Saturday November 29, 2014

Another great nights sleep in our giant bed. The weather has changed and it is windy and cool, which also helps with a good nights sleep. We had cereal again with fresh pineapple, for breakfast, lovely.

I checked the email to see how my Dad was doing, as he was taken into hospital with chest pains a couple of days ago. He is back at home and has to have more tests.

Then we set of for the Loma de Cruz, (Hill of the Cross). There are 468 steps to the top and you get a stunning view of the City from there.

On the way Ralf took photos of street life in Cuba.

There are a lot of street vendors in Cuba shouting their wares –pina, pan etc. As I lay in bed this morning I heard the bread man shouting that he had fresh bread. It reminded me of that scene in the moviee Oliver where he is staying at the posh house and the street vendors are dancing in the street and singing the song “Who will buy my sweet red roses?” Of course the street we are staying on is not quite as picturesque as in the movie!

As we continued up the street towards the Loma de Cruz, we spotted the carts with the various fruits and vegetables, the local butchers and the green grocers store.

This young guy had this awesome cake, he seemed a bit concerned when I sat next to him.

We passed the local kids park and the rocket ride. Not sure these things would be allowed in Canada, the US or the UK – they would be banned as too dangerous.

We climbed the 468 steps to the top of the hill and chatted to an English couple who had also walked up.

They had decided to go down the same way by the steps, Ralf and I chose to go down by the road and took a short cut over the hill and through the local subdivision.

The street we are staying on has a tremendous amount of rubble. A lady told Ralf he shouldn’t be taking photos as it doesn’t look good on Cuba. Ralf said “This is life in Cuba. Ralf asked why there was so much rubble. Apparently there was a problem with people and children getting sick and having fevers – something transmitted by mosquitos. The Minister for Health in Holguin instructed everyone to get rid of their garbage, building rubble etc. and put it out on the streets and it would be disposed of by the City. The lady, Ralf was talking to, said there was no forethought or planning to it, it should have been done street by street. When one street had been cleared, the next street could dump their rubbish and that would be cleared and carry on from there. No, everyone put all their stuff out on the street at the same time and the City is getting around to picking it up one street at a time. In the meantime, it looks a right mess.

It is now 3:45 pm on a Saturday afternoon and the municipal workers have arrived to clear this street of the rubble. When was the last time you saw municipal workers working on a Saturday afternoon, unless it was to clear the snow.

Shortly after the municipal workers had done their job, the community stepped in to do the final tidy up. Sweeping the side walks and anything that the municipal workers could not pick up, was swept up.

Although we have stayed in a lot of casa this is the first time that we have stayed in a community and had to shop for ourselves. It has been interesting living in the community if only for a few days. We have shopped at the local stores for the food we have been cooking, we have really witnessed how the locals live, buy their food and watching the kids playing in a small park or playing on the street.

Holguin is a big City, it is not as pretty as other cities we have been to, but it does have an amazing bronze mural which depicts the landing of Christopher Columbus.