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A funny thing happened on the way to the studio........
Beware of Cubans celebrating their Birthday!
Havana, August 7, 2006
The scene: Central Havana (off the tourist route), in search of an address (which I have left in the hotel), maybe we look lost, and maybe, though my attempts at a pre Cuba sun tan and repeated Spanish lessons in the car on the way to work, we still have that neon tourist sign on our foreheads. Enter Luis, who asks the usual questions (in English), where are we from, where are we going, do I want any cigars etc. I answer in Spanish but, too late, he detects a flaw in the dialect. Okay, so maybe Luis can actually help us find Egrem Studios (the address I left in the hotel), I remember it was San something or another but we have passed San Rafael, San Martin and other variations of San this and that all in vain. So I ask, Luis, (in Spanish) do you know where the Egrem studio is? You know, Buena Vista Social Club? Music recording studio? No, he didn’t know, but he did know where we could go for lunch! By now we had walked smack into Barrio Chino (Chinatown without any Chinese people), and as fate would have it, here was (according to Luis) the best place to have a Mojito and a sandwich Cubano. A Mojito sounded good at that time so in we went, apparently for his assistance in leading us to this rather drab looking excuse for a Chinese patio we were to buy him a drink as well. That’s fine, that’s why we’re here, to mingle and talk to the Cuban people, practice a little Spanish, buy a drink or two (or three). Here’s the problem with that scenario. Luis wanted to speak English and wanted us to do the same, I thought maybe it was because our Spanish was really bad, but then determined that he wanted to improve his English for the next tourist encounter. Anyway, I ordered a round of Mojitos and patiently waited their arrival. It felt like an hour had passed. Finally that murky, minty concoction arrived, not much left of the ice, figured they had sat on the bar for a while. Slurp, yuk! Crap! *#%...Now let me explain, I am a Mojito junkie and have spent the last four years or so years trying to perfect it for friends and family back home and with good results, I have tasted some bad versions over the years but this was without doubt, gross! Anyone want a beer, I ask, yep, Cristal, was the reply, suddenly Luis had more Mojitos that he had contemplated. I feel very happy today, Luis announced, (the thought, I bet you do, flashed in my head). That’s great, I replied. It’s my birthday today, he continued. I wished him a happy birthday. The conversation continued and then Luis offered to show us around Havana and in return all we had to do was buy him lunch, that’s fair trade, and I have no problem with that, except, I looked at the check for the Mojitos and Cristals, holy crap! I must have bought a round for the whole restaurant. We quickly finished the beers and decided we would go somewhere else for lunch, I explained that we know our way around and only needed help finding the studios. Luis reminded me that it was his birthday, I gave him 5 convertible pesos and wished him all the best. We headed for La Floridita figuring that we may as well drink the most expensive Daiquiris in town seeing as though we had just drank the most expensive and warmest Mojitos in town. At the entrance to La Floridita we were told that it was the doorman’s birthday!
Happy Birthday!
Rico
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