Walking with a group behind my tour guide Yasiel, I observed his ponytail, bandy legs, and water bottle stuffed into the back of his shorts pocket.
He chatted happily, asking questions and sharing his interest in books and Harry Potter.
I remember feeling intrigued – there was something that drew me to him.
Little did I know that I would one day marry this man.
It was July 2006 and I had flown to Havana to spend a few days discovering the city. I always loved adventure and enjoyed travelling – my love of rum was a major decision to go to Cuba.
It was there I joined a two-week trip for independent travellers, taking us across the country’s beautiful landscapes.
On the fifth day, we arrived at the nature reserve of Topes de Collantes for a two-day tour through the mountains, enjoying waterfalls and camping overnight.
The meeting room was packed full of people. As I looked across the crowd, I saw a guy wearing a hat with a small ponytail, looking down at the floor and deep in thought. I remember thinking, ‘I hope that miserable-looking man will not be our guide!’
His name was Yasiel, and as fate would have it, he would be.
It didn’t take me long to realise he wasn’t a sad bore. In fact, Yasiel was a charismatic character.
He had a fascinating knowledge of the world. Even though he lived in a socialist country without readily available internet, I discovered he learned his knowledge from tourists and the reading material they left him.
Amazingly, he was fluent in English and was self-taught in German.
In fact, it was unusual for him to lead a group of English-speaking tourists – as so few guides could speak German, he would mainly do those tours.
It turns out, he was supposed to have a day off, explaining why he looked so miserable!
But he soon perked up, and over the two days, I found myself drifting close to him as he led our 12 person group. We spoke about books, the world, interesting places I had visited, and our lives.
We quickly realised we had a connection; we chatted and laughed together at our similar humour. When the tour finished, we exchanged email addresses, and I continued my trip across Cuba before returning to the UK.
What I didn’t know at the time was how the internet is distributed in Cuba. When the internet first arrived in Cuba, Yas was in his third year of university and set up an email, and so that’s the one he gave me.
But access to the internet in Cuba was controlled and very few people had legal access to it. As a result, his email was defunct.
Yet, two months later, I was in the Business Lounge at Sydney Airport in Australia on business, about to jump on a plane when an email came through. It was from Yasiel. I had been waiting to hear from him since I left Cuba.
I quickly sent a reply thinking if he was at the computer he might reply back. But because of how inaccessible the internet was, it would take days. I later found out that he had to give his friend, who worked in an office, his login details for his email account, with a handwritten note of what to say.
If there was a reply he would print it out and hand it to Yasiel, which could take days – especially if Yasiel was away with tour groups.
A number of weeks later a new service, with different email facilities, was announced for the people of Cuba, giving them email access. It would make communication far more accessible – meaning it would become a lot easier for Yas to keep in touch with me.
Over the following four months, we emailed every day when we could.
Despite the new access, it still wasn’t easy – he had to get a lift into the local town of Trinidad after work, a one-hour trip from the mountains, wait in a queue, hoping to access a computer and email me.
He would then catch the truck back to the mountains.
All of this made me appreciate our access to technology in the UK. And importantly, our connection felt greater and deeper. I was touched by his efforts.
Over those months, we developed a great friendship and discovered so much more about each other. We took a leap of faith and decided to meet on 14 February 2007 in Havana. We met as friends and soon our relationship developed romantically.
We walked around the city, discovering unique places, taking photographs, drinking, eating, and enjoying each other’s company. It was during that holiday that we decided we wanted to be together.
For the following 14 months, I travelled to Havana regularly. Our bond grew stronger, and love developed over time. In September 2007, Yas visited the UK for five months – he discovered apples, curry, sausages, and a world of technology.
After Yas’s trip to the UK was over, we could not wait to spend time together. On my visit to Havana in May 2008, out of nowhere, we talked about our future. We discussed whether we wanted to get married and be together more permanently.
After thinking about it, we both decided we wanted to do this. We considered living in Cuba but life there is such a challenge, lack of resources that we take for granted like food, supplies, books and fast internet.
We decided we would live in the UK to begin and if things improved in Cuba would consider moving there in years to come.
Yas moved to the UK just before our wedding, and in September 2008, we were married and have remained in Scotland.
In 2012, we started a business together and transformed an old, tired country house into an exclusive-use wedding venue. We have worked and lived together ever since.
This year, we will celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary.
Every day, I am grateful to share my life with such a caring, fun-loving, hardworking, charismatic man. He is my best friend and soulmate.
We have enjoyed many adventures together and I know there are many more on the horizon.
So, How Did It Go?
So, How Did It Go? is a weekly Metro.co.uk series that will make you cringe with second-hand embarrassment or ooze with jealousy as people share their worst and best date stories.
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