It was hot in Viñales. So hot that the middle of the day was a write-off. We got the bus early this morning to arrive back in Havana by lunchtime. Accomodation and food was cheaper (and better) than in Havana. We’re back at Casa Valdez now with Emilio and have been told that we can stay tonight but may have to move tomorrow. I explained to Emilio that we told Alexi (the lady who works here) before we left that we needed a room today and tomorrow but that there must have been some sort of miscommunication (given her level of English and my Spanish I thought that I was being diplomatic, rather than insisting we’d booked two nights), but Emilio was very honest and said that even if we’d requested the two nights from him we’d likely still have to move because a Cuban film crew was staying and they had priority.
I took a half-decent portrait of a ‘Habanero’ (Havana local – must be where habanero peppers come from) today and he insisted I give him money afterwards. Not more than five minutes later we were browsing ancient and newer books at stalls in a square, and on the front cover of a Lonely Planet Cuba book was said gentleman, our playboy. At least my photo was marginally better than the cover shot.
Photos: Casa Valdez main room. Emilio’s brother is a painter and his muse is a very large lady. Paintings of her adorn every wall in the building.
My Cuban Playmate – iPhone photo of Pentax 3″ LCD screen:
Marti’s facial expression does not describe the pizza, rather that she’s sick of her life being photographed by me 18 hours a day. Pizzas are now (relatively) tasty and even more so since our constitution knows how to handle them and our wallets welcome them. (We also got some great pineapples today at the farmer’s market. I would have taken some photos but the butcher took up all my time, trying to set me up with some ‘Jineteras’, female hustlers after a good time and one’s money.)
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