Sponsor Spotlight: 26th Parallel

NOTE: I realized that I never posted this on this blog. Better late than never.

What can I say about Robert "El Ciclón"? He's the even-keeled voice of reason on Babalu and has an excellent blog, that covers not only Cuba but also South Florida, on which he posts too infrequently.



Mild mannered, thoughtful, and very articulate; I'm very happy to count Robert as one of my dear friends. What stands out in my mind is Robert's empathy. Here's an excerpt from one of my favorite posts of his:

The Coconut Guys

Around 1 PM today, I got a knock on the front door. It was a gentlemen who asked if he and his partner could take down the coconuts from my pair of coconut trees. "Sure", I said. I asked him if he was charging me for it, and he said "no, we take them and sell them".

I don't know exactly how they found my house, but I imagine it was the sight of my 40-foot plus coconut trees visible from the street that caught their eye. Trees filled with nice, big and green fruit. They drove a large van with a logo on the side which said in Spanish and English "El Hombre De Los Cocos" - The Coconut Man.

They carried a tall fruit picker to the backyard and got to work. One guy was wearing a hard hat, understandable because those coconuts can do some serious damage if they fall on someone's head from 40 feet up. The guy with the picker wasn't wearing a hat, interestingly enough he was the brave one while the guy with the hat was a bit more tentative. The picker guy had to urge the hard hat guy along a bit, telling him, "c'mon don't be scared"

Continue reading The Coconut Guys.