Search for the Big Ball of Yarn

April 28, 2016

When I woke up this morning I stepped on the tile and tried to remember “does the tile have designs in it?” Nah, that funny little thing is a small red legged crab on the floor next to the bathroom. About 3 inches around it was “ushered’ outside.

We visited a local Bed and Breakfast on the beach. For 25 CUC a night you get a room with bath and breakfast. Remember that’s about $28 a night. One British gentleman had been in the unit he rented for months. Probably cheaper than living in his actual home in Europe. But remember you must live local to survive here, translation, rustic. This B&B was quite nice by normal Cuban standards. I was impressed with the kitchen. The owner showed us her bookkeeping duties for the state. This is when an “aha!” moment happened for us. In every hotel, B&B, short term rental or whatever, the owner must report to the state every day, who has checked in and who has checked out. That’s why we had to turn over our passports at every hotel! The listening people are also tracking us and anyone else who comes to Cuba. And of course keeping track of how much money the owner is making in order to tax them.

"Long live Fidel, Raul and their family"

The Bed and Breakfast with a fabulous view

A well equipped kitchen

People transporters, old and new.

A souvenir for Parker

After the B&B we went to visit an indigenous group running a coconut farm/ranch, or whatever they call it. Their name was Gruppo Nengo’n Kiriba’. They have a traditional dance and music ensemble. We danced and appreciated the fact that the 300 people of this group and their ancestors have lived here since the 1800’s. But their dances and music were very, uh, boring. Not at all like the lively Caribbean influenced dance and music we were used to seeing. The dancing was derived from using the sole of your foot to move the drying cocoa seeds around. They were very gracious people. Their homes were nicely painted, well-kept with beautiful flower gardens. Not at all like the shanties were we used to seeing. They fed us a local lunch that was mostly good. The soup was great as was the chocolate drink for desert. In between was the very typical rice, beans etc. All the food was all the same color, kind of a orange brown.

Cocoa Farmer

and they danced... in the foreground are the soup bowls. Hollowed out coconut shells.

Gift shop

Chow line

Aren't they sweet!?

Heading out for the drive back to Santiago de Cuba; 5 hours, bumpy, twisty, rough, slippery in the mountains, but we were fine. We stopped at the Cuban lookout to see the US Naval base Guantanamo Bay. The base is fairly far away. You can’t get near it because the Cuban land around it is closed to all except residents. The base is its own entity. The Cubans (Fidel) turned off the water and electricity to the base so the base runs totally unconnected to the Island. They generate their own electricity, desalinate all the needed water and everything they need is boated or flown in daily. The compound, at best count, is home to between 6-7,000 people; families, service personnel, contractors and criminals. There are public schools there. Hmmm…. “So, where did you go to high school?” “Guantanamo Bay High.”

The bus stop bathrooms were exactly like most bathrooms in other countries. (Except for China. They are in a league of their own! Ugh!) Actually, I believe Americans are the only people who really care about bathroom cleanliness. I don’t mean in people’s homes, but rest stops, coffee shops, etc. We generally expect that the toilets flush, water runs from the sink faucet and hopefully, maybe there would be some soap? I mean, what is the lady sitting in front of the bathroom that you must pay, doing besides opening the door for you? (Ah, that’s right. Making extra money.) In any case, the tour group ladies and I had a system. A few of us would carry the little soaps from the nicer hotels we had stayed at and also toilet paper from home or a hotel. At each stop the supplier would hand the first lady the soap. The lady would take it in and use it and leave it there for the rest of us. It feels so good to wash your hands after using some of those bathrooms! Here’s a great story: Before we left Bob took a couple rolls of toilet paper and unwound them into about a quarter of each roll. Then he used our meal saver thingy and sucked all the air out of the toilet paper and sealed it. We carried little packets of toilet paper and shared them. Once at a stop, standing in a long line I was passing out toilet paper to the tour ladies and joking around saying “It’s so soft”. The lady in front of me was not with our group but I gave her some anyway. She was German and typically in Cuba the Germans didn’t like Americans. But this lady was so happy and pleased. When we saw each other later at the coffee bar she came over and said “thank you.” That’s me, doncha know? Improving German American relations with toilet paper!

A hazy day but the most distant land is “our” Guantanamo Naval Base

We got to the Melia Santiago De Cuba hotel about 6 pm. Just enough time to change, have cigars and rum and then at 7:30 pile into a legend of 1950’s and go cruisin’ the streets of Santiago de Cuba. It was a perfect ending to a wonderful trip.