Real Cuba
When you are in America, especially among her Spanish-speaking citizens, the conversation always sooner or later reaches Cuba (who will she remain indifferent to?) "Of course," older people tell me, "you, sovietics, have always stood for Castro, and you are probably a Communist "- add one with reproach, and others - with approval. I smile back, because I think at this moment it's not about Fidel.
Here is our room in Miramar: there are no windows in the window, instead of them - the likeness of wooden blinds .No hot water, but it's okay .But in the neighborhood live two Chileans - mother and son, real Indians from the Andes .Both have such a colorful look in their adapted to the tropics national costumes, as if descended from the theatrical stage .And the mother, who is under seventy, and the son who is over forty, with a glint in their eyes, are told that they are conducting a real revolutionary struggle in Chile, they are persecuted by the authorities, they are forced to hide in secret houses and hold secret meetings (this in ours, that time!) .I have before my eyes immediately the legendary "unleashed" Chilean singer Viktor Khara, who was cut off by brushes so that he would not play revolutionary music, and then tortured to death, and the seventy-third year - as if yesterday!
Here is a small apartment in the center of Havana in an old building, similar to a narrow anthill with a patio and internal stairs. Its owners are a professor of law who tomorrow flies to Caracas to read a course of lectures, and his old mother, wrapped in a knitted shawl, like a real Spanish lord. The professor brought me an apple - so as not to be sad at home. Apples are not the most popular fruit here and a wasteful purchase for a teaching salary.
Here is the "camel", a city bus called the "camel" - it goes from the far ends of the city to the center and back .Looks like no longer on a camel, but on a double-humped caterpillar, strongly smacks and replaces the subway in Havana, because, as they say, the city stands on granite rocks, and to build a subway did not turn out .We shake for over an hour on the road from Alamar (so to speak, "from Butovo") and the children are terribly bored ... the first fifteen minutes .At first they sing in chorus, then they sing in a different way, and immediately after that they start all over the bus and on the passengers play in the spots .We are like a rabid pioneer camp on wheels - but no one is bored, everyone laughs .
Typical Cuban office, working day .The female population sits in curlers under gas kerchiefs - it's not at all shameful .The main thing is to prepare for the evening out: in the city the next holiday is .Then all the young ladies will appear elegant and beautiful in the streets, and there will be dancing until the morning and real Cuban merriment! In this case, keep in mind that they, these same young ladies, are very careful at all .Previously, even there was such a fashion: to dress on the beach under the swimsuit the most elegant underwear, so that the edges could be seen - and everyone would understand which girl is scrupulous in terms of neatness .
And every evening thousands of such "builders-amateurs" gather on the construction sites to enter their "own" high-rise buildings in a few years.
Even the Cubans adore ice cream and film festivals. When these take place, watching five or six films a day is considered a great success! And - no policy!