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Tuesday Dec. 28, 1999 - We had a nice buffet breakfast and I made very good use of those zip lock bags David told me to bring. I also had half the group working for me. Later in the day there was a second breakfast for all and treats that I fished out of my pannier. I sup- pose I could have been harshly scolded for this theivery. But I was just a hungry cyclist helping out my fellow comrades too. As Berthold Brecht said "Erst kommt das Fressen, denn kommt das Moral!". First comes the food, then comes "morality". We then departed at 9AM down the mountain towards Manicaragua. The downhill was beautiful and cool with pine forests and later banana trees. We visited a small rural school house with 3 students in the classroom (one room). The 3rd graders were already doing algebra! I had to wait till 7th grade at my NYC school. We gave the students incredible gifts from Emily's scholastic publishing company and enough pencils for 10 years. We then pedaled to Manicaragua which was hotter where we had nice 2 Cheese Pizzas (6 Peso lunch). The others saw the tobacco factory which I passed up because I saw a cigar factory in Pinar del Rio last year. We mailed 10 postcards and then pedaled the last 20 km to Santa Clara. The town is a beautiful old colonial town with a huge park/main square. It reminds me a little of Delft, Netherlands in its layout. We are staying in the former Hilton, that was expropiated in the revolution. The beds are nice and Bob and I are used to the toilet not flushing. The shower is hot only and runs all night. There is a bucket for flushing though. Something really neat is the door opens leaving slots for ventilation. So we are getting a great cool breeze without air conditioning. Patricia hurt her foot a week ago, when she stepped on a nail. I am glad she got antibiotics here to take for it and saw a doctor yesterday. She is so sweet and mellow for someone whose foot was crucified. I enjoy having her and her daughter Anna on the trip. David and Pedro are super crankers and I can never keep up with them on the bike. It's nice to have Dave on the trip. Everybody seems to have a terrific sense of humor. We just got out of one of the most incredible ballets I have ever seen, from a Habana Ballet Company. The ballet is called "La Habana Valdes". I slept through the first act but the second act was incredible. A woman really loved one man but was forced to marry another. She tried to kill the man she was married to, but he takes the knife away and later kills the man she loves. Her lover dies slowly and very passionately. The entire ballet is cast with Spanish Classical Flamenco Music, with an Afro Cuban rhythm on top. The fight scene between the 2 male rivals is this incredible foot stomping duo flamenco style. A domino game happens with rhythms reminiscent of "Stomp". There is alot of humor and very colorful costumes like in a Brazilian Carnival scene. There is a tremendous scene of a streetsweeper dancing with her broom and 4 other men with canes, all stomping their feet in beautiful rhythms. There was also a bullfight scene that reminded me of "Carmen". Now its 11 PM and time for bed. I'm so excited by the ballet and all the others in the group have rustled off to bed, conking out around me.
