Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Jan 29th

Sunday was spent as a lazy day. The three Catholics slept through Mass, and Scott, Molly, and I went to an upscale Italian place to eat lunch. The pizza margherita was exceptional, and it was actually a really nice place to eat, though it was prohibitively expensive for Cubans (5CUC for the pizza).

Earlier last week, I mentioned having a drink called Malta, a molasses-infused cola. Malta is in fact NOT the name of the soda I had. The Malta they sell here is sold by Bucanero, the cerveza company. Malta is advertised (I use that word loosely, as nothing is really advertised anywhere*) as a non-alcoholic malt drink, and it tastes as bad as it sounds. I’m still on a search to find what I actually drank last week.

We headed to the beach again today. Originally, I was going by myself to the Playas del Oeste (Western) – then someone found out and wanted to go, and then another, and when all was said and done there were six people going.

If there’s anything that Cubans are good at, it’s taking advantage of foreigners. When we asked to be taken to the Western beaches, the taxi driver and his friends insisted we go to Playas del Este (Eastern) because they’re prettier. I argued that they’re farther away, and that we really just wanted to see the Western beaches. They argued again that the Estes were mas hermosas and really just as far away as the Oestes. Whether or not it’s true, I still don’t know, but we all agreed that the taxi driver knew that he’d be getting a lot more money in going to the Estes than the Oestes – 40CUC actually. Many of the taxis have meters and charge somewhere in the area of .50CUC - .75CUC per kilometer, which should put most close locations at 2 or 3CUC, but too many times already I’ve asked for a price and been shafted with a 4, 5, or 6CUC taxi ride. Whether or not 40CUC is a decent price to the Playas, I’m not sure, but with prices in Cuba, being aggressive and assertive goes very far to make sure you’re treated fairly.

The beach was a different beast this time around. There was more of a crowd, but the water was bluer, the weather was hotter, and I spent a lot more time in the water. You have to stay observant of the ocean while you’re in the water, because every fifteen minutes or so you would spot a group of man-o’-wars floating towards you that you’d have to either dodge or wait out on the shore. We saw a girl actually pick one up by its bubble body, which I wasn’t aware you could do. What really surprised me though is that she PUT IT BACK IN THE WATER. Why you would want to give that thing another chance to get in the water and sting someone beats the hell out of me. I had a few beers and enjoyed bodysurfing on the waves while wishing they had surfboards or skimboards in Cuba.

Here would be a good time to follow up on that asterisk up there. Cuba doesn’t advertise anything. There are lots of billboards throughout the country, but they’re all occupied by national issues pasted on by the government. Everything from memorials to Che and his ideas, health alerts about AIDS (Todos caminos no van a Roma), to criticisms of the Bush Doctrine. The closest things to ads you will find are the small cigarette cabinets at every restaurant and convenience store that are provided by Pall Mall but hold all kinds of cigarettes. Like so many things in Cuba, when you DO see an ad it strikes you oddly because they’re so rare.

The rest of the day passed fairly uneventfully as we prepared to turn in early for class on Monday.

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