Ran in to Teresa, my Spanish friend from Taganga on the early morning streets of Cartegena. It was so good to see a friendly face a few hours before my flight to Cuba. We took a lovely stroll around the old quarter and then I packed up and headed out. The Copa Airlines line at the airport in Cartegena was, shockingly, a model of efficiency. In one line of perfect work-flow I had my entry visa checked, my bag searched, my exit fee processed (along with paying for my Cuban entry fee) and my boarding pass issued. A model of efficiency.
Stopped off in Panama, secretly praying my flight had been canceled due to Hurricane Ernesto so i´d have time to pick up more cash and change it into Euros but no luck for me. We arrived at midnight an my Cuban immigration ordeal began. I was questioned by 4 different official on why i had come to Cuba and if I was sure that I had been born in Kingston, Canada and not Kingston, Jamaica. I´ve watched enough Law & Order to know not to divulge any extra info (like the fact I´m part Jamaican and that one of my brothers actually was born in Kingston, Jamaica) so demurely answered their questioned and finally after about an hour was finally let in the country. I´m sure it didn´t help when I accidentally told one of the guys that I was married (The word for ´married´ and ´tired´ are extremely close in Spanish!)
A Taiwanese guy I´d seen on the plane all the way from Columbia had been given the same treatment so we were among the last left and we agreed to share a cab to the city. It was way past midnight but luckily we came across a guy from the Cayman Islands on our same flight and her hooked us up with a casa particular near the airport. Casa Particulars are basically an apartment or house where the owners rent out a room or two. they are much cheaper than hotels and depending on the owner can be quite lovely. The place we were brought to was really lovely with all the amenities you could possible want but the only bad part was that it was nowhere near the city center. MengShaou and I crashed and made plans to head to the city center the first thing the next day.
Well we got up quite late but the owner directed up to a friend of his in the city and hailed us a cab. What can I say about this place. the whole city is gorgeous! The buildings are wither old and crumbling or old and beautifully restored. We found out casa particular and after some quick showers, headed out to check out the city. There are two currencies used here, Convertible Pesos for tourists and Cubano Pesos for locals (although they use the convertible ones as well). We changed some money into Cuban peso and immediately hit the local street stalls for an impromptu lunch. Forty cents gets you and greasy cheesy pizza or an oddly colored hamburger and for less than 5 cents you can pick up and nice little ice cream cone. We walked around taking pictures for a few hours before doubling back to try to find a small bar where we´d heard live music earlier. the music was infectious and we table danced for a while. We headed to another place for dinner when there was another live band. there´s nothing like dancing and eating. unfortunately its a bit of a tourist trick to overcharge on the bill and we pent about half an hour arguing the charges. Luckily we´d met an Austrian could there so we had my tourist arguing power. A good lesson to learn, gotta be more careful in the future.
We decided the next day to hit the beaches of Playas del Este. Just getting there was a trip. the Lonely Plant was completely wrong (for the umpteenth time) as to where we had to catch the bus but after lots of questioning of locals we finally found our way. The bus stop was so crazy. There are two lines of people, those willing to stand and those that want a seat. It took us a while to figure the whole system out as everyone is huddled in as much shade as they can find and the line only forms when the bus finally shows up. the trick is to figure out who is last in line when you get there and remember their face so you can join up behind them when the bus comes. With so much scarcity, lines are very important here. I lost the man that was in front of us and when i asked a woman for information she just told me to ask ´the last person in line´ I tried to explain but my Spanish was not up to the task and Meng shao speaks no Spanish. Luckily we were saved by a Cuban woman who was behind us in line and started arguing for us. God, I loved her.
After about 30 minutes for jammed packed bus travel,we arrived at our destination. We walked down a small hill to find a pristine powder soft beach with warm water and lots of revelers. We met some older Irish gentlemen who entertained us through lunch and took turns watching our bags while we took dips in the Caribbean waters. After they left, Mengshao quizzed me on my Chinese characters, writing them in the sand and listening to me saying over and over, ´oooo, I know this one, hold on!´.We walked back and waited for the bus with the rest of the locals. Hard to complain on bus frequency when it only costs about a penny. Finally back in the city we headed to a small restaurant for dinner where I had a small seafood paella for about $6. Crazy. They put lobster in everything here!
Friday we headed to Vedado which is considered New Habana and is laid out on a grid system. we visited the Plaza de la Revolution and the Jose Marti Memorial before walking though the Necropolis, a big cemetery with monster mausoleums enough to give Buenos Aires´ Recoleta cemetery a run for its money. the sky turned threatening and we ducked into a restaurant just before it really started to pour down. Lucky for us they wouldn´t let us in because they Mengshao had on shorts. They were ridiculously overpriced and just next door we spied a Cuban restaurant with food for a fraction of the price. We walked along the waterfront, called the Malecon, back to the casa which was just the most beautiful walk passing by the crumbling remnants of the old fort that used to protect the city and kids laughing and playing in the water. We headed back to our favorite live music bar for dinner and ran in to the Austrian couple again. All the live bands ask you to buy CDs of their music but at $10 a pop, its pretty expensive. But this band is my favorite. It´s a typical son music sextet (like the Buena Vista Social Club) but one of the singers/flute players also sings and brings the house down on every song. I do love it here!
FYI. Pictures coming soon, at $6 and hour the Internet is terrible and they have no facilities for uploading pictures. you´ll just have to wait, sorry!
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