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31 December 2002 -Varadaro to Cardenas ( 20 km) I got up as usual early at 7 AM to check things out. Varadaro beach is absolutely gorgeous with Azul blue water. It certainly ranks as one of the best beaches in the world. It is so nice to fly directly to Cuba with no customs agents to hassle us. The Canadian Customs agent told me to have a good time in Cuba. The swim in the ocean was heavenly. I had a little Chinese shrimp meal and then we all four pushed off with our bikes at 4PM towards Cardenas. We arrived at Cardenas at 6 PM and stated at a hotel frequented by prostitutes. (It was the only hotel in town.) On the way to Cardenas we saw the most beautiful old cemetery with graves going back to the 1800 hundreds. Some had beautiful statues of Jesus and of an angel on them. It reminded me of the statues you see in Berlin along the Spree River in the old part of town. After getting settled in the hotel , a man asked me if I was German and started speaking to me. So we had a very nice German conversation. He then called a horse coach and I and Ray got a tour of the town. Then after we got to the restaurant, where we were supposed to eat, the man who spoke German said that we owed him 10 dollars for the coach fare! I got really mad at this point, realizing that this Cuban pretending to be friendly, was just a drunk who wanted to be wined and dined for new years eve courtesy of I and Ray. We paid the guy 6 dollars and left, telling the coach driver and the hustler (jintero) that what they were doing was very wrong. Then the Cuban drunk jintero invited us to eat with him in the restaurant ! We left then and there and after 3 hours of walking around twice up and down the same street, we miraculously found our puta hotel again. It was an extra 6 km walk. We did find a nice Peso restaurant where Ray and I had a great huge meal for 4.25 in American money with the tip (92 Cuban Pesos). The only mistake was Ray said lo mismo (the same) once to the waitress and from then on everything that I ordered he got the same too. Finally he had to say 'solamente para El' (only for him). I really enjoyed my 6 plates of food. I had to stray from my vegetarian diet and ate fresh calves liver and loved it. You got to be flexible when you travel, otherwise you may starve. Upon returning to the hotel we met Bruce and Margaret. They wanted to hear our story about the evening outside in the park by the church in front of the hotel, about us being took by the jinteros. The instant we tried to tell it , six young boys surrounded Ray and I and were about to make off with his fanny pack where he kept all his valuables. We walked fast into the hotel ( a New York City style walk) and they followed us in! Iturned around and swore at them and then they went away after a minute of posturing. ( I do not normally swear at all.) The next morning we were up at 7 AM and out the door by 8 AM pedaling to Colon. It was the fastest we ever left a place the whole trip! A prostitute came by at 7 AM knocking on the door. We opened it, and she gave both Ray and I a big kiss. It was a nice way to start the new year. Nothing more happened. Feliz Ano Nuevo!
