Bus to Cienfuegos

I may have mentioned in earlier posts that living in Germany does not prepare you to go anywhere else in the world. In Germany, the dogs don't bark, people wait for red lights, trains run on time. It's easy to forget that things don't work this way in most countries. As we left Viñales by bus, I remembered.

We sat on the bus with the other tourists for about 45 minutes before rolling out of town. The driver made an announcement: one passenger on the bus was not showing up in the computer system. So as the 15 year old computers warmed up and someone inside the office called Havana, our driver smoked cigarettes and the passengers waited. Once the bus finally pulled out, the air conditioning came on. The Germans on board, and the French, and the Spanish did not know what to do. They were cold. They shivered. They pulled out the coats they hadn't worn since leaving the airport. A girl in front of us put on a stocking cap and wrapped a scarf up to her eyeballs.

After picking a few people up on the side of the highway, we had a stop in Havana. The driver announced it would take 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, he said that we would leave in 5 more minutes. 40 minutes and half a pack of cigarettes later, he fired up the bus again and the Europeans pulled out their ski wear. We arrived in Cienfuegos 2 hours later than scheduled.

This was not Cuba's fault. Cuba works this way, and so do many other places in the world. It was Germany's fault, for giving me high expectations for punctuality and logistics (and quiet dogs). Thank you, USA, for at least preparing me for the air conditioning.

From the bus window: Socialism or death