´This is Cuba¨

Nothing runs smoothly in Cuba. Cars break down, bookings are lost, people don´t show up, the power fails, the telephone connection is interrupted. When this happens you are supposed to settle in for a while, drink some rum, have a laugh and say ¨This is Cuba!¨ We have said it a few times.

Leaving Trinidad our transfer did not show up, our bus tickets were not reserved and the bus was full, we eventually got on, one poor girl was repeatedly and violently sick, so the aisle flowed with a little river of gastric juices. This is Cuba! Finally the bus stopped working altogeather, someone stood up and asked all the passengers if they had any tools with which the bus could be fixed. In broken English she described a screwdriver. Surely enough someone had one! (unbelievable in any other context.) The bus was fixed and we were on out way back to Havana. Weirdly enough things seem to eventually get done and we are just getting used to it.

Back in Havana, Tony and I have met up with some friends and will spend New Year´s Eve with them. A look inside a Cuban family is something to be prized. The boys (the chicos) met up with their musician friend and will have some more fun with him tomorrow.