Classic Cars in Cuba

I first heard about classic cars in Cuba when a teacher from my school went there and made a presentation about his trip and showed it to my school. When we first got to Cuba I noticed classic cars right away. My English teacher shared an article about classic cars and why there are so many in Cuba. One of the main reasons is because there were many trade restrictions after the Cuban revolution in 1959. No new cars were being shipped from America and it was too expensive to bring in cars from different countries. Since the revolution there have been some cars shipped from China and Russia.

Tornado hits Havana

We got to Havana, Cuba, Sunday morning after a red eye flight. We settled into our apartment, went out for some dinner, and got back to the apartment. After we got back it started to rain. Then after an hour the power went out and it started to get very windy. The windows and shutters wouldn’t stay shut and were swinging around and water was pouring through the windows, even the ones that were closes. There were big puddles in the living room and bedrooms. It wasn’t until the next day we realized it was a tornado that hit Havana because we got texts from friends and family asking if we were okay.

After the storm it was a sunny view.
During the storm these were the shutters that were flapping around and we couldn't get the window shut.
We couldn't see the tall buildings in the background because of the rain.

The tornado hit south of where we are staying but we still got high winds and lots of rain in a very short time. It killed 3 people and over 170 were injured. Buildings collapsed and cars were flipped. Tornadoes are very rare in Cuba, this was the strongest one since 1940. The wind speed got up to about 320km/h. Tornadoes are classified into 5 different categories, F-0 through F-5. F-0 are the mildest and F-5 are the most dangerous. The tornado that hit Havana was a F-3. It was a very exciting welcome to Cuba.

Sources and storm photos:

• Washington Post
• The Guardian

Thera Volcano

by: Logan and Bryce

We spent our last week in Greece on the volcanic island Santorini. The volcano Thera erupted 3,600 years ago. After the volcano exploded the Minoan civilization based in Crete was destroyed and the eruption inspired a couple of myths.

Foods in Greece

pita slouvaki

While we have been traveling in Greece we have been trying different desserts and foods. One of our favorite foods is a chicken pita slouvaki. A slouvaki is a pita bread wrap usually filled with meat, french fries, tzatziki (yogurt and herbs), onions and tomatoes. Lots of times the meat is a kebab or gyro. A kebab is usually chicken or pork grilled on a stick and for the gyro the meat gets cooked on a rotisserie then it is shaved off into thin slices. We first had a slouvaki in Athens then we have tried it ever since. Today we had our best one in Oia on Santorini.

Greeks like their desserts at least we think so because there are so many pastry shops. We first discovered big  pastry shops when we were in Nafplio. Now it is our treat to stop at pastry shops in the different towns we visit. One of my favorite pastries is the Greek Kok. The Greek Kok is like a sponge cake sandwich with cream in between cakes and topped with chocolate.

We have also been cooking a lot at our apartments. In Chania we got oranges from our host's farm and made orange juice and it was pretty good. We have also been eating lots of feta cheese - I love the feta cheese.

The Kri-Kri Goat

Domestic goat on the side of the road in Crete

For my homework I had to write about an animal in Greece and I chose the Kri-Kri goat. The Kri-Kri goat lives in Crete mainly in the Samaria Gorge. We were going to hike on the Gorge but it was closed because of flooding. The Kri-Kri didn't always live in Crete it was imported to Crete during the Minoan civilization which was thousands of years ago. The Kri-Kri goat has two horns that go back from the head and brownish fur with a darker line around its neck.

Smart cars

While we have been traveling in Greece we have been noticing how many Smart Cars there are. We first noticed them in Athens. There were so many we saw them on almost every block. Now we see them in every town and city we go through. I can see why people would buy Smart Cars in Greece because the street are so small and the parking is so tight also if you had a Smart Car you could park in such small parking places. Yesterday we drove through a small town in Crete and it was kind of stressful to drive through because the roads were so small but with a Smart Car it would have been a lot easier. In Thssaloniki we saw 5 Smart cars on one block.

Facts about Smart Cars:

• A German company makes Smart cars but the factory where they are made is in France
• Their top speed is 95 MPH
• In 2017 Smart cars for U.S.A and Canada are going to be electric
• The cost starts at $15,000

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Athens

Olive Trees

We have been seeing lots of olive trees while we have been traveling in Greece. The first olive tree we saw was at the Acropolis in Athens. It was planted there because Athena gave the Ancient Greeks the olive tree when they chose to name Athens after Athena. We also got some olives at a market in Athens.

olive tree in Athens at the Acropolis

olive at a market in Athens