In the Varadaro Circus

Today was to be a travel day, and that is exactly how it turned out. We had our usual breakfast (it's going to be hard to get used to not having fresh-squeezed orange juice, pineapple, and guava in the morning). Then we had to pack.

Our routine was pleasantly interrupted by a visit from Amed. He brought us each a gift, had a number of things to tell us, and requested we send some literature from Canada to a friend of his in Florida. No problem. He is such a nice man, it should be not concern. His house is now a recovery unit, with Inez' sister there, and some other family to look after her. So the visit was short, but sweet.

We had asked Fabio to arrange for a taxi for us for the bus station. We had assumed we would get the same orange Lada as the other day. But we got something even better: this was an old Dodge coupe, probably early 40's. Not a lot left on the inside of the doors. The passenger door sort of closed, the driver door did close. The trunk was okay. But the most interesting thing was that he did not have an ignition as such. There were three wires hanging down from the steering column. He connected two of them, which got the power on. Then touched the third to these two, and that gave the starter motor a boost. Got a block, then he stopped for no apparent reason. But this is Cuba, so we just waited. Turned out the cops were stopping cars along the Prado, so he got stopped; got back in after a few moments with a grin on his face, explaining in words I did not understand. But a least we were off, after the wire trick again. Bumpy and tense ride to the station, all of seven blocks. But we got there.

The Viazul bus up here lived up to its reputation. It was on time and comfortable. And when we got the the station in Varadero, there was another Viazul bus to take us to the hotel (for a fee). So we are on our way home. Text from Darlene suggests this is an awful place, but it's only one night. The beach is great, ocean very good, and room not bad.

Supper was an experience. Lots of overweight, rich North Americans (and probably a good sprinkling of Europeans) lining up and elbowing to get more food, then leaving enough on their plates to feed some people for two days. And with the worry about food poisoning, we ate only cooked stuff. And the room was overly noisy, and basically just not pleasant. And for this we are paying about twice what it would have cost in a casa!

Tomorrow should be somewhat better. What can they do with breakfast? I guess we'll see.

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Location:Brisas del Caribe, Varadero