Day 2 (afternoon)

Day 2 (afternoon)

On our walk around Old Havana, Austin wanted to step outside the tourist section, so we wonder into the adjacent streets (let me tell you, you do not have to walk far to see the REAL Cuba)

The first thing we encountered was two boys about 14 or 15 playing chess. They had taken a white board and colored it with a black magic marker. The board was positioned between their legs. They sat on wooden boxes. They did not have a complete chess set. Some pieces were bottle caps, other pieces from other board games. They invited Austin to sit down for a game….with a WIDE grin. Austin declined and we proceeded to see them play. IT was a fast game with a lot of trash talking…we watched for about 30 mins then it got serious and slow. The boys were about even in play. I gave them a couple of dollar coins for their effort.

Then we saw a man in his late 30’s or 40’s dragging a woman in her late 30’s by the hair. She was screaming “Policia, por favor, Policia !!” but the 20 or so neighbors watching this spectical did nothing. Austin was a little shaken. He asked me what should we do ? I said lets go down a block and get the police. But by the time we got one or two blocks the screaming had stopped. (Later on when we got home, Austin asked his mother what she would have done ? In a foreign country, there is not much one can do…even in this country you have to be careful.) A lesson learned by a 21 yr old college student.

Back to the hotel and the napping Americans. VAMOS !! Vamos muchachoes…

This time we caught a mini-van taxi with A/C and he took all 5 of us to the City of Sports…a complex a little further away with soccer fields and baseball fields, etc….we were able to enter this sports arena

On the court was the Cuban National Team playing against the Havana All Stars….another Home Run, by luck we had found this game….perfect for our purpose of the trip….we got to see a show….the Cuban national team was good…

Unfortunately the arena had NO A/C and the windows were closed….so it was very stuffy and hot…in addition there was no lighting, so when it started to rain outside it got really dark, we were having a hard time seeing the players…so sad….the other weird thing was that there were no spectators ??...this would have been awesome entertainment for 1,000’s of young Cubans..we left before we could ask any questions…

It was raining outside and no Taxi….dam…we walked out onto the street, but had no luck waving down a Taxi…I was laughing, but Austin was getting pissed….we finally found a man washing his car at a gas station that was more than happy to take us for $5…but he did NOT have a license so he had to drop us off a couple of blocks from the Plaza Viejas

Here is where we saw a couple of barefeet kids with no shirts playing volleyball using a chain link fence used for construction for a net. Austin was really impressed with their desire to play sports.