Adventuras en el Oriente part 1

So, on the eve of the 25th, when u folks in the UK were already asleep with bellies full of turkey and mince pies, we (Patricia, Corinna and I) set off on our adventure eastwards. We arrived in Camagüey rather disorientated after the 7 hr bus journey and went to the casa particular we had reserved. As soon as we got there we got our introduction to the way some “business” people try to squeeze every possible cent out of the tourists here. Unfortunately this became a theme for the early part of the trip.. we may be experienced at daily life in La Habana but not at travelling thru Cuba. This particular woman was panicked about letting the 3 of us stay in room (technically illegal here) and started telling us at 2am that she was running a big risk, but she would do it as we wouldn’t find another room so late at night, but I might have to hide if an inspector came and we would have to pay the extra food costs etc rather than eating out cheaper. Bewildered by our introduction to the city but tired we slept, me and Patricia sharing a bed as we did4 most of the trip. The next day we moved to another house with less psycho owners and spent the day rambling the town which is nice but nothing special. In the evening we went to a cool bar where we joked with some jineteros who had been bugging us half the day (small place). I think the best way do deal with them is 1st to let them know u have no money (students) and no interest in love, marriage, babies or assisting in getting them a visa. Then u can laugh with/at them. As one wise Cuban woman told me once, the best thing to do is to tell them more lies than they tell u and take advantage of them b4 they do of u. She also told us we cant leave the country without having sex with a Cuban but not to get ina relationship with them… that’s another story tho!

As there was nothing special to keep us in Camagüey, we left the next day… not an easy thing of course. But we spent a few hours waiting at the bus station and eventually managed (with the help of some locals) to get on the Astro bus (with a bribe of course) to our next destination - Bayamo. The “Lonely”, as we called it (planet of course) descibes Bayamo as “Peace at last… for travellers fed up with Cuba’s omnipresent army of hassle-heavy army of jineteros (touts) (YES!, US!) … Bayamo is like a breath of fresh air…” well, we quickly learnt that the LP speaks bollocks.

In Bayamo we had stupidly not reserved a casa particular and let ourselves be taken (by bicitaxi - bike-taxi) to a house. Basically if u arrive with a Cuban in tow u have to pay more for the casa as they get commission. All part of the steep learning curve. The house we were taken to was that of “Fat F**ker” as we named him… a money grabbing caricature of himself, who exhausted us with his constant demands, totally ripped us off and liked to sit at his ancient typewriter with a fag in his greedy mouth to bash out our latest bill. He was a complete wanker (excuse me) who made rascist comments in front of his mulatto houseboy who also had to take them coffee in bed in the morning and wait till the early hrs when they came back from some party. Nonetheless he provided us with immense amusement as we where 1 time after the next met with his greed.

Me and Patricia went 1 day to the Sierra Maestra, the mountain range in which in the lead up to the revolution Fidel and his rebels hid and planned their resistance against the Batista army. The highest mountain in Cubais also in the Sierra Maestra, Pico Turquino, which we had thought of climbing but it was a 2 day affair and (being Cuba) was closed anyway. Instead we hiked to where Fidel had his HQ - La Comandancia de La Plata. Historically very interesting, we saw the hospital, radio station, kitchens and Fidel’s living quarters, where he even had a fridge! A pretty cushty life really in the middle of a stunning mountainous landscape. They say tht he still demans that his ñame (some root veg they lived of in the mountains) and coffee is brought from there! We had a sweet guide, Richard (none of the others wanted to take us coz we wanted to walk the 1st 5km up a steep steep hill instead of the lazy tourist way of paying 4 a jeep to take you up). The taxi driver who took us to Santo Domingo, where the visitor’s centre is for the S.Mwas another example of the money grabbing-ness of the region. He asked us in when we got in on Bayamo if we would mind if his “amigo” came with us. This “amigo” wasn’t gonna contribute to the price we hada greed for the round trip and was gonna stay there. We naively agreed. Turned out this “amigo” was actually a German tourist, who the taxista was planning to get another 25cuc out of (what we were paying for one leg of the journey!!), Easily sussing this out and not to be ripped off we had a big argument with the taxista and off course didn’t let him cheat us. For the way back he hadthe cheek to try it on some more and we had to spend about an hour arguing with him… he didn’t want to take 3 back (unless we paid a lot more) as apparently it was dangerous because of the hill we had to go up… but of course with extra money it wouldn’t be dangerous! Eventually we came to an agreement which no1 was happy with. Her said in the car “no me voy contento” and we told him “nosotros tampoco”. I love the openness of character here, that means that even after a big confrontation like that (which I am not used to), we were still able to joke about it with him on the way back…he was even flirting with Patricia.

Despite the attempted manipulation, lies and greed of some of the Bayamo residents, and the definitely present hassling, we also found a good side. We found (as I have seen so many times b4), that those who have the least, give the most. Richard was a sweet and generous guide; in a batido (milkshake) store we were given guyavas to take away and in a cafeteria, we met a bartender who had spent time in Germany and talked with Patricia fluently in German and refused to let us pay for our coffees (albeit only 20 centavos MN per espresso - less than ½ a penny!). That night we ate horrific but dirt cheap “vegetarian” food and then sat in the park, where all the locals gathered in the evenings to listen to the musicians who jammed there and share a bottle of rum (not me this time!). 1 man with his guitar who loved Mana and sung all his songs with a spectacular voice; and a small group with a guitar and violin who played more traditional Cuban jams.

Santiago de Cuba

We left Bayamo on an early morning truck and arrived several hours later, tired anddirty in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba’s second city, the capital of the Oriente and often described as the capital of the Caribbean. It was much hotter than Habana, they say that its not only the temperature, but also the temperament of the people. There is a strong regional rivalry between Habaneros and Santiagueros. I have a friend on my course who lives there, Elaine, and she had sweetly arranged to meet us and find us a place to stay. This house was another legendary one, that of Jorge, an old batty evangelical, and his quiet wife, Surana. We quickly figured that is wasn’t a legal casa, but it was cheap(ish) and friends of Elaine’s family who only lived round the corner. There are 2 many stories about Jorge, which r probably hilarious to us but mb not if u weren’t there… our favourite phrase of his was “the bible tells us we must love and look after travellers…” and also charge them for it..!!!! (our addition). He has a rather slimy way of talking and seemed to be particularly fond of Patricia, who once he woke up from a siesta with a coffee saying “caliente” which literally just means hot but has connotations beyond temperature…! Although he was crazy and a bible basher, they were quite a sweet couple in a way, another of the memorable characters of the journey.

Elaine and her sister, Evelyn, showed us round the city on the 2 days we were there, which made it so much easier 4 us, no looking at maps or the useless LP and much minimalised jinentero attention. Evelyn was likea professional guide, she took us to the beautiful squares, the cathedral, the morro (beautiful fortress outside the city) and the carnival museum, The two sisters, and their mum, Sylvia, showed such generosity towards us and on our 2nd (and last) night invited ustoa delicious dinner at their house and plied us with food, attention and Cuban homemade wine! (A white one made of rice, like a liquor almost). Another example of having little butgiving everything and really from the heart. They were disappointed that we weren’t staying longer, I will def try to go back tho… but we had our hearts set on reaching the legendary Baracoa for NYE.

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