Cuban Blog Day #15 Don't Take 'No' for an Answer

I was happy to be on the road again.  So much of visiting a country for is actually about the traveling, the getting there, the being on the way.  After a failed attempt to visit the closed on Sunday, even though everyone said it wouldn’t be, tobacco factory and a brief visit to the cigar store which was open and had plenty of cigars, the cheapest of which was $10, and several lovely bottles of Havana Club rum, I was on my way to the bus station.

While I waited to get on the bus, grateful to be taking a bus that I was pretty certain would be more or less on time, and on which I was sure to have a reclining seat and air conditioning, I chatted with a Danish girl.  She was traveling on her own and had several similar stories to mine. It was nice to know it wasn’t just happening to me. She was one of very few other travelers I met along the way.

The bus ride was a short one hour to Cienfuegos.  Getting off the bus, only one tout accosted me, and I walked with him to his sister’s casa.  I got settled in and then walked around a bit to see the town and get some lunch. Cienfuegos was a lot more traveler- friendly and looked more exciting than Santa Clara.   I returned to the casa and then walked with the sister back to the bus station where she told me I could take the locals’ bus for only $1 peso national.  She also told me it came every 10 minutes. Half an hour later, I’d gotten a taxi driver down to $4 CUC and decided to stop wasting time and rode with him to Rancho Luna Playa.

The beach was where I would find out about SCUBA diving. I walked along the beach to the hotel in the guide book. Once arriving there, I asked several employees where the dive center was and was told simply that it was closed. No one seemed to have a phone number or was even willing to take a message.  I was upset because I needed to plan the dive trip today if I wanted to go the next day.

I walked out toward the beach and the dive shop and was thrilled to find some people there.  It wasn’t even closed. I arranged with the instructors there to go on a $60 CUC two tank dive the next morning.

It began raining, and I hustled to the thatched roof bar across the way to wait it out. I waited seated at the bar for quite awhile while the bartender completely ignored me.  When I finally asked if I could get a Cuba Libre, he told me no, and pointed to a vending machine behind me.  This was an all inclusive resort, and I did not have the proper jewelry, in this case a green paper bracelet to signify I was a paying guest.

I put the $1.50 CUC into the vending machine and had my choice of Bucanero, Cristal or Mayabe in cans.  I chose Bucanero.  I wish we had such vending machines in the states.  I drank a few beers while watching how the other half live at the all inclusive resorts.  This was not a resort I would want to spend much time in. It looked like the last time it was ever updated was somewhere in the early 80’s if not even earlier, and I briefly wondered how much people actually paid to stay here.

Once the rain let up, I walked toward my taxi driver, finished off my last beer while sitting on the beach people watching and rode back to town.  I walked along the famous Malecón (best English translation is ‘seafront’, I guess. Very similar to a boardwalk in some cities.) It’s a few miles long and is a general meeting spot for locals to sip beers and take children on strolls.  It was great people and sunset watching.

I ate dinner along the way and then settled in for an outdoor cabaret show. While waiting for the show to start, music videos played on large screens. This is apparently very popular entertainment as they advertised this almost as much as the show itself. I watched several videos, one of which appeared to have all of the members of ‘N Sync dancing and singing impeccable Spanish.  

The show was a mix of live singing and dancing.  It went through all the different dances of the different regions of Cuba and included several costume changes.  The show was not something I had read about, and if I’d not walked by it, I would have missed it, though I’m glad I didn’t. It was very enjoyable and fun and told a great story about Cuba.

 

Traveling tip # 18 Don’t take ‘no’ for an answer

 

Along with people simply telling you what they think you want to hear, there are also those who simply cannot be bothered by you.  I have a feeling this was largely the result of the hotel being an all inclusive and employees not caring about you if you don’t happen to sport the pretty bracelet.  Don’t be discouraged by these folks.  Simply keep asking, and if that doesn’t work, keep walking. If I’d listened to them, I may have missed out on diving the next day. Instead I walked to the dive shop and found people still there who could help me.