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Published: March 8th 2018
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So we were up early this morning for our bus trip to Santiago de Cuba. The bus was scheduled for 8am, we were to be at the Viazul station at 7.30. But given our previous experience we figured hey, there’s not rush. We left our casa at 7.30 and walked to the station, about five minutes away. Wouldn’t you know, they were on time today. Apart from check in the whole process was very efficient. Ahhhh Cuba
So the 8am bus pulled out of the station at 8am. The ride was fairly uneventful only that it was very long. Almost 13 hours. The busses are comfortable but after 13 hours, nothing is comfortable. We were lucky at first because we had the two back rows to ourselves so we could stretch out and try to sleep. But the ride is bumpy so sleeping is not really an option. I was content to watch the country pass by, watching the landscape change. The farming, like all of Cuba, is variable. We saw cowboys driving a mob of cattle on horseback, a farmer ploughing his field with a bollock drawn plough, then further down the road sugar cane farms with big tractors
and trailers. Fencing is variable, one fence consisted of a row of trees with wires nailed to it. Another consisted of a hedge of cacti. And then others were actual fences with posts and wires the way we do it in Aus.
We finally arrived in Santiago de Cuba around 9pm. As I was getting off the bus there was a man standing there waiving a business card in my face “Taxi, Taxi”. I just looked at him and in my best Aussie drawl said “Aw mate, I’m not even off the bus yet!” Which of course he didn’t understand. Jo piped in with “una momento por favour” which he did get. After that he hung around like a bad smell. Any other driver that came near us he chased away, clearly he had declared us as “his” customers. We got our bags and then negotiated a price. First he quoted 60CUC which we straight out refused. It was way too much. Eventually Jo got him down to 10CUC. As we followed him out of the station I had flashbacks of the dodgy driver in Havana and said to Jo. “We haven’t’ seen the car, what if its one
A creek somewhere
It looked better than this in real life of the ones we might die in” It was. A beat up old chevy that had definitely seen better days. But it got us to our destination which was only a ten minute drive. 60 kooks, I think not amigo!
Our hosts here a lovely. Their English is very good and the home is as cute as a button. We were starving by this stage and asked if there was a restaurant nearby. The hostess whipped us up some soup, with fish and rice in five minutes. So simple and at that stage, delicious. Although Jo is still struggling to eat. We really need some fruit and yogurt. After dinner it was shower and bed for a good nights sleep after a long day.
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