New Year’s Day 2022 in Puerto de Vita, Cuba

I slept right through it. But woke up to the sound of the roosting Egrets getting ready for the first day of the New Year.

Roosting Egrets

Yesterday I explored the opposite direction of Santa Lucia. I was told that I should find an internet connection in Mellia. None there. I went further down to the beach where the resort hotels are at Pesquero, no luck there. Next to the closer resort at Faro, same story. I got plenty of exercise. Uphill was mostly on foot because I only have one of the eight speeds of my derailleur working. The cables are all rusted again. Only front brake works. I hope to find a repair shop here. And with my luck I had the strong trade wind in the face on the way there and on the way back the wind had slowed into a whisper.

But I enjoyed the landscape of rolling hills and wide vistas.

But the human aspect is what keeps me on this unending discovery. I heard some music from below and saw smoke rising from a small farm house.

It happened to be a family gathering for the traditional New Year’s Eve pig roast. This was Tito’s place. I asked if I might take a few pictures. The immediately presented me with roasted potato and tomato chips and a taste of their home Rum.

It reminded me of the hospitality and generosity I encountered in the South Pacific. These people know how to be grateful with next to nothing. Look at the video.

A 5-year-old offered me a beautiful seashell and his little sister also presented me with her smaller version.

Sea shells

Check the You tube video with the colorful spectacle of this happy gathering: https://youtu.be/TuKmEUEk2Jw

I am sending this from Sta. Lucia. I still have to try and reach my Amsterdam bank and deblock my Euro account. This will now have to wait until Monday.

After I sent my previous blog from Sta. Lucia, I managed to find some vegetables and bread. The vegetable man spoke fluent German. And the baker had also worked in East Germany and lived in Genk, Belgium, he knew some Dutch. I remember on my first visit to Berlin after the wall had come down to meet Vietnamese who spoke perfect German. These were guest workers who were farmed out to the Russians in exchange for military assistance. And later in Vietnam I ran into more of these German speaking Vietnamese. It became dark on the way back. I was deadly afraid that my rechargeable headlamp might run out, which it seems to do at the most inappropriate occasions. There are no street lights and the potholes are deathtraps. The opposing traffic on the main highway blind me. Then I discovered that I had missed my turn off and had to go back two kms. But my praying guardian angels kept the light burning. I was totally exhausted, many of the hills have to be walked because of the high gear limit and then on the way down I must slow down with the one working brake, in the dark.

One difference I noticed in this part of Cuba, there are fewer African Latinos than I saw in 017 on the South Coast.

I just found this real restaurant here in Sta. Lucia, with cold beer and air conditioning. These Christmas decorations here in the restaurant are not meant for other than Chinese markets. So, very Lunar New Year like.

Christmas Chinese Style