Ruminations of an Expatriate

Some 30 or so kilometers from Cienfuegos, up in the Escambray mountains, is water fall with a series of rather spectacular pools of clear, cool water, both above and below the falls. The falls, so we were told, are much wider and fuller during the Fall rainy season.

We had arranged through one of our hosts for Pedro to drive us to the cascada in his twenty eight year old Lada. Ladas are Russian made cars which resemble a 1970s Fiat. According to Pedro, a mechanic, during the 1970s Russia bought a Fiat factory. The Lada is the most common car in Cuba and are extolled by Cubans as “muy fuerte” and”muy economica”, strong and economical to operate.

Driving up the rather rough mountain road the motor of the Lada, which Pedro had overhauled last November, became a bit warm, so Pedro pulled over in front of the home of a campesino. There was a lean, muscular fellow in the front yard beating a pile of bean pods with a stick to remove the beans from the pods. Pedro asked for a bit of water which he dashed against the radiator and with which he topped off the reservoir. The campesino explained that he plants twenty kilos of bean seeds and harvests 200 kilos of the white with purple stripes beans. A young girl, the fellows granddaughter I assumed, sat on the porch and eyed us curiously during our visit.

The Lada having rested and cooled, we continued on our way. Pedro, a rather husky fellow, warmed up and became increasingly talkative during the trip and became down right gregarious during our time at the falls.

Pedro informed me, during the return trip, that if one needs to stop to urinate one indicates “I need to visit Miami ” and if one has a more serious bathroom need one indicates “I need to visit Chicago”. During the return trip we stopped at a gas station for refreshments and I told Pedro that I needed to visit Miami. He led me across the road and announced “Welcome to Miami, as he opened a gate leading into a pasture of grazing cows. He was quite amused, and we all wore out the needing to go to Miami/Chicago joke during the return trip.

Above the falls there was a grand vista through the mountains, including of these reservoirs below.

All-in-all it was another of those serendipitous travel experience.

Pedro can be seen in the photo below.