Crutches,cars and coupons

El Cobre Cathedral, at the base of the Mountain exploited for its copper, has an altar of miracles where people throw away their crutches and canes. Not a good place to open a prosthetics business.
BUT a fabulous place to be an auto mechanic or restorer. I've never seen such combinations of models, styles, rivets and uses for Bondo.
Our guide showed us a Ration Coupon discount card. Every week, each person can get:
I egg
1/4 chicken
1 1/2 c white sugar
3/4 c brown sugar
1T coffee
5 lbs beans
2 1/2 lbs rice
7 small rolls of bread
A few slices of "mortadella"

1/4 kilogram of salt, 1/16 lb of palm oil, 80 grams of pasta depends on availability. No toothpaste, soap, fish, meat, potatoes, fruits or vegetables.
Don't know how they get cigars, but a lots of them have them in their mouths.

The two systems of currency is beyond confusing...

No Cuban Sandwich today

Had an orchestrated "interaction" with four fishermen today (three of which have secondary jobs as security guards). Lunch was frozen fish with shrimp and cheese sauce from Canada. Worked it off getting delightfully lost in downtown Santiago after a visit to the Museo de Rum and extensive mojito research.

Academy of Art

This could be the new Santiago de Cuba by-artists-for-artists-since-The-Revolution campus: 26 students, 26 faculty. Painting, printmaking, sculpture and graphic design. Humidity definitely affects drying times, and attitudes, but lots of teaching going on.

Back streets

Everything could be a painting.

Paladar St.Pauli

So, in Cuba people can turn their homes into little, intimate restaurants called paladars. Under normal circumstances, I would have walked down a narrow street, straight past a back building with a hidden door and NEVER thought to go down a long passage between two houses. But we did. What a complete delight awaited: phenomenal food, impeccable service and total happiness all under a tin roof overgrown with potted plants and vines.
Check the prices for steak (bistec) and lobster (langostino). One Cuban dollar is about $1.15. Best espresso EVER!!! Good thing. I could be up all night waiting for the Internet to connect.

It's Sunday

And NO ONE seems interested in Church. In fact, the greatest crowds are those folks in line at the few-and-far-between stores and bus stops.
Saw my first "Sovieti" Ferrari (passengers now flying into Cuba are limited to 4 tires, 2 bumpers and 24 bras). Many cobbled together cars and astonishing constructions.

Santiago and Salsa

Today we went from the cemetery to the oldest house in Cuba (built by ship builders-easy to tell) then lunch high top Graham Greene's hotel. Music is everywhere, so we added a mid-afternoon salsa class at Cutomba Ballet Folktorico. Later there is a "happy hour" lecture on Religion then off to a Paladar and promises of an evening stroll in Cuba's hottest (in many, many ways) city.

Scaffolding, sheets and sandwiches

I was just told that if you want a good Cuban sandwich, go to New York.
Not true of laundry - it's out everywhere.
If you want good construction (including reliable electricity) do NOT goose than one block off the Main Street of Santiago.

Scarfiago de Cuba

Here's a "scarfie" taken by the pool in Santigo de Cuba.
Mojitos are the drunk of the day. Humidity 90%, temperature about the same. What we don't sweat off simply sitting, we'll work off dancing salsa, son and cha cha cha. Ha! Ha! Ha!

44 pound luggage limit

At $2/pound for anything over 44 pounds, people bring overstuffed suitcases, major appliances, bikes, car bumpers and even farm equipment - all carefully hermetically sealed in plastic for $20. They say 60% goes into the wonderful world of "El Mercato Negro."
And then you get the carry-on guy who loves baseball and his nephews...

First CUBAN Sandwich

Miami airport: 7:00 AM
Only ONE tiny pickle (pepino)
Rating on a scale of one to ten: 6

Arrived in Santiago de Cuba

Laying our heads back on the pillows, we had a quick flight from "Ma-ya-ma" to the eastern-most tip of The Island of Liberty. After being greeted by nurses in black fishnet stockings, musicians and our adoring fans, we learned that this is where The Real Revolucion really started: the usual and ever-present suspects: Jose Martin, Che, Fidel, Raul...following in the wake of the Monitor, Merrimack and singular hoof and multi footprints of Teddy Roosevelt's "Rough Walkers" (turns out he was the only one with a horse. Inadvertently, the other horses were left behind in Florida).
FYI: The red-white-and-blue blight on the otherwise primitive and verdant landscape is our hotel.

Laundry

It's Saturday in Santiago. Can hardly wait until washday on Monday!!!!

44 pound luggage limit

At $2/pound for anything over 44 pounds, people bring overstuffed suitcases, major appliances, bikes, car bumpers and even farm equipment - all carefully hermetically sealed in plastic for $20. They say 60% goes into the wonderful world of "El Mercato Negro."
And then you get the carry-on guy who loves baseball and his nephews...

First CUBAN Sandwich

Miami airport: 7:00 AM
Only ONE tiny pickle (pepino)
Rating on a scale of one to ten: 6

Miami airport

They weight you, your purse, luggage and innermost thoughts. We should add up to quite a bundle.