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Hershey's Train
We started our trip from Matanzis to Havana and to do this we took the Hershey train to Casablanca and later a ferry to Havana. I bought a bar of Hershey's chocolate in Guatemala to eat ironically on the Hershey's train.
We arrived early to the train station and payed 25 times what the locals do. When we finally got on the train it filled up and then up some more.
We made it around half way on a very slow, very uncomfortable train. We pulled into a station and didn't start again. Then it appeared we were in some trouble and everyone got wind (in Spanish) that we were changing trains.
This means no more seats for us anymore as we are at the back of the queue for the other platform. An engine comes along and hits our original train out of the way down a track leading towards someone's house. Out of nowhere the original train is changed and psych, we are at the front of the queue again. We got back into our old seats and headed all the way back to Havana. It was a really great way to see the Cuban countryside, even if it was in a 1950's style, seat and reliability of electric trains.
We arrived and headed to the ferry terminal where the lady was amazingly nice to us. She explained that it was only 5, not 5 CUC (the foreigners currency). Therefore give them 0.4CUC is enough, not 10CUC we would have paid. It turns out they say the number and foreigners give them 25 times too much, and of coarse, they don't say anything. The ferry across was fun and returned us to Havana old. We decided this time to try our luck and just knock on some doors. We ended up in what we are sure was the mothers room of the casa, full with sewing machine and teddy bears, and a telephone attached to the main line which we had to ask to unplug as it rang at all hours of the night.
For dinner we went out for Chinese and we sat in the next room to a crazy Chinese karaoke party. As we ate we saw the guest struggle to get to the toilet. It was good food but very loud.
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