At the Casa Particular

After a drive in our red (inside and out) taxi, we arrived at our casa particular. A casa particular is very much like a bed and breakfast. In our case, our rooms were actually two small flats in the garden, one on top of the other.

The door to the lower flat and the balcony from which one could enter the upper flat.

At this point, it was close to 8 pm local time, which means it was 2 am for us. So after a quick dinner at a local restaurant I collapsed on my bed.

I woke at 4 am and again at 5 am and again at 6 am. When I finally got up at 6:30 I was very groggy, but the shower cured most of it. Especially since there was only cold water (in the red tap) and icy water (in the blue tap).

Outside it was a beautiful morning with blue sky, birds chirping and it was already warm enough to wear only a t-shirt. Our landlady put things on the garden table until it looked like this:

We never had too little to eat while in Cuba.

And then she asked us how we wanted our eggs.

Our fruit plate consisted of a banana, some watermelon, some pineapple, some papaya and a fruit, which I still have not found out what is.

I ate it anyway and swallowed the pips…

It is the one above the pineapple and watermelon. In the soft middle part, it had lots of small, ball shaped pips, which were too hard to chew. If you recognize it, please tell me what it is in the comments.

Horses on the Motorway

After breakfast, our driver from the day before took us to the bus station, so we could take the bus to Santa Clara and from there a taxi to Hanabanilla.

It was a long and cold bus trip. I had to put on my jacket and scarf because they had set the air-condition to arctic. However, there were plenty of interesting things to see along the way. On our way out of Habana we were on a four lane motorway and in the first lane I saw both cyclists, scooters, hitchhikers and horse drawn carts.

They seem to use them for transporting both people, hay and furniture.

Later, I also saw a man ploughing his field using oxen. It was like watching a film where the director could not decide on a century. In one field they use a tractor, in the next oxen. First we were passed by a modern Volvo, then a pair of cowboys with their cattle.

Taken from the taxi.

Our taxi from Santa Clara to Hanabanilla was a classic example of a car that would have been expensive in 1950. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of it. Even when our driver stopped the car halfway up a hill, pulled the handbrake, tied the handbrake to the steering wheel with a piece of rope and got out of the car to pour water on the motor. We got out of the car, just in case, and watched as he opened the hood. There was smoke rising from the engine, but our driver did not seem worried, and sure enough after he had poured on the water and untied the handbrake, he drove us the rest of the way to Hanabanilla without incident.

To be continued…