their integration story. While the museum is small, it is powerful. I think we spent about an hour or two just in the museum, listening to their stories and reading. Some parts of the museum were interactive but for me the most profound part was listening to the stories.  I ended up learning so much more about these individuals and the struggle that they went through by listening to them tell their story in their own words. 

All 9 kids explained why they decided to integrate at this interactive display

As we were heading to the gift shop, the Park Ranger came and said, "hey, we're getting ready to start a tour in 5 minutes" We were the only black people in the museum and the park Ranger wanted us to come into the tour. The tour is broken into two parts: a stroll through the school and a PowerPoint. For the PowerPoint part, if you really went into depth, like we did, at the museum, instead of just walking around, then you pretty much knew everything that was on the PowerPoint. The impactful part came with exploring the school. This is where you get more information. For example, you see where Elizabeth Eckford got off the bus stop and you also see where she had to walk to catch the second bus. It kind of makes it more realistic for you and you get to further understand the pain and trauma behind the infamous picture of the Little Rock 9. 

A lot of the people on my tour were in tears and crying.  The Park Ranger gave us so much extra information that history has never taught us before. For example, the story of Alex Wilson, the African American reporter who was hit in the head with a brick when the mob attacked the black reporters. This man would die a mere 3 years later as a result of that brick. Based on this experience alone, I'm happy that we went to Little Rock. This experience was priceless. Definitely 10/10

When we left the school, we traveled to Daisy Bates house. Her neighbors saw us taking pictures and reading the plague at the house and came over to talk to us. This firsthand knowledge and accounts of what happened during that time period made this experience a once in a lifetime experience. I'm thankful to Tyshon although he would not let us record him for taking the time to explain what it was like growing up with Daisy Bates as a neighbor. Unfortunately, we were not able to go inside of her house because we were there on a Saturday and the museum wasn't open. 

Using the newfound knowledge that we gained, we changed our plans and headed to Dunbar High (Middle) School. This was the high school that was built for African Americans students so that they would not integrate schools. It didn't work. The high school is still functional but now serves as a middle school. 

After visiting all of the sites related to the Little Rock 9, we went to the capital. The capital is beautiful, even more so inside but it was closed for Saturday. What I loved the most was the monument for the Little Rock 9. When you think a little rock, AR you automatically think of the Little Rock 9..... at least I do. I loved that the city had so many displays about the Little Rock 9. There are actually two more displays that we weren't able to go to. 

The next day we decided to visit the HBCU in Little Rock (Philander Smith) and learn about the 1st President that I loved, Bill Clinton. We went to the Bill Clinton's restaurant (42 .. get it) and baby it was BLACK! ....Black wait staff, black customers, black gospel music, black singers, black food. I mean it was black on black on black on black on top of black ... and I loved it. Especially during MLK weekend.  I had such a good time at the Bill Clinton Presidential Library restaurant. I would highly recommend it if you ever go to Little Rock. It was definitely a 10/10 experience. 

The only thing that I was disappointed in was that the snowstorm came, and they closed down the Bill Clinton Museum before we could go through. Basically, everything in Little Rock shut down once the snow started to fall. So, we went back to the hotel and watched the snow continue to come down and come down and come down ..... to the point where I kind of got anxious because I felt like we were going to get snowed in.  Thankfully that did not happen. 

So this was my trip to Little Rock. There are a couple of other things that you can do when you go like visiting the Bill Clinton Museum, going to the sculpture garden, visiting the Old Mill which was the scene of Gone with the Wind. They also have a zoo along with various museums. 

What do you think. Would you visit Little Rock? 

Exploring Mexico: Adventures, Experiences and Discoveries

Mexico is one of the most notorious destinations for travelers from the US. If you ask a novice traveler to name an international destination that they would like to visit, 9 times out of 10 they will probably say Mexico. This was the case with my niece. When given the opportunity to visit Germany, Canada or the Dominican Republic, she picked Mexico for her graduation celebration. Although I have been to Mexico before, I did not hesitate to book our tickets and go again because there is so much to do in Mexico. So here is my guide to exploring Mexico ... there's something for everyone so let's go ....

1. Experience Chicken Itza 

If you have ever learned about the Mayans in school, then you know that they are an interesting people. This is made evident by Chicken Itza which is a large Pre-Colombia built city. Yes, Chicken Itza is a city. The pyramid that most people associate with Chicken Itza is actually just one of the temples located within the ancient city.  The site is located about 2 to three hours away from Cancun. The entrance fee is $30 USD. You can find several tour companies offering tours to Chicken Itza. However, I must warn you, it is very touristy. I was kind of taken back by how touristy it was in comparison to other world wonders that I have visited. However, if you are a historian, a world wonder collector or someone who likes to experience new things, try out Chicken Itza. 

2. Seek thrills at an adventure park

Adventure is the word in Mexico, and they have several parks and tours dedicated to the word. Whether it's ziplining or riding an atv through the jungle, you're sure to find it in Playa Del Carmen which is about 45 minutes from Cancun. Most of the tours include ziplining and riding on an atv in addition to things like horseback riding and a water activity. Bring your courage with you. 😁. Also bring clothes that you don't mind getting dirty, a positive attitude and a camera. 

3. Walk down 5th Avenue

There are some streets that I just love .... the strip in Vegas, Bourbon Street in New Orleans .... and 5th Avenue in Playa del Carmen. 5th Avenue is just a good time. It's full of restaurants, alcohol, clubs, and etc. The infamous Coco Bongo is on 5th Avenue in addition to several beach clubs.  Anything that you want can be found on 5th Ave.  Seriously! My niece wanted to pose with exotic animals and guess where we found them? 5th Avenue.  This is by far one of my favorite things to do in Mexico.  You can spend as little or as much time that you would like there because there's an endless number of things that you can do and see. 

4. Discover Tequila 

Tequila and Mexico go together like peanut butter and jelly and it's just as common as the beloved sandwich since the alcohol originated in Mexico.  Everywhere you go you can find a tequila tasting. Of course, they would like for you to buy the product, but I made it known beforehand that I was not interested. Therefore, I took my 3-4 shots of delicious flavored and unflavored tequila and went about my merry way. Before visiting Mexico, I was not a huge tequila fan and could not do a shot to save my life. 😄 Visiting the tequila museum in Mexico changed all of that.  Many of the tours for Chicken Itza, the cenotes and even the adventure tours consist of a tequila tasting. So, drink up!

5. Visit the Frida Kahlo Museum

Ok so I can admit that I am a little biased on this one. I am a huge Frida Kahlo fan. I was so surprised to see that she has a small museum in Playa Del Carmen because she is originally from Mexico City. However, upon traveling around I have found that Frida is a national icon. Souvenirs barring her image and likeness can be found all over Central America. The first time I went to Mexico, the museum was closed down due to Covid. I was excited to see the doors open the second time I visited. I highly recommend it to art lovers and Frida Kahlo enthusiasts. 

6. Smile at the 3d Museum of Wonders

Maybe it's a rainy day or maybe it's just too hot outside (it was 104 the last time I went to Mexico) and you need to find something to do inside. I recommend visiting the 3d Museum, The first time I went to Mexico, the Frida Kahlo Museum was closed and I was trying to find something to do because the rest of my party was at the beach.  So I went around the corner to the 3D Museum. I really did not know what to expect. I just wanted to get out of the heat 😄It was so amazing experience.  I received so many compliments about the pictures.  A worker walks around with you helping you to take the best pictures possible. I laughed and stared in awe at the 50 pictures in my phone. Check them out!

7. Shop at a mercado

Mercado is Spanish for market and while they can be found in any Spanish speaking country, I love the ones in Mexico. Mercado 28 is one of the biggest mercados with a variety of vendors, tequila shops and food spots. It's the perfect place to walk around and purchase unique souvenirs or grab an authentic bite to eat. You can easily spend a couple of hours there as the people are friendly and there is so much to see and do. Wear comfortable shoes 😊

8. Experience a Photoshoot 

I did my first professional photoshoot in Mexico. We traveled to Tulum to seek out Instagram-able locations. The shoot cost about $100. Recently I traveled back to Mexico and saw several photoshoots offered for Holbox and Playa del Carmen for a mere $40. A photoshoot is a great way to find the beautiful spots of a country and see things that you probably otherwise wouldn't have seen. 

                 

9. Swim with animals

Remember when I told you that Mexico loves adventures. Well adventures don't stop with atvs and ziplining. There are a variety of animals that you can swim with in Mexico. The one that blew my mind away was the whale sharks. Listen I'm adventurous but I can admit that I'm not that adventurous 😄. If you're like me and whales are a bit too big, don't worry. They also have snorkeling with sea turtles in addition to swimming with dolphins. The prices range from $35 USD to $150 USD depending on the animal. If that is up your alley, then Mexico is the perfect place for you.

10. Explore cenotes 

A cenote is a natural pit or sinkhole that exposes underground water. Basically, it's a natural pool that you can swim in. There are several cenotes found all over Mexico and no two cenotes look the same in my opinion. Some of them are very small and localized... meaning that they are spots that the locals go to relax and swim in. While some of them are a little more advanced and more touristy. I can admit that in this instance I do like the touristy ones better because they are safer to get to and leave out from. However, they are all beautiful no matter which one you decide to visit. 

Out of all of the experiences, which ones are your favorite? Which ones have you done? Which ones would you like to do? Let me know.

Let's go to Vinales, Cuba

 

On day three in Cuba, I decided to do a day trip to Vinales. Now you can either go to Vinales or you can go to Varadero, which is a beach town. I'm not much of a beach person, so I decided to go to Vinales which consists of mountains. I love mountains! It's located three hours away from Havana and it ended up being my best day in Cuba. 

Let's get into it. The driver picked me up early. He was supposed to be there at 7:00 o'clock. This is an all-day trip because of the distance so be prepared to get up early and arrive late. He picked me up at 6:45 and we rode in an old-fashioned car. Now, these old-fashioned cars were very cute. I've taken pictures of them, and I rode in them the day before. But baby, for three hours..... No, it was too much of a ride. My butt was hurting and the road to Vinales is full of bumps .... so the ride was not pleasant. I was very happy to arrive in Vinales.

Vinales views

As soon as we arrived, we were greeted by our guide for the day. He told us about Vinales; their way of life, customs and what we would be doing for the day. We looked out at the view which was breathtaking.   A lot of the things that they do is old-fashioned, which we saw driving in.  They do their farms with ox instead of machines. The food here is fresher and the atmosphere is calmer. Honestly Vinales reminded me a lot of my hometown ... small, country, welcoming and relaxing. Lots of trees and crops. I stayed reminiscing all day. It was a great get away from the business of Havana. 

After we went out the viewpoint, we took a ride to the mural. What I thought was truly interested about the mural is Diego Riviera involvement. If you know Diego, he was the husband of Frida Kahlo. I thought that was interesting since I am a huge Frida Kahlo fan.  The mountain is huge, and I do not know how they did the mural on it before technology came along. On the mural, there is a black line, and the black line represents a hurricane that hit Cuba. The water came up to that level. If you are standing in front of the mural and you look at that line, it's like, oh my God, how did anybody survive? We discussed hurricanes a lot since this is the region that suffers from them the most and I'm from Florida. Another interesting thing about the mural is that as soon as we arrived this dog runs up to me and I'm normally afraid of dogs. But this day I don't know what was going on, but this dog followed me, and only me, around the whole time. This would be like the theme of my day. Dogs just came up to me and stayed by my side. 

After the mural, we walked over to this pina colada place, and their claim is that they have the best Pina coladas in the world. 👀The world Craig!  Now I was a little skeptical because I will always say the best pina coladas in the world come from Puerto Rico. Period!  I have never even thought to mention Pina Colada and Cuba in the same sentence. 🤷 But they make the Pina Coladas and I'm not going to lie .... the Pina Coladas were really, really good. I murdered that Pina Colada. It went down so fast. I had a virgin Pina Colada because the heat in Cuba is insane.  I really don't understand how you mix heat and alcohol, but they do it all the time in Cuba.  I'm not that type of person but if you are an alcohol person, they allow you to pour your own alcohol, which is pretty cool. The guys definitely took advantage of this and became LIT-lit!  If it wasn't so hot or if I was going to be in an air-conditioned place, then I would have loaded that bad boy up as well. 

After that, we went to an underground cave. Um, so walking into the cave, you have to be very careful. It's really wet and slippery. I almost fell and that was so funny because I slipped but didn't fall. However, my Apple watch came on immediately and was like, "it looks like you have fallen". Thank you, Apple watch for always having my back. 😆 When we get down to the bottom of the cave, we're waiting with another small group to get on the boat to take us through the cave. All of a sudden, all the lights go off. I'm thinking, is this a part of the tour? It was not! So, we are in the dark.... underground in a cave, right? This guy next to me starts freaking out and all I can think is thank God for anxiety medicines because I was cool the entire time. We get on the boat, and we go through the whole cave..... with NO lights. When we get to the end of the tour, the lights come back on. So, they're like, let's do the tour again?!?! OK!!!! Why not? We go back through the cave again with the lights on and when we exit the cave, when I tell you it was the most beautiful sight..... you have to see it for yourself. I'm going to post a video, but the video will not do it justice. It was so beautiful coming out the cave. 

After the cave, we went to this tobacco plantation.  We had lunch, which was really, really delicious. It was served family style, and consisted of chicken, rice and beans, and mango and vegetables. It was farm to table, which was a little sad because all of the animals were behind us while we were eating the chickens. 😟Once again, a dog sat by my leg the entire time. Never leaving my side until I got in the car to leave. I probably should look this up because I promise the universe was sending me some type of sign. 

Afterwards we went over and had a lesson on rolling cigars. You cannot come to Cuba and not do something cigar related. Not only was this a tobacco farm, but they also had coffee and some other things. The interesting thing about the tobacco is that they spray it with alcohol and honey. The honey was super delicious. I personally did not smoke the cigar. I am not a smoker in any way, shape or form. However, everyone else in my tour who did smoke the cigar said it was the best they ever had. Some of them are not even smokers and they still said like it was amazing. We experienced tobacco, honey and had rum shots. I ended up getting bit by a Cuban ant and having a major reaction. Thank God I had Claritin on me. The pain was immense, but my guide talked me through it. As long as I didn't touch the affected site, it would go away in 20 minutes. Those were the longest 20 minutes, but he was right. The pain went away and never returned. My guide was not only a guide but a doctor too. No for real ... he is a doctor in the community. I'm glad he was with me.

Not a smoker but definitely am a poser lol

To get to the plantation we rode horses up the trail and I thought I was confident with the horses. I rode a horse ONCE when I was a little girl and thought it was nothing. I have not ridden a horse  as an adult but how hard can it be to ride a horse? I rode a camel in Egypt. Ya'll once I got up on the horse, I started panicking just a little bit because it wasn't riding horses on a flat terrain. It was riding horses UP a mountain and down through water. So, no that was NOT for me. Luckily my guide Guiermo was so nice, and he guided HIS horse and MY horse at the same time. So, all I had to do was just sit there, move up and move back when the horse was going other up the mountain or down the mountain, but nothing else. I passed two kids riding their own horse without assistance. They looked at me crazy but guess what ... I didn't care at all. 😂

Me and Carmelo!

Once we finished with the tobacco plantation and everything else, it was time to ride the horse back. I'm like, oh my God, I do not want to ride this horse back. However, instead of going up the mountain, we went a shortcut due to a thunderstorm heading our way. Now I'm thinking to myself, why didn't we do the shortcut on the way to the farm? We started our journey back to Havana, which was a three-hour ride. There was a car accident which made our 3-hour ride turn into more like a five-hour ride. I didn't appreciate that because when I tell yall my butt was hurting. It was HURTING!!! But overall. it was a really good trip, and it was something that I highly recommend. 

Would you go to Vinales?

My time in Havana Cuba

Why go to Cuba? That is the question that I was asked so many times. 🙄 Well I am from Florida, and I grew up learning so much about Cuba, Fidel Castro and the entire Cuban missiles ordeal. As I've gotten older, I've wanted to know more about it, so I decided to do a trip to Cuba. 🤷 I didn't want to go by myself because I have heard so many horrible stories but no one wanted to go with me. I never let that stand in my way so I booked the flight anyway. In the end, I'm glad that I did go by myself because I learned so much and was able to truly enjoy the country.

When I arrived at the airport in Fort Lauderdale, there was a 2 hour wait. There was paperwork that I had to fill out in order to go and I was the only black person in line. So, I was a little nervous.  While in line, everyone was telling me all of these horrible things about Cuba. I was beginning to think that I had made a mistake.  As soon as I got off the plane, I noticed that everything that they said, was not necessarily true. First and foremost, the people were so nice They greeted me and were warm and welcoming.  That's the first thing I noticed. The second thing that I noticed is many of the Cubans looked just like me and embraced me. 

My driver was already at the airport, so we got in the car and drove to Havana. It was about a 30-minute drive. As I was looking out the window, which I always do when I'm on a drive in a new country, I noticed that Cuba kind of looked like any other country that I've been to. 🤷 It looked like it could have been Egypt or Guatemala. I really want you all to understand that I had been told horrible things, so I was expecting the worst in every way imaginable. 

I pulled up to my Airbnb and it was very nice. I stayed at the White House which overlooked the water. I met my host, Anita, who was amazing.  I got dressed for my photo shoot and caught a taxi. We proceeded to walk around Havana and take pictures. While everyone was super friendly to me, they were not always friendly with my photographer. My photography session was fun and a great introduction to the island.

After the pictures we went to drinks for Mojitos and talk. This was my first introduction to Obama. Well I'm lying. Anita also spoke about Obama when I arrived, but this was my first in depth talk.  It would NOT be my last. The people love him. My mojito was just okay which was a little disappointing because I had heard that the drinks in Cuba were amazing. 

I went back to my Airbnb and there is a new restaurant right next door to my Airbnb. So, I decided to have dinner there. The tacos were amazing. The pina colada was pretty good. At this time, I'm kind of realizing that everything that people have told me about Cuba so far is not the truth because the food was flavorful. They made me bring salt and pepper with me, filling my head up with lies, and I didn't need it at all. 

On day two, I did a tour of Havana. We did it in the car. It was the best tour. I really enjoyed it. We went to the Jesus statue that I didn't even know that they had. Then we went to Revolution Square, which I was very interested in because I wanted a picture with the infamous Che Guevara building.  I really enjoyed my time there. We went through this forest where they sometimes do Santeria rituals and the smell...... Oh my God...... Because they do animal sacrifices out there the smell was good and terrible, which was kind of sad because the forest itself was so nice. However it was really beautiful and inside the forest there is the oldest tree in Cuba, which was breathtaking. 

Afterwards we went to this part of Cuba created by Jose Fuster. It is called Fusterlandia and he basically recreated this entire community from an art perspective and made his house into a museum. It was very beautiful. If you love art, this was the place for you. At the end he rode by in his wheelchair.

Another thing that's going on in Cuba is there's a huge movement, kind of like the Black Lives Matter movement. It's called 2 + 2 = 5. You will see this all-around Havana.  

Afterwards we went to another Airbnb that is also a bar. I love this Airbnb because they have the cutest little chairs that were made out of bicycles. They were so cute. I really want one from my house and we had some drinks. I had a limonade, which was amazing. Cuba really has the limonade game on lock.  

Next, we to a Rumba.  We were warned before we got there to not take any big items with us, to stay close to our guide and etc. So, I was a little nervous because why do we need to be warned???? 🤔 But when we got there, the party was not happening because the host of the party was in Mexico. Whew! Instead we ended up just walking through the hosting site. They are very, very much into African religions that were brought on to the island when the slaves arrived. As we walked, our tour guide pointed out different things that went with the different religions like the goddess Oshun or like this chair that was representing good luck.

After lunch we walked through old Havana.  I didn't really like this part of the tour because when you travel you always have the option to go into a slum, favela or shanty town.  I never go because I don't feel like their life and/or their lifestyle is something for me to look at as if they are an exhibit at the zoo.

We went to a flea market. I was very, very hot by this time. The heat in Cuba is not like anything else that you will experience and I'm from Florida! 😂 I decided to go to this ice cream market that ended up having the best ice cream. Oh my God... it was called wafer. But in the United States, especially amongst the black community, we call it bananas pudding. It was so good but ooh I don't know what they put in that ice cream but later on that night my stomach did not agree with me..... so be careful if you have it. 

We ended the tour by visiting the community that is the birth place of the movement the 2 + 2 equals 5. The first thing that I noticed is there were a lot of cops and the second thing that I noticed was the energy of the people. There were a lot of murals around in that area The people were dancing... poor but happy ... beat down but vibrant ... lied on but still smiling... resilient ... and that that is what stayed with me the most about my time in Havana, Cuba.