Holguin 2

J2 was flying to Havana, and we would not meet L until noon, so we had a leisurely morning. J was taking the bus westwards that night. At the breakfast table I joked with the landlady that I needed to get a new wife.

J and I walked around town a bit before lunch. After another lunch at Rumbos we caught up with L. She wanted to check her email at the Pernik Hotel, which was also near the Plaza de la Revolución. We bargained with some bicitaxis but eventually settled for a normal taxi for $2. There were some monuments at the Plaza. We studiously read the inscriptions, but mostly we enjoyed walking around the shady park there.


At the Pernik Hotel, an edifice from the Soviet era, L checked her email over the slow connection, J read a bit about Cuban history from the guide, and I napped on a chair. Afterwards we caught a bicitaxi back to the centre.

We met for pre-dinner drinks at the Begonia, a bar fronting the plaza. Dinner at the Piropo consisted of a chicken pizza for me and spaghetti for J. There was some kind of fashion show at the plaza that evening but we had to leave L before it started.


I walked J to the bus terminal. Nobody was selling tickets. A German traveller waiting there also had no ticket. Which meant there was nothing to worry about. In some places procedures can be informal and I was sure that tickets would be sold either just before the departure or on the bus. While waiting we chatted about our experiences of South America. J would be continuing to Central America after Cuba. She had an address from the landlady of a dentist in Mexico City who could do some dental repairs. Then it was time for her to go. A big hug, and she departed into the night.


I went back to the casa instead of the festivities in the plaza. The next day I would have an early start as L and I would attempt to catch a workers' bus to the beach town of Guadalavaca.