Cuba
Photo Report 2006
It's Not Easy
(to give away a suitcase filled with drugs)
It's Not Easy
(to give away a suitcase filled with drugs)
This trip was built around my son's wedding on the beach at Guadalavaca in Holguin, Cuba. My spouse emphatically stated that she did not wish to holiday with my ex, so . . . I came up with a Plan B.
Itinerary
May 27 - Toronto to Holguin
1 night - Hotel Pernik
4 nights - Cayo Saetia
2 nights - Rio Lunes y Mares, Guadalavaca
June 7 - Holguin to Toronto
May 27 - Toronto to Holguin
1 night - Hotel Pernik
4 nights - Cayo Saetia
2 nights - Rio Lunes y Mares, Guadalavaca
June 7 - Holguin to Toronto
We arrived in Holguin via Air Transat - an airline that I will NEVER EVER fly again. While all of the tourists boarded buses to go to the beach resorts an hour away in Guadalavaca, we took a cab into town to the 'interesting' Hotel Pernik. The next morning we picked up our Suzuki rental & headed out into rural Cuba.
Around the town of Holguin, Cuba
The wilds of Cuba
The rustic resort of Cayo Saetia
A game reserve on a gated isthmus, Cayo Saetia used to be used as a hunt camp for the party. Fidel is rumored to have stayed in the stilted cabin in the photo below. Water buffalo, zebras, antelope, a camel, an ostrich etc roamed freely. We ate antelope stew for dinner two nights.
The Suitcase Delivery
NJT - Not Just Tourists - http://www.njttoronto.ca/ - is a Canadian volunteer organization of doctors & others who collect medicines & medical supplies for delivery by tourists to small clinics in needy countries. While Cuba has a good medical system, supplies are limited & small clinics appreciate donations.
Since we were staying in the Cuban Hinterlands, we had decided to drop our 20kg case in the town of Mayari, which doesn’t see many tourists. Our adventure started at our resort when we asked a staff member where a clinic might be. He suggested a good candidate in the small town of Levisa where his sister Ana worked as a nurse at the town’s Policlinico. We needed gas for the car, so our first destination was a station I had seen in Mayari.
So the next morning, we headed towards Mayari, picking up various hitchhikers along the way (common & acceptable in Cuba). Hitchhiking is encouraged in Cuba & every age group does it – from school kids to grandmothers. Cuban residents must pick up hitchhikers - there are traffic 'wardens' at intersections that seem to control the flow. Tourists are encouraged to do likewise. The station in Mayari was out of 'tourist' gas & they told us that they wouldn’t receive more until the next day or the day after. Btw 'tourist' gas is real & the local gas is a mix of gas & diesel from what we heard & the smoking trucks & cars on the road appear to confirm this.
So . . . with less than ¼ tank of gas we headed towards Levisa. A hitchhiker directed us to a station just past the town on the road to Nicaro. Success! He then directed us to the Polyclinico which we would never have found otherwise. It is in a very run down single story building. Clean but decrepit with crumbling plaster & moldy paint. Ana was out when we arrived - with her brother from the resort it turned out - & after some fumbled negotiations (my wife took a Spanish course prior to our trip) we were gratefully welcomed & ushered into the Director’s office. Note that no one spoke any English here or at any of our stops during this odyssey. He locked the door with us & his assistant inside & had one question once we had explained our mission – Why? After some back & forth talking he warmed up & explained that while he would like to accept the supplies, he was not authorized to. He said that we would have to go to the Directario Municipal de Mayari back in Mayari to obtain this permission.
So, off we went, again picking up hitchhikers who helped us locate the Directario in Mayari. They were expecting us & after some explanation, a woman jumped in our car & we drove elsewhere in town & she left us at another office. These offices btw were also quite rundown but everybody was very friendly when they understood our mission.
After a 10-minute wait in this busy unknown government office we were taken outside & next door, through a conference room – complete with plywood conference table – and into a back office. This was the first air-conditioned office we had visited. We were introduced to a very pleasant & professional lady whose secretary scampered off to get us coffee. After another round of explanations - mainly notes between her & B & her dictionary btw - we realized that we were talking to Carmen Rosa Artiles Sánchez, the Presidente Asamblea Municipal of the Poder Popular of Mayari. She was essentially the mayor, responsible for the entire region of the province of Mayari.
She started to do an inventory of the goods but we explained that it was not necessary. She did have her secretary do up an official receipt – in duplicate - which we signed. She signed it & stamped it with her official seal of office. She thanked us profusely on behalf of her populace & the Cuban people & we were on our way with our task completed & our official receipt in hand.
It was quite an adventure & not just a casual drop off. The remote area & our limited knowledge of Spanish hindered our task, but didn’t stop us. In fact, it was one of the highlights of our trip.
Since we were staying in the Cuban Hinterlands, we had decided to drop our 20kg case in the town of Mayari, which doesn’t see many tourists. Our adventure started at our resort when we asked a staff member where a clinic might be. He suggested a good candidate in the small town of Levisa where his sister Ana worked as a nurse at the town’s Policlinico. We needed gas for the car, so our first destination was a station I had seen in Mayari.
So the next morning, we headed towards Mayari, picking up various hitchhikers along the way (common & acceptable in Cuba). Hitchhiking is encouraged in Cuba & every age group does it – from school kids to grandmothers. Cuban residents must pick up hitchhikers - there are traffic 'wardens' at intersections that seem to control the flow. Tourists are encouraged to do likewise. The station in Mayari was out of 'tourist' gas & they told us that they wouldn’t receive more until the next day or the day after. Btw 'tourist' gas is real & the local gas is a mix of gas & diesel from what we heard & the smoking trucks & cars on the road appear to confirm this.
So . . . with less than ¼ tank of gas we headed towards Levisa. A hitchhiker directed us to a station just past the town on the road to Nicaro. Success! He then directed us to the Polyclinico which we would never have found otherwise. It is in a very run down single story building. Clean but decrepit with crumbling plaster & moldy paint. Ana was out when we arrived - with her brother from the resort it turned out - & after some fumbled negotiations (my wife took a Spanish course prior to our trip) we were gratefully welcomed & ushered into the Director’s office. Note that no one spoke any English here or at any of our stops during this odyssey. He locked the door with us & his assistant inside & had one question once we had explained our mission – Why? After some back & forth talking he warmed up & explained that while he would like to accept the supplies, he was not authorized to. He said that we would have to go to the Directario Municipal de Mayari back in Mayari to obtain this permission.
So, off we went, again picking up hitchhikers who helped us locate the Directario in Mayari. They were expecting us & after some explanation, a woman jumped in our car & we drove elsewhere in town & she left us at another office. These offices btw were also quite rundown but everybody was very friendly when they understood our mission.
After a 10-minute wait in this busy unknown government office we were taken outside & next door, through a conference room – complete with plywood conference table – and into a back office. This was the first air-conditioned office we had visited. We were introduced to a very pleasant & professional lady whose secretary scampered off to get us coffee. After another round of explanations - mainly notes between her & B & her dictionary btw - we realized that we were talking to Carmen Rosa Artiles Sánchez, the Presidente Asamblea Municipal of the Poder Popular of Mayari. She was essentially the mayor, responsible for the entire region of the province of Mayari.
She started to do an inventory of the goods but we explained that it was not necessary. She did have her secretary do up an official receipt – in duplicate - which we signed. She signed it & stamped it with her official seal of office. She thanked us profusely on behalf of her populace & the Cuban people & we were on our way with our task completed & our official receipt in hand.
It was quite an adventure & not just a casual drop off. The remote area & our limited knowledge of Spanish hindered our task, but didn’t stop us. In fact, it was one of the highlights of our trip.
In and around Banes, Cuba
One half hour east of the beach area of Guadalavaca is the rough & tumble town of Banes.