I had tried to get a train ticket to Santiago, and after hours of searching for the ticket booth, trying phrases out of my Berlitz book, and miming my questions, I discovered that all trains to Santiago were cancelled for the rest of December. Great. Plan B it is. I then had to run all over town trying to track down a bus ticket, it was of great importance that I get to my destinations as planned because I had no place to stay in Havana if I got stuck there, and the town was full up. Everywhere I went, the answer was the same, the bus was sold out. Fuck. I waited at another terminal for an hour and the woman said she'd take down my ID (you're constantly asked for your passport in Cuba) and I could come back later and try my luck as a standby passenger. I spent the rest of the day walking the Malecon from Vieja to Vedado and then explored that end of town, all while hefting my pack with me. In the evening I made my way back to the bus terminal and sat for an hour while watching Cuban children's television. It was all about teaching the kids how to sing and dance. Finally, I was called up, and told that I got a seat on the bus. What relief! The bus was packed, there were even people standing in the aisle (who weren't going as far as I was). I settled into an aisle seat with my pack on my lap, and we started out on the 12 hour journey. They played a movie on the little screen up front as we left Havana, it was The Real McCoy starring Kim Basinger and Val Kilmer with Spanish subtitles and no sound. I'd never seen it before, but I got the gist of it. The air cond was cranked on the bus, I didn't get much sleep, and upon arrival in Santiago at 6 a.m., I felt both cold and sweaty. An Indian girl from London, Nav, and her travelling companion, Yani, a Cuban who spends 6 months of the year in London teaching salsa dancing, offered to share a ride into town with me. We got into an old jeep with no doors, or roof (it was basically just the frame of the jeep), me and my gear hanging out the passenger side, and the other two girls sitting on a pile of their luggage in the back hanging on for dear life. I got dropped at my Casa, and never saw them again.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Cuba: Day Two
I had tried to get a train ticket to Santiago, and after hours of searching for the ticket booth, trying phrases out of my Berlitz book, and miming my questions, I discovered that all trains to Santiago were cancelled for the rest of December. Great. Plan B it is. I then had to run all over town trying to track down a bus ticket, it was of great importance that I get to my destinations as planned because I had no place to stay in Havana if I got stuck there, and the town was full up. Everywhere I went, the answer was the same, the bus was sold out. Fuck. I waited at another terminal for an hour and the woman said she'd take down my ID (you're constantly asked for your passport in Cuba) and I could come back later and try my luck as a standby passenger. I spent the rest of the day walking the Malecon from Vieja to Vedado and then explored that end of town, all while hefting my pack with me. In the evening I made my way back to the bus terminal and sat for an hour while watching Cuban children's television. It was all about teaching the kids how to sing and dance. Finally, I was called up, and told that I got a seat on the bus. What relief! The bus was packed, there were even people standing in the aisle (who weren't going as far as I was). I settled into an aisle seat with my pack on my lap, and we started out on the 12 hour journey. They played a movie on the little screen up front as we left Havana, it was The Real McCoy starring Kim Basinger and Val Kilmer with Spanish subtitles and no sound. I'd never seen it before, but I got the gist of it. The air cond was cranked on the bus, I didn't get much sleep, and upon arrival in Santiago at 6 a.m., I felt both cold and sweaty. An Indian girl from London, Nav, and her travelling companion, Yani, a Cuban who spends 6 months of the year in London teaching salsa dancing, offered to share a ride into town with me. We got into an old jeep with no doors, or roof (it was basically just the frame of the jeep), me and my gear hanging out the passenger side, and the other two girls sitting on a pile of their luggage in the back hanging on for dear life. I got dropped at my Casa, and never saw them again.
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