Rosie and The Operator are off to Cienfuegos today, it is the most modern city in Cuba and is situated around a natural harbour making it the most picturesque and Caribbean looking.
Our ride has been organised for 0800, organised by Mignalys our Casa landlady, who knows someone who knows someone who can drive us. The trip today is 5 and a half hours, we have asked for a private car to take us all the way but they said there was one person on their own wanting to share the ride and the costs with us…OK, no problem.
Our beautiful red 51 Pontiac pulled up, Rosie and the Operator hopped in the back….nice, comfy seats and air con all the way…..next thing two back packers come up and peer through the window….they are chatting to the driver and their packs are going in the boot.
Whats going on? Rosie jumps out and hops in the front seat, sorry, The Operator will have to take this one for the team…Rosie doesn’t like close quarter company. Our hostal hostess comes to the window and explains in English there has been a mistake and these two are going as far as Havana. Havana? Yes, we have to go back to Havana to then progress on to Cienfuegos. From Havana we will have the taxi to ourselves the rest of the way.
OK, our new British friends are already hopping in. Well, they talked and talked and talked and talked about how seasoned travelers they were at the grand old age of 18 and how they always get the best deal wherever they have traveled in Cuba because they are so savvy and onto it. Oooookaaay, it was Rosie’s turn to feign sleepiness in the front seat and The Operator chatted away to his new buddies…and we all know how chatty The Operator is…I owe you one love xx
The driver wanted a certain amount of money from them to get to Havana and a certain amount from us to go all the way to Cienfuegos. The driver asked if we spoke Spanish…Rosie said no, sorry. Brit Gobs both said ‘si’ in unison…so away the driver gabbled to them…well, to cut a long story short they spoke as much as Rosie…stuff all.
It was comical hearing them together trying to decipher what the driver said in English. Rosie pipes up from the front. He wants the money up front for our rides….did Rosie also mention we were actually driving at the time this discussion was going on, weaving around horse and carts and dodging walkers and peeps on bikes…Rosie asked the driver ‘Quante Coste’ and pointed at them….the driver garbled something….Rosie only knows how to count to 10 courtesy of Dora….she pointed at his mobile which he was holding and said ‘numero’ making tapping gestures, a smile broke out on his face and he tapped $50. Then he tapped $100 dollars into his phone for us. Sorted.
The cheeky Brits then actually hi fived each other and crowed about how good their Spanish translation skills were for the next 15 mins before promptly falling asleep. Yay for us, peace and quiet.
On the outskirts of Havana we swapped cars, our car was now a shitty old Peugeot with no air conditioning just the drivers and front passengers windows open to create a raging breeze.
The back doors didn’t open from the inside, and our new driver didn’t speak a word of English either. Turns out his car had a broken clutch….this will be fun lurching between gears all the way to Cienfuegos. Next minute we were in the middle of Havana city and he had jumped out of the car….WTF….he disappeared for 10 mins, then another slightly better Peugeot (only in the respect that this one did have a clutch) pulled up and our bags were being put in this one. All the while our original $100 is being divided up and changing hands between each new driver. OK, Rosie and The Operator think we are off…
Yes, finally we are on the main road to Cienfuegos…the traffic is just as quiet and the day is getting hotter. The air rushing in through the open front windows acting as our air-conditioning is getting hotter and hotter too. Luckily, they do tint the windows of the cars very dark. The only way you can see out the side windows is peering through the cut outs in the tint stickers. The cut outs normally come in the form of Rolling Stones tongues and the Apple logo.
We are nearly there, only three quarters of an hour out of Cienfuegos on a trip that seemed to take forever, the driver takes his 3 millionth call on his mobile phone. Next minute we are doing a U turn, bouncing over the median strip on the highway and driving in the opposite direction back to Havana!
Five minutes down the motorway we stop on the roadside next to a broken-down car…another Peugeot, seems like he has run out of petrol, ‘my brother’, our driver says and jumps out of the car. In that car are 4 tourists on their way to Trinidad.
The sun is like a furnace blazing off the asphalt but it is still hotter sitting in the stationary car. Out of the engine bay the driver of the broken down car pulls out a plastic 2 litre bottle of petrol. Yes, out of the engine bay, he uses another 500ml drink bottle pre cut down as a funnel and proceeds to fill up his car. Thank God, that will be easy thinks Rosie…but no, the car will not start, both drivers are under the bonnet, pulling off this hose and blowing into that hose, sucking petrol out of another hose and spitting it out…it will not start.
About 4 other cars have pulled over and the drivers have offered to help, or checked the same hoses again for the tenth time. Then a rope gets pulled out and attached to our car…Good Lord no, that will not tow that car, they are trying to jump start it by towing the car with the rope.
6 tourists are standing on the roadside in the burning sun watching as our taxis get smaller and smaller and further away. Rosie waves and says ‘bye bye bags, passports and money’…then watches as it dawns on the faces of a couple of the others that this could be an elaborate bag swindle….the French couple shrug, show no emotion at all and light another cigarette.
Our cars have stopped, Rosie and The Operator trek down the roadside in the blistering 35c heat to catch up to our driver. The broken down one is still broken, the ‘brothers’ are arguing…our driver motions us to get in and we burn down the road leaving his dejected ‘brother’ and his 4 passengers on the side of the road. Our drivers phone rings continuously….he dosent answer it….Ouch.
Finally the beautiful Cienfugos harbour is on our right hand side, we sweep down The Malecon to the Punta Gorda area of town, a small strip of land with one row of palatial houses down the middle of it, the sea twinkles in the sun at the front and back door of all the houses in this area.
Our Casa is beautiful, it is three thirty in the afternoon, it has been a long seven and a half hours on the road. The welcome cocktail they offer us on arrival is much appreciated, as is the stiff breeze blowing off the harbor…so cooling. We sit on the back deck overlooking the beautiful Caribbean and it is magic.
Our room has a small balcony that has a peek of the ocean towards the front of the building and door to our room has a peek of ocean to the back of the property. Time to stretch our legs and go for a walk, tomorrow we will show you around Cienfuegos.
