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11 January 2003: Habana by bus and foot .
No
pedaling today. We got a very nice luxus van to Habana. It
took 5 hours to drive what we pedaled in four days. We
retraced the first four days of our route in reverse by van.
We arrived in Habana and stayed for the fifth time in the
wonderful 'Casa Particular' (mansion) of Senor Morales. I
told him how happy I was to see him again and he told he
was very happy to see me! He treated me like a son. He
gave Ray and I the best room in the place. I am sure it was
his room. It had a giant television in it and private adjacent
bathroom with hot water and a flush toilet. Senor Morales
gave me the address of his son Francisco in Rome so I
could contact him. Senor Morales being the proud father
also showed me Francisco's Resume with all his scientific
papers. I have a degree in Physics and could barely
understand the titles. He goes twice a year to the world
conference of String Physicists and has published 13
original theoretical papers. He does all his work with just a
pencil . He does not even need a computer.We (Ray, I , Bruce and Margaret) then all walked to
Chinatown in a very roundabout way seeings lots of
Habana. I ordered a lobster plus five different plates of
vegetable dishes expecting the others to eat half. But no
one else was hungry and I had to force a plate down Ray's
throat. I have not eaten so much in a long time. I must have
put 3 lbs of food in me. I thought I would get sick or my
stomach might explode, but 2 hours later I was fine. The
vegetables were not heavy and digested well. I even had
some ice cream later. Habana is really run down but
somehow has a lot of charm. For one it feels like a
romantic place. At least you see a lot of couples. I love all
the bicitaxis (pedal powered Cabs). I saw the last half of a
ballet at the national theatre called 'Un Poeta en Nueva
York'. It was incredibly creative. They had a coloring book
screen superimposed upon the dancers who were dancing in
pictures as they were being drawn. They also danced in
front of the film clip of 'Mighty Joe Young' (The Giant
Gorilla) as he was on top of the Empire State Building. It
was the scene where he grabs the cute blond damsel in his
hand. I was tired and fell asleep some. It was over by 10
PM. Habanans really love Culture. It was nice to see all the
people come out for this. I then took a Bicitaxi home for 10
dollars. My driver had to really work hard. Twice he had to
pause for 30 seconds and wipe the sweat from his brow
before continuing on. I felt very safe in Habana and also
saw lots of policeman/women. The Casa Particular we are
staying at has been nicely upgraded from 2 years ago.
Senor Morales made a lot of improvements. We have our
own private bathroom with a nice flushing toilet.
