Coffee in Vinales and farewell to Yarelis before we folded ourselves up into a tiny, tiny car — Russian POS, maybe a Lada? Who knows. Five adults is the accepted standard in a shared taxi.
Our fellow passengers were from New York. Rob was an advertising guy actually from New Zealand. Nancy worked for CitiCorp in finance; she moved to the states from China when she was three. Interesting couple which was a good thing since we were in such
tight quarters. The ride was miserable but when I saw a cab on the side of the road with car trouble I put a smile back on my face. Our driver stopped for a coffee at one point and a bit later he stopped so he could go in the bushes to pee. Reminded me
of Japan all over again. He must have been trying to break his previous record since he was racing the entire time. At one point, Justin asked him to drive “mas tranquil.” He complied for about a minute and a half.
Two and a half miserable (miserable!!!) hours later as we got back into Havana proper our cab driver honked at the car in front of us and then pulled alongside to chat. Yes, we were on the
freeway and going about 50 km/hr. We realized he was talking to the other driver about taking us on from the centro to our hotel to the east of Havana. Was the the Cuban version of Uber? We stopped for the handoff; Rob and Nancy continued but at least now
Nancy could stretch out a bit. Rob was still in the front seat with his legs neatly tucked up under his chin. We were to now get inside another tiny car, this time it was a Peugeot. Justin said “no.” The guy wasn’t happy but too bad, so sad. I’m not sure
if I’ll ever get unkinked. We waited for a nice, new Hyundai to take us to our next hotel. We paid double the price but it was so, so worth it.
We arrived at our hotel just after noon. Check in time wasn’t until 4pm so we jumped right into beach-relax mode and had a drink by the pool
followed by lunch out near the water. When it was time for check-in, our first room simply wasn’t acceptable. Sure, it faced the ocean, but it was right by the pool and the music was blaring. I love Latin music and I love to dance, but this was too much.
The lady at the desk wasn’t too happy, but she did find us another room that will be just fine. It is more quiet and that was what we wanted.
The rest of the day disappeared with reading, napping and exploring, checking internet, dinner and more lounging about. Maybe this is exactly
what is in store for the next few days.
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| Cute way to get your change back |
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| Street market in Vanales |
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| Nice tidy way to roll towels; simple but tidy. |
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