El Morro in my heart...

This is a postcard of El Morro Beach in Laguna from the 1930's.

This is El Morro Beach in Laguna today.
As in... where we were literally swimming earlier TODAY.

I love Laguna, not just because of the beautiful coves, white sand and picture perfect surf.

I love that the city of Laguna Beach has a certain nostalgic charm. It feels like a throwback to another era.

I love that it is still an art colony.

I love that it has a Mediterranean feel that seems familiar to me.

I love that this spot is still an inspiration for artists and sun worshipers alike.

I love that this beach is a straight (eleven mile) shot from my house. =D

And I love that this cove is named El Morro.

If you know your Cuban history, you know that El Morro is the name of the fort that guards the entrance to the harbor in Havana. Built by the Spanish in 1589 to protect the city from buccaneers, it also served as a prison. The fort at the entrance to the harbor in Santiago de Cuba is also called El Morro. Apparently there were lots of pirates and buccaneers that the island needed protection from back then. Very romantic in a Pirates-of-the-Caribbean-Johny-Depp way.

Here we are. Amy and me.

In front of the El Morro at Havana harbor - okay, so it was really at Cuba Nostalgia in Miami, but my point (and I do have one) is that we are standing in front of (a facade of) El Morro.

(wearing our matching Candela shirts from Los Pollitos - that was a shameless plug for Carrie's fabulous business which reminds me that today also happens to be her 40th birthday, so please stop by here and give her a cyber-hug. =D)

What have we learned from this today?

(Besides that we Cubans LOVE our El Morros and that Carrie turns forty today??)

That not ONE DAY goes by that I don't think about Cuba.

Not. One.

"Oculto en mi pecho bravo
la pena que me lo hiere:
el hijo de un pueblo esclavo
vive por él, calla y muere."
                            ~ José Martí