2019: Cuba

Mar 17, 2019.  Playa Girón

• Slept like a baby until 7, then stretch exercises, and for the first time in several days, pushups: 40+ the first round: best ever.  

• Another 5 CUC breakfast at hotel, then 6 km taxi to the Viazul estación de autobuses (10), and bus to Playa Girón at 10:45 (13?).  Taxi was a Russian Lada (?).  Nice interior, smooth running.

• Finished the three book series by Don Winslow (The Power of The Dog, The Cartel, and The Border)a few days ago; now reading an English translation of Cecilia Valdéz by Cirilo Villaverde.  Supposed to be a Cuban Classic.

• No food inside bus station - just literature on Castro and Che.  Wait: cafeteria in adjacent hall.

• Bus (Yutong: Chinese?) headed out in wrong direction, to the bus repair shop - here’s hoping the repair won’t take too long.  The trip is normally supposed to take about 3 hours.

• Big wide (4 lanes each way) nicely surfaced hiway through mostly undeveloped countryside.  No dwellings. Not much traffic.  Hitchhikers.  A good fraction of the cars are classics.  Best: no music on bus.  Next best: air conditioned.  Also: sitting in front right, empty seat next to me, great view forward.  Not much trash.  Well kept center divider, with palms, hedges, grass.

• Classic cars have remarkable bright paint jobs, all colors, many two-toned.  Nice upholstery.  Lots of chrome trim.  Many convertibles.  Was told that spare parts are manufactured elsewhere because they are no longer available in the US.

• One hour on road - down to three lanes plus shoulders each way.  A few potholes.

• No emergency pee-pee problems for quite some time now.  Still going several times a night, but daytime is a lot easier to handle.

• On the side road to Playa Girón.  45 minute lunch stop: cappuccino (3), pork sandwich (5), baño (1)

• Lots of horse-drawn “taxis” on the road: covered, some with tires, seats for a half dozen or so.  Dwellings more frequent.

• Arrived too late (2:45 PM) to SCUBA today.  No sweat.  Took a taxi-bicycle to my Hostal (1), Viacaleta Habitacion 1 (1), on a quiet street pretty close to the beach, borrowed the host’s mask, snorkel & fins (very good quality) (2.5), then on to the beach by 3:30 with the same taxi-bicycle (2).  Left my  stuff at the local beach tienda, and I’m in the water by 3:15.  Really clear, warm, lovely water, many tropical fish, gotta be careful of the urchins, but pretty damn nice.  Then sat near the tienda, had a rum or two (2), and conversed with two guys of a very large family / friend gathering from Santiago.  Met one guy’s 17 year old daughter (wow) - and he said he was 36?  Lots of great yakking.  Damn, my Español is starting to click!  Back home by 5 (2), then siesta.  Promised a shrimp meal here at 7.  Pickup tomorrow at 9-9:30 for a little SCUBA action.  Pretty damn fine day.

• Dinner at Viacaleta : fish soup, shrimp, rice, potatoes, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, red & green peppers, and for desert: mamey ice cream: new fruit!  Now sitting in rocking chair on the front porch, watching the world go by (including lots of goats).  Accompanied by two cans of Bucanero beer, Cuba’s best.

• Dive instructor for tomorrow just dropped by - he lives next door!  All set for pickup around 9 AM.  Here’s hoping they don’t get difficult with proof of certification...

• Dark now.  Just the occasional light of a bicycle or pedal taxi passing by.  No sounds, no music.

Mar 18, 2019.  Trinidad, Hostal Casa Lugarda

• Huge breakfast - pancakes! - then off to a dive.  Spent 22 at the hostel: breakfast, dinner last night, 2 beers, snorkel rental.  

• Ride provided to dive spot: Cueva de Los Peces, on Bay of Pigs.  (On April 17, 1961, 1,400 Cuban exiles launched what became a botched invasion at the Bay of Pigs on the south coast of Cuba.  Now it's a dive spot!). Nice equipment, with big fat air tanks.  No sweat on lack of certification- The didn’t-even look at the form I filled out.  Worst part: walking to entry point in bare feet.  Lion fish, some large fish hanging around, small wreck with lots of small fish.  Clear & warm.  Pretty dizzy after dive, difficult to stand up and walk back to dive center, so waiting an hour for dive #2 (same entry, but heading south instead of north).  Cost for two dives: 50.  Second dive (just me & instructor: crab, more lion fish, flat fish hardly visible on bottom, big guy that stuck with us.  

• Hung out after second dive at Cenote.  Lots of tourists, from many countries (Germany, Italy, Spain), but didn’t hear much English. Am I the only non-American not in a group? Bus back promised for 3:30, which means no time for the Museum of the Intervention.  Screw it, I know the story.  Feeling stoned from second dive.  Pretty fine dives, but not Fiji standard.  Four large male tourists next to me, drinking Bucanero beer and smoking Cuban cigars.  Perfect warm weather.  Life is good.  

• Discovered I lost another item: my green t-shirt.  Hell, it had a hole in it anyway.  Should I get a Cuba t-shirt to replace it?  (Much later: discovered it in the bottom of my rucksack).

• Beer (2), rum (2)

• Waiting for bus at beach restaurant.  German tourists (group of 10) at same table -  not very friendly.  

• Bus at 3:30.  Two more Havana Club rums on the way (courtesy of the only other passenger, one of my diving instructors).  

• Everybody likes my hat.

• Photographed a lizard with a curious white turned-up tail.

• Just discovered,while paying for my ticket to Trinidad (13), that I had 30 in Cuban pesos - somebody ripped me off awhile back: there are 20 Cuban pesos in 1 Cuban convertible peso.

• At 5:30 (1/2 hour the bus was due, I was informed that the bus would be two hours late.  I’d like to get a bite to eat, but I don’t have enough money for a meal.  So no food since breakfast.

• Bus arrived 3 hours late, then 3 more hours on flat boring road to Trinidad.  Walked to Hostal Casa Lugarda, arriving around 11:30 PM.  No sweat! Pedro and his wife met me, and I’m asleep in my very nice room shortly (with air con & fan, naturally).