Ambulando

There is a saying in Italy.
Going to Cuba with your girlfriend is like going to the Oktober Fest bringing your own beer.
Well, I am going to Cuba next week, and I am bringing my girlfriend along.
And, by the way, my girlfriend is Bavarian.

My girlfriend.
Most of the times, I use to refers to my other better(1) half as my “girlfriend“.
Albeit technically correct, I find it intellectually wrong.
I am nearly 50 now, so I am not a “boyfriend” anymore.
Maybe I could be her man.
Then could I I say my “woman”? Does it sound like I were an old patriarch, or an aged ganster from the 30s?
German for woman is Frau, that incidentally it is also German for wife.
We are not married, so I cannot say my “wife”.
As Spanish remain my preferred dialect, I am tempted to use the South American locution, “mi vieja”. Yet, I cannot. I am el viejo in the couple.
Moreover, the terms has different meaning in different part of Latin America, ranging from girlfriend to wife to mother (!), all the way down to old whore. Bea would certainly not appreciate.
I use to say my “partner”, but this sounds so bureaucratic. Are we a public company? a limited one?
On the other hand, partner is gender neutral, I tend to use it when I want to have some fun at the expense of some people that does not know me and have never meet Bea.

Coming back to Cuba.
As usual, we discussed different possible destinations, and as usual we did it too late, so flights’ cost took the toll.
We eliminated soon the more ambitious ones (Tanzania and hike on the Kilimangiaro, next time).
As I did for the last few years, I put on the table the option Colombia.
Time was not on my side this time. the choice was between a small mortgage for a short flight, or a 30ish hour flight, via Miami, with an 11 hours stop over in Toronto.
If you watched Narcos, more or less the same route of Colombian exports, and they were faster.
So, between Carlos and Fidel, we decided for El Che.

Berlin to Cuba.

via Helsinki.

(1) Bea made me correct from other to better, because she is my better half, it seems.