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Our 3rd destination in Cuba is Santa Clara and boy did we have an adventure getting there. The Viazul bus station in Camaguey is an absolute joke - it won't sell you tickets until the bus arrives but nor will it prioritise in terms of who arrived first. Fortunately for us, whilst we were being told this by a woman with attitude, in Spanish and at double quick time, an Italian guy called Max walked in. As Jackie would say 'our knight had arrived'! Speaking Spanish he was able to translate what the woman had said to us and when the bus came and went without us (yes, not enough seats) he was able to retrieve our luggage and negotiate a ride with a local taxi driver at a reasonable rate.
In our a/c taxi (loosely translated as driving with the windows down) we set off. Unbeknownst to us as we jumped in the taxi, tourists are only allowed to be driven such a distance by government owned cubataxis not private taxis. We paid him $20 up front to fill the thing up with fuel but after just 30 mins the guy was complaining of a mechanical issue with his car and flagged down a cubataxi which was returning to Havana empty. After negotiation they agreed to drive us to Santa Clara for the same sum less the $20 so in we jumped. As we drove through the police checks it became pretty apparent why he'd done this.
Just to explain a double economy operates in Cuba - the Cuban peso and the CUC$ - so there are taxis, buses, cafes and food stalls that are supposed to be for Cubans only, which take only pesos and are considerably cheaper than elsewhere. As tourists the official line is that you can only use CUC$ and must use cubataxis and the Viazul bus. The reality is that there are some grey areas so for example we had some pesos which we've used to buy fast food and a telephone card to ring up the casa particulares.
Tired we arrived at our Casa only to be told that they were 'occupado' which means they'd got a better deal from someone else. Initially we were very disappointed as the place looked lovely but they'd got us an alternative casa just round the corner which had friendly owners, lovely rooms and a terrace so happy days!
Santa Clara is primarily a tourist spot as it is the adopted home of theArgentinean Augusto Che Guevara. It is here that his remains lie following his death by execution in Bolivia. We visited the spot where Che and his revolutionaries derailed an armoured train in 1958 an act which it is believed marked the start of Fidel Castro's reign. I have to say he was a handsome man with a lovely smile but I do wonder what his motives actually were especially after his success in Cuba sent him overseas to Bolivia where he unsuccessfully once again tried to incite revolution. I think I need to watch the film Motorbike Diaries which is all about his life.
Isobel, with her shorts obsession, would love it here in Cuba as a standard school uniform for girls is the skort - shorts with a skirt flap at the front and back. Jackie is not convinced that they actually go to school as you see them wandering around in their uniform at all times of the day.
We visited a tobacco factory whilst here - it was a pretty low key tour as you are given an explanation and then left to watch. The factory had rows of, primarily, women producing a variety of cigars. Each person produces approx 100 cigars a day with the factory producing approx 1500 a day in total. There is definitely a skill to it - they use 3 different leafs and take a lot of care finishing the ends off. After completion the first quality control is pressure - every cigar is tested and if it's less than 40 the leaf is too loose and if more than 80 it's too tight.
For the first time since our arrival we have decided to have our evening meal at the Casa and boy oh boy - the choice of food may be restricted but the quantity certainly isn't! We had fruit, salad, black beans, rice, chips and port sautéed in garlic and onion.
In the late afternoon Italian Max came to visit us which meant our hosts had to ask for his passport so they could log him as a visitor in some official book they have. Max was telling us how he had spent 2 hours in the police station the previous evening as he had gone for a drink with the Casa owner's daughter. Strictly Cubans are not allowed to talk to foreigners (unless for business) and if they are caught doing so will get picked up and questioned. As I understand it the first time you are picked up it's a warning, the second a night in the cell and the third a prison sentence. Max was also held because he did not have his passport on him. Max then had to give a statement explaining how long he'd known the family, their relationship and that she was not a prostitute.
In the evening we met Max and Beatrice (the casa owner's daughter who he's clearly having a relationship with) for drinks. We actually ended up in a local disco where we were promised singing and dancing. The singing was ok even if it did feel a bit working men's club but the dancing was diabolical. We were expecting some salsa but instead got 2 scrawny girlsgyrating on a podium each. Looking around at the other people it looked like the local hard men and their molls were in the house - Jackie has since referred to the place as 'gangsta's paradise'. We were definitely causing some interest so when some rapper tried to get me up to dance with him (I refused but Jackie got up) we decided it was time to leave.
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