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Walking the Neighborhood Bayamo, Viñales, Cienfuegos, Trinidad, Matanzas |
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Bayamo A calm, pleasant city |
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with a lively pedestrian-only street, with lots of shops |
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in one of which we were ganged up on by a bunch of giddy waitresses |
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who quickly appropriated our hats |
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Viñales Another pleasant town with many unpaved streets |
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lined by colorful and creative houses |
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(in stark contrast to Havana and other cities with grander structures) |
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walking along one of these streets I encountered LaAraña, who was hosing down the street in front of her house, to calm the dust An ebullient woman, she laughingly made semi-suggestive gestures with her hose As I chatted with her, she was joined by 88-year-old Aurelio... |
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...who himself engaged in humorous, suggestive gestures--to her great delight What a pair! |
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Cienfuegos On one of our walks Liv struck up a lively conversation with some boys on their way home from school |
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they were delighted to practice their English with her |
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Trinidad Hmmm, are we on a Walt Disney set? No, just an ordinary Trinidad street... |
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...many of which are cobblestone |
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On one of her walks, Liv met this woman (with her daughter in front of their house) who walked her to a pottery factory where she works. |
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Half a block from our casa particular we saw a house purification ritual in progress |
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A Santeria ritual |
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Matanzas Setting out for a walk, we head toward the river |
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and shortly encounter Idania... |
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...who works at the Varadero Golf Club we're still in email contact |
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up ahead... |
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...a pig has been slaughtered we continue walking |
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past more busy people |
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we pass this old relic... |
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...part of this string of buildings whose glory has long since faded, while across the river |
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some structures that never had glory to begin with |
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We cross the river (bridge on the right) |
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and presently encounter Rogeli, whose house lacks class--but his own élan suffices We chat merrily for some minutes Lovely man |
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That evening, in a small plaza, we came across a rumba gathering Matanzas is known for being very involved in the development of rumba in Cuba Cuban rumba has a flavor quite distinct from salsa |
 16-second video https://youtube.com/v/X1q7ALXHL50 |
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