Paging…

So in case you haven’t heard, I came back from Cuba with a sinus infection. I hadn’t even get the mildest warm weather sniffles this trip until the last night there…

Jose-Angel and I took off in the rental car for one last trip into the city of Varadero before supper. The plan was to make a quick stop at an internet cafe, post a blog, and then return to Cardenas…

Well all the internet locations were closed when we arrived in town so we decided to grab a bag of fresh buns from my favorite bakery, two beers and head down to the beach…

Bad idea, it was very stormy and cold that night in Cuba and the wind was whipping around so much that our beer was full of sand, along with our eyes and the bread was inedible…

So we go back in the car, grabbed two more beers and Jose-Angel had this great idea to drive out of town and show me this pier that had massive waves crashing into it…

He drove up to the beach in our car that looked much like this one…

WHIIIIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! The car sunk deep down into the sand! He thought we were still on grass and our car was now laying on the beach right down to the chassis. We tried everything including lifting the car and couldn’t get it out. So we walked to the nearby home of an elderly man that gave us a pallet of wood and some blocks and suggested palm tree fronds… No Use… the car was stuck…

So we walked back to the highway (it is now pouring rain, very windy, I am wearing a tank top and shorts, and have sand in every single orifice of my body)… No one would stop for us… One guy did but he didn’t have a cable and he had a broken hand…

So we walked down the highway to the first hotel… Jose-Angel refused to let me call a tow truck because it would cost too much money ($50-$75 he guessed or more). I said I didn’t care, I just wanted to get off the beach but he insisted we keep trying. Well the phone at the hotel only took cards and the hotel was sold out of phone cards. We couldn’t even phone a tow truck if we wanted one..

Back to the highway we eventually found a chef at a restaurant that had a cable in the back of his 1952 rusted out Ford. This car was AWESOME! If you picture the car below, but yellow, rusted inside, a makeshift seat and an engine with incredible power this is what was about to save the day…

After hooking up the cable, one step on the gas, and our little car flew out of the sand! We didn’t get home until 11:00 pm that night, everyone was very worried but glad we were OK. I was just glad to be out of the rain and wind… And that is why I am now sick!

I leave you with a picture we took of me watching TV at Liuba’s parent’s house in Torriente…