The next morning we took a short trip to “Punta Gorda”, there was supposed to be a “Carnival on the water” down there, that’s what Pedro had told us anyway, God knows what it was supposed to be. We took a taxi (eight dollars one way). As usual, Y just couldn’t keep her hands to herself.

I had a different impression of a carnival, there were just a few small boats sailing around in the bay. They had all been decorated with all sorts of garlands, palm branches and “Socialism or Death” placards, was quite nice really, especially because of the fact that Y had accompanied me to take a look what was going on. For the first time I tried out various types of real rum, but only small glasses. After all, we hadn’t had anything to eat again.

During the evening, we went down to the Casa de la Trova again to listen to some of the music, they also have a bar…

The food… in Cuba is not what one would call a highlight. Ok, in the Paladares (private restaurants) one can get a good meal for fewer than ten dollars, that’s just something I need once a day. Apart from that, there is only filth to be found, and that all over the place. Sorry, but I have to make that quite clear. There is at least one “Rapido” in each larger town; this is a sort of fast food restaurant. In these places, one can get either, pizza with salami, pizza with ham, or pizza with mortadella. I know all variations. One is also able to get spaghetti. One day I arrived from the beach, was very hungry, and fancied a plate of spaghetti and a pizza. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to be possible. One of the Rapido’s has spaghetti, the other pizza…. At first I didn’t even want to go into the one Rapido.

Le Baron was able to convince me though; he told me that the pizzas there weren’t that bad at all. So, I went in, but against my will. The pizza was done in the microwave (at least it had been covered in plastic foil), looked a bit like a plastic pizza baked in the microwave. I plucked up all my courage and took a bite, great!!! I nearly even ordered a second one. Ok, to tell the truth, after a few days one can’t face them anymore, that’s the reason why one should have a proper meal once a day, preferably during the evening in the Paladar.

Photo above: We can be seen here twice in a Rapido, on the beach once. At least one is able to get a good beer from a carafe and a cabbage salad (shiver).

Then one night, I went with Y to a sort of fast food restaurant down the old part of town. There is a special name for such place, has slipped my mind. I had Pollo (chicken) done in the chip pan, and chips to go with it. What I mean is that I tried to eat it – to tell the truth I didn’t really manage. Was very fatty and oily. The chips were swimming in old brown chip pan fat, was simply disgusting. As I said, couldn’t eat the crap. Ate Bokadillo quite often down the Casa Granda, this is a type of sandwich. If one has an empty stomach, then it is just about possible to shove one down ones throat.

Santiago de Cuba lies next to the Caribbean Sea, Baracoa next to the Atlantic. Altogether, the journey takes about four hours. First of all one has to travel towards the east up to Guantanamo (there where the “Guantanamera” come from, those are girls from Guantanamo), then one must turn off towards the north in the direction of Baracoa. Once in Guantanamo (a small dump) one has completed about half of the journey, however, there are a few serpentines to be encountered. All in all a nice drive. Mariachi had done the tour before, this was a good thing because we didn’t have to ask the way all that often. The signposting isn’t all that good at all.

One has to travel along the “motorway” great; hardly any traffic at all, but one does have to keep ones eyes open all the time, cows, horses and goats amongst other things, are seen now and again running around on the carriageway…. There are also a hell of a lot of cyclists and horse and carts, well, in general, everything is possible. We also saw a lot of hitchhikers trying to hitch a lift, but our car was full of luggage, which was a great pity. We could have had a good bit of luck…. Anyway, there was a nice varying view of the landscape.

During the evening we were wanting to get down to the carnival, at last!!! In the meantime, La Baron had been celebrating in advance. First of all he showed us where one could get a good bite to eat, afterwards we joined the crowd. To tell the truth, I didn’t think all that much of the event. It’s mainly a huge piss up, sometimes one hears of free-for-all punch ups, but we didn’t get mixed up in one of those. There are wooden shacks every few metres (stupidly enough, I had not taken any photos of these). Stood inside of them is a large barrel full of beer.

The beer is delivered by tanker, everyone brings their own “glass” with them, the glasses are mainly plastic coke bottles with the top half removed. We didn’t try it out, didn’t look very appetizing. We decided to carry on drinking Cristal. We had a bite to eat in some sort of a tent, it was more of a sort of a cordoned off area with sunshades.

The food was very good, we drank Ron and Cristal. Got into a conversation with a few Cubis (of course, once again I was only listening). A few coppers wanted to invite us to a bottle of Ron, we turned the offer down. I took stacks of photos of the carnival; I mainly held the camera above my head and took photos of the crowd.

Although the other two had warned me not to, I tried the pork rolls, they really were very good – and I was very hungry, I stuffed eight of the things down my throat, nothing happened, were all clean. One wouldn’t think so though after watching them make the things. Apart from that, they tried to rip me off as well. The rolls are freshly filled, and when not being watched, the bloke took some of the meat back out by hiding the roll behind the pig. I complained with success, oh yeah, one also has to demand ones change, (25c). Cuba…

I was still in a good mood, so I set of down town. That’s where I met Jacqueline. Actually, I had only wanted to get myself a bite to eat, but I didn’t really know where. She told me she knew of a good private restaurant (Paladar), she would show me where to find it, Ok, why not. It was two minutes away from the Casa Granda by taxi. The restaurant was really very good, so good, that I visited it quite often. Jacqueline had earned herself a meal and wanted to try out king prawns, they weren’t available so I let her chose something else. I tried everything except for crustaceans (doesn’t bother me).

Everything was fantastic; I tried pork, chicken, lamb, and fish. First of all, they served a very good salad; there were even avocados with it. Together with the meal, there were fried bananas with rice and beans such as is normal all over Cuba. As I said, very good and not too expensive. A meal costs about seven or eight dollars, only the meat costs about ten. There were always a few beers/refreshments with the meal. We will take a look at a few more photos later on.

After the meal, I went down town to meet up with… the bitch! I met her exactly in front of the entrance to the Casa Granda. I didn’t mess around and went straight up to her and said “Tiene Tiempo” (have you time?), took her by the hand without waiting for an answer, and dragged her into the CG. Jacqueline laughed. All the same, one could tell that she had had hopes of earning a few dollars. The evening had been saved; well that’s what I though.

She wasn’t all that good looking, but I really was wanting to get stuck into her. She was just so nicely tarted up like a teenager and very thin. Ok, she had a little bit in front and behind, but the arms and legs were anorexic, just as I like it. Apart from that, she was a real bitch. We had barely reached the Casa before she just spread herself out. She took a good look at everything, and also new how to use everything. Others have constraints or are shy when they are somewhere where they haven’t been before, not that that’s what I needed. She was completely the opposite.

I opened my suitcase to let her try something on; stupidly enough I forgot to close it again. She really got stuck in; after all, it’s not every day that one has a suitcase full of presents where one is obviously allowed to help oneself! So, she packed herself a bag full of presents. I let her take a certain amount; if she had been well behaved, she would have got the stuff anyway.

Actually we were in quite a good mood, at first we had wanted to go down to the Las Americas disco, she just wanted a quick shower and then get herself ready. It was pissing it down outside, that’s why I ordered a taxi for an hour later. Of course that didn’t work out, he arrived, but I was busy and had to send him away after giving him a couple of dollars. The action wasn’t all that bad; she gave me a decent blowjob, then the good old in and out game. Suddenly I realised that my prick was bleeding! At first I thought she had bleeding gums, but no, she had bitten into my prick.

It didn’t hurt all that much, but did bleed quite a lot. I dabbed it of with my underpants until the bleeding had stopped. Somehow, she had bitten a bit off the tip of my cock, of course not on purpose. Nevertheless, believe me I had had enough. I told her that the evening had come to an end for the both of us, so we got dressed, and I gave her five dollars, which she promptly turned down with it not being enough. I then kept the five dollars and she didn’t get any presents either. Outside I told her she could go down to the disco; I was going to nip off down town. I offered her the five bucks again, because I’m a nice person. This time she accepted knowing that there wouldn’t be any more. Bye b…

What was wrong??? Was it my fault?? I was slowly but surely getting a bit frustrated! I was starting to have a bit more understanding for Schang, who had flown back home early after spending a week in Havana. I started to realise what the sentence “everything is different in Cuba” could mean. I think I had walked about the town during the night (what can one do – nothing), and then went to bed, alone. La Iris, dead. Casa Granda, dead as from eleven at the latest. Tres Cientos, in general only a place for couples (entrance fee). Las Americas, no fear. La Maison, dead as a doornail. Cespedes, nothing going on. La Klaquetta, is really nothing at all. The street, not much happening their either, I wasn’t in the right mood for that sort of thing anyway.

I started to get bored. I had to remind myself about my good intentions to make the most of things. I wanted to start with the museum, what a waste!!! Thank God that both the lads were turning up soon.