We were coming towards the end of the holiday, spending two nights in Baracoa on the south-east coast and then flying from Holguin, the area of copper and cobalt mines, several hours north on roads so potholed you might think it was a war zone, ending with two final nights in Havana.
Some of the family had been disappointed that too much time had been spent listening to history in the Sierra Maestra. Some of the men would have preferred to have spent the time scaling the highest point from where the rebel radio had broadcast. For some, the whole trip had lacked any physical challenge. At Baracoa there was a chance to do another walk or you could go shopping. Rhys went off in a truck for the walk and I went off on the bus to the town.
In the past couple of days we had passed by Guantanamo Bay naval base and heard how in 1902-4 the Americans had managed to secure their bit of Cuba in case they ever needed to use it. Our last stop Santiago de Cuba, apart from the extraordinary Moncada Barracks experience, had been disappointing, full of motor bikes and choking pollution. Seeing the fort and the lighthouse at night had been really special though.
Baracoa is a lovely little country town with a chilled feeling. The main form of transport is horse and cart or rickshaw bicycle. It has the best music and Casa de la Trova we'd visited. Unfortunately, two members of family had fallen out. It had taken much longer than I thought but was bound to happen. We still managed to party.
I wandered around on my own. I could see why the renegade sneaked off from the group for a cigarette and a wander when he could. You get to meet local people that way. Being in a tour does set up a barricade of opportunity in this respect. In most of the towns we visited there was very little in the government shops. Cubans have ration cards for basics; rice, beans, cooking oil etc. There are two currencies in Cuba: the national currency and the convertible currency. There are 24 national pesos to one convertible peso and about 70 convertible pesos to the pound sterling. Locals are paid in national pesos. Tourists use convertible pesos. Those Cubans in the tourist industry are paid in national pesos but get tips in convertibles. Consequently, there is an inequality of income based on working in the tourist industry or not. Doctors and lawyers earn less than tourist guides.
We had wondered how some Cubans seem so well dressed, when there's so little to buy in the shops. Family and friends abroad send clothes and there must be a black market, although we heard very little about how it might operate. I was touched when I went into a book shop, looking for Cuban poetry in translation, that the woman at the counter took me into the back of the shop and whispered to me, asking if I had a pen she could have. On the back streets of Baracoa I saw some more fashionable T shirts and trousers for sale. Further down the street I managed to have a CD made of downloaded Cuban songs for 3 convertible pesos. A woman asked me if I needed a room and a man tried to thrust a live chicken at me. Perhaps he thought I wanted to take part in some Voodoo ritual. The Catholic Church is stronger since the Pope's visit at the end of the 90s but African religion still lives.
Baracoa town wasn't the place to buy a fridge magnet or a Che Guevara cap. That would have to wait 'til the covered market in Havana.
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