Once again jet lag has gotten the best of me and I found myself waking up before the sun. Luckily that gave me an early start to head out and explore Santa Clara before the heat set in. I took a walk to the Che Guevera Monument and accompanying museum and then set about the difficult tasks of withdrawing some cash, exchanging some of my currency from One cuban currency to the other (there are two currencies in Cuba, which I will explain in another post) and buying a local sim card.
While wandering the streets and taking it all in witnessed a bike/car accident, a car exhaust so hot it was shooting out sparks onto the footpath, cubans push starting, and doing quick fix repairs to their vintage cars, about 500 horse and carts, truckloads of people being transported about, and some pretty dang funny anti American artwork. Oh and as you would expect Che is absolutely everywhere.
I also walked out to the Railway Car Park where the railcars that Che’s guerrilla army derailed during the revolution have been turned into a small museum about the event.
Then I met Fedro. We started chatting in the main square and then he went on to tell me all about life in Cuba. He explained the 7 different classes of people, told me how he works as a baker for 12 hours a day, 6 days a a week, walks 7 km to work and back each day and still has to skip meals to make ends meet. How he was born in santa clara and hasn’t had enough money to travel even to other cities in Cuba his whole life. His english was perfect and we ended up having a beer in a nearby cafe and meeting his friend who works in the Cigar factory and sells stolen cigars on the cheap. Before I left they told me they could be found around that cafe if I wanted any help, cigars, or a tour of the factory.
