|
...My visits to Cuba have validated what I once read:
‘traveling to Cuba is a real-time history lesson’. While in Cuba, Alexander
became my own private ‘tour guide’. In the company of Alex, my visits took
on a whole new shape. Hanging with the locals offered adventures that one never
reads about in the guidebooks. There are many separations between the Cubans and
the tourists. The Cubans are not allowed to stay in the government operated
hotels. The tourists are not allowed to ride in the ‘collective taxis’,
though Alex and I used these as our primary form of transportation. I, of
course, was not to reveal my American accent during these rides. Sometimes as
many as 8 people would pile into a car. Most of these vehicles were from the
sixties – frozen in time after the fall of Communism. The streets were full of
these colorful, somewhat surreal, classic cars. While they no longer purr, they
still function well – some with over 200,000 miles!... |
October
14, 2002