Back to business

Had a great dinner with my brother Lukas and his wife Amy last night. It only just occurred to me as I was leaving that I now have a new sister, how exciting! I still won't have a sister that I'm related to by blood though (because you're adopted Gini).

Feeling substantially better today, as I was well aware yesterday that the negative thoughts were due to being tired. I have decided that I'll keep my opinions off this site from now on, someone mentioned that I need to avoid having a 'holier than thou' attitude, and I realised that venting my frustrations in the form of an ideological rant might come across as though I think I'm some sort of Ghandi character, void of the same greeds and vanities as everyone else. Once again I forget that when many people read this site they take me quite seriously and think I would say these sorts of things in a conversation, this isn't a conversation, just a ramble in my head which changes from day to day.

Funnily enough I don't have the same gut wrenching desire to get in the gym and haul some metal around that I used to have, although a few good bone snapping sessions will get the endorphin addiction back to full throttle in no time I'm sure.

Lucas is off to an interview with a recruitment agency this afternoon and I'm heading to Oxford for the weekend to catch up with a friend we met in South America, and then I'll get the bus to Bury St Edmunds on Monday morning. Bank Account, NHS number, NIS number, Social Security office, gym and job hunting is my list of high priorities when I arrive in Bury - as well as having a great time with the family on their summer holidays. We have ourselves a little collection of Latin American music that brings a tear to my eye every time I hear them. Our aeroplane yesterday had a Latin American music channel that we remained glued to for the duration of the flight, and as we touched down our favourite song from the whole trip came on...

Volverte a ver

Es lo que quiero hacer

Volverte a ver

(something) puedo reponer

Porque sin ti

Mi vida no yo soy feliz

Porque sin ti

Mi vida no tiene raiz

Basically translates as - I'm coming back to see you. And we will be back in South America.

I've also re-allowed the comment feature if anyone wants to send me some more hate mail, just no bad language please or I'll have to silence to dissidents again.

Poms and first test victory

Well done aussies with a resounding 1st Test victory, certainly setting the tone for another comprehensive thrashing this English summer.

Arrived in London early this morning after a solid 24 hours of transit, including sitting at the train station at Heathrow for four hours waiting for Lucas to get his package from the cargo area. Sitting huddled in a corner amongst bags and my rags trying to keep warm playing my guitar while the expensively dressed passengers power walked past me, with the occasional disdainful glance downwards like I was beggar really made me crave South America again. There isn't much that isn't making me crave it. I long to be surrounded by people who can't afford to live expensive lifestyles and sleeping at bus stations and stealing scraps off other peoples plates is a norm rather than something to be looked down upon. It feels like the harder you have it in the poorer countries the more sympathy and smiles you get, whereas around here you'd better keep your aesthetically displeasing poverty out of everyones view so they can live their sterile lives and not feel uneasy or nervous as they walk past a vagrant - ooh he might mug you!. God I'm ranting again.

Not really sure what else there is to say about it. I don't have a problem with people earning moderate incomes for comfortable lives in a Western world. It's just the excess that is really stinging me at the moment, these people are no more deserving of a soft bed and clear picture on their TV than a struggling bolivian coca farmer. So why do they end up having more? And then their attitude towards the poor is the worst, I suppose England (or modern society) was founded on a class system and people who have the riches feel more like the noble class while the poorer 'service' classes should be kept away from the rich otherwise it will highlight to them their own excesses. Is that why we have expensive suburbs? Keep the rich together so they don't get guilted into sharing with one another? I can see the irony of me spending in excess of $10,000 on a trip around South America and complaining about the fatcats. But I hope that what I've been made to feel will make a difference on how I approach my life from now on, not walk the path of wealth creation that we've been designed to walk.

I'm just feeling tired and hateful and I want to go back to South America.

Land of the Greed

Wasn't planning on writing another post for a little while. But I felt compelled to document the Miami leg for future reference. What I see and hear confirms every stereotype about North American waste, excess, gluttony and superfluosity (is that a word? you know what I mean though). At the same time it also feel like I'm talking to movie stars all the time, and it must feel this way for many travellers in the US, the accents, particularly in the south (Florida) are very distinctive and are not the kind of American accent you hear from other travellers (mostly from California or the North East) and I've only ever heard them on movies - which means they all seem like extras on a movie set to me. Although that probably is added to by the fact that everyone is dolled up beyond belief, the guys are all fresh out of the gym (in their designer gym clothes of course) and the women, after being in the gym are fresh out of the ubiquitous beauty salons. Don't get me wrong, good on them for going to the gym, I think its great, but the men are all HUGE and the women are anorexic with breast implants, it is an unhealthy extreme. It doesn't bother me watching them live like this, the excessive wealth and the myriad of ways to spend it on beautifying products, but it does bother me that this way of life is creeping into other parts of the world. It really would be a sad day when we take such efforts to make ourselves seem beautiful. It reminds me of a Bolivian saying that I feel a little indifferent about -"There is no such thing as an ugly woman, just a woman who hasn't dressed herself up nicely". You could go two ways in interpreting that and I swing between the two...a) All women are beautiful or b) A woman needs to wear nice clothes and makeup to be beautiful. So I'm not quite sure what to make of it.

I popped into a book store in San Jose to read a Florida lonely planet and it refers to doing 'people watching' because they are all so beautiful. I have only two things to say about that, the only beautiful ones are the Cubans and South Americans who have emigrated here - b) the rest are barbie dolls that don't have that natural beauty in their faces that the Latin and Latin cross carribean people have, all without the expensive clothes and makeup, in fact, I have probably already mentioned that Cubans are without a doubt the most attractive people on the planet. I suppose because this is read by some people I should point that I know it is just my opinion and beauty is subjective blah blah blah. Oh and the other things that annoys me about the contrived beauty of this place in comparison to Latin America, is that when these Americans finally achieve the beauty they have strived for, they feel it necessary to suddenly adopt the beautiful person attitude. Some of the friendliest people we have met on this trip have been the most beautiful I have ever seem, maybe because all the beauty is so natural they don't feel the need to suddenly upgrade themselves to 'beautiful status'. Who knows, different cultures I guess. Gee I said 'beauty' a lot in this post. Maybe that's part of what I'm missing already, and the Spanish, I am craving talking Spanish to people, there's plenty of it here but English is the first language people use with me.

Anyway, I'm a bit bored with Miami already, all they have are expensive 'exclusive' night clubs with Limos driving around with their logos on them. Even if I had the money I would rather poke myself in the eyeball than sit around listening to drunk obnoxious Americans. Again, it's not Americans in general that bother me (the San Franciscans and North Easterners we met in South America were great), it's these conservative greedy Floridians and the tourists that choose this place as a destination that are make me want to burn this State to the ground and populate it with Guatemalans. Anyway, enough ranting, I'm going to put my blinkers on and go for a swim (will try and avoid the oil slick I got caught in yesterday).

The Last Post....

...from Latin America. I have a feeling this could be a long-ish one.

This is it, the last day in Latin America and unfortunately there is very little 'Latin' about San Jose, Costa Rica. Without a doubt it's the 73th State in the US. I'd been giving lots of thought about this last post and really wanted to write something that I could read back on the in the future and be thrown headlong back into the huge mix of emotions I am feeling and have felt along the way. It wasn't really until I was writing in my diary the other day that I realised the most important part of this trip that has been consistently present but I haven't mentioned much really (not talking about my bowels again). But I'll get to that. Firstly I'll give a quick update of the last few days and remember some highlights.

Not a hugely eventful few days in Honduras. After seeing the Copan ruins we found a base in Tegucigalpa for several nights, and after night two we found ourselves being the barmen for the hostel, the owner said we could drink the beer for free, but we were very restrained and only had a couple. Lucas had his credit card stolen in Guatemala City, and within one hour of it being stolen had cancelled it, not before they managed to scythe $2,100 from his account, which he'll get back from the bank thankfully. We got the 7am bus from Tegucigalpa straight through Nicaragua yesterday (with a quick stop to dash to an ATM for border fees) and arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica around midnight last night, once again to the backdrop of McDonalds, Donut King and transvestites. It has been a little disheartening to arrive at a hostel full of rich american and british backpackers in their fancy clothes who are having a summer holiday in Costa Rica, we feel far more at home with the bleary eyed cynical backpackers in tatters eating SPAM for dinner. So we are now contemplating how we will celebrate our last night in Latin America, lets hope it becomes a post-able event.

A brief rundown of my personal highlights of the trip include:

Brazil: Rio de Janeiro in general, magical city. Body surfing the most perfect waves at 4am on Copocabana beach then getting chased by transvestites.
Argentina: Argentinian carnival in Gualeguaychu, swimming near an elephant seal in Puerto Madryn.
Chile: Nearly dying in Torres del Paine, plus the escape on the final day. The lava in Volcan Villarica, Pucon.
Bolivia: The whole country, including Salar de Uyuni, Potosi Mine, Worlds Most Dangerous Road and Huayna Potosi (an all time life highlight). Plus meeting George and Aska - see you guys soon!
Peru: The alternative Inca trail, crazy Cusco, chilling out in Mancora, the Amazon jungle, the boat trips down the Amazon.
Colombia: The cargo plane flight from Leticia to Bogota
Cuba: The food at Odali's little house in Maguana, riding bikes in the midday heat, watching the incredible Cuban people dance and have fun.
Guatemala: San Pedro la Laguna and our family, the sweetest kindest people on earth.

Before I go into my final summation I just wanted to say a couple of things about Latin America from my perspective. I've found myself addicted to the Latin American love songs, some are a little corny but each one almost brings me to tears when I remember the people and places that each one conjures up in my memory. I think I have completely fallen in love with South America. If you want efficiency, good service, hygiene, logic, security and comfort then it probably isn't the best place to visit. But if you want to feel the energy and passion of Latin America, test your limits and see some of the most incredible natural wonders, learn a new language and be part of a different way of life, all to the backdrop of the world's most beautiful people (in my opinion) then you'll love it as much as I do. That sounds a bit 'travel guide' but it's true.

Something important occurred to me as the melancholy grows the closer we come to the end of this trip. I'll certainly crave to be back here in the future, but that's not what I feel sad about, I can always come back. The most amazing part of the trip has been the fact that Lucas and I have done it together. Every step of the way we have pushed each other to go that bit further and get out of our comfort zones, riding each others highs and supporting the lows. Having seen so many other people who have travelled together through South America end up getting fed up with one another and travelling alone we have realised just how lucky we have been. Every experience and every thought has been shared and discussed. We have been an indominatible team always pushing to achieve what others say it crazy or impossible. Learning so much about each other has taught us so much about ourselves. Seeing each other for 23.5 hours every day can be a test on any friendship, but it has only made this one stronger through the shared experiences of a liftetime. But for the time being anyway this unstoppable partnership will draw to a close as we go our separate ways for a while in the UK. That is the part I will miss the most, waking up (or being woken up) and saying 'Righto Lucas, what are we doing today' or vice versa. So my final words from Latin America will be...

Thanks Lucas, I couldn't have done it without you, and if I had it wouldn't have been anywhere near as unbelievable.

Honduras and tales from the toilet (Honduras pics)

As we draw near to the end (I say it again) I think it important to recognise an enduring and unforgettable element of this trip. Visits to the bathroom and associated dramas. If you suffer from high blood pressure or heart conditions then I suggest you stop reading now....

Worst toilet: Boat from Iquitos to Leticia - ankle deep in terrible smelling brownish water, a rusting, stained toilet in a dark cupboard that doubles as a shower, you count yourself lucky to exit cleaner than you entered (nozzle above the toilet). No seat of course, haven't encountered many of those.

Longest run of dysentry: At the moment it runs (literally) from day one in Bolivia (start of April) until when we left Colombia (4 June). Funnily enough our diet in Cuba consisted of roadside fly blown cheese pizzas and ice-cream, but almost never had any bowel trouble. But since departing Cuba, the dystentry has returned with a vengeance, yet to be curbed.

Worst toilet experience: First day in Bolivia - made it to a hotel that had the best acoustics imaginable, with the toilet placed in centre stage. I must have entertained half the town with my amplified explosive diahrrea.

Nearest miss: Yesterday - power walking through the streets of Tegucigalpa (lost) trying to get back to our hostel before I exploded.

After our effort to get here (read Lucas's post) we've found ourselves a nice little hostal in Tegucigalpa called the Tobacco Road Inn, run by a US-expat called Tom. Tegucigalpa is much like any other big city in Central America, very similar to Australia in it's North Americanisms, except everyone carries giant pump action shot guns.... Lots of McDonalds, Burger Kings, advertising and all that. I can only presume that the proximity to the US (and history of US intervention in internal struggles) has meant that Central America is more North Americanised than South America. Anyway - valuable minutes remain in Latin America, actually the closer we get to leaving, the closer my planned return features in my future.

Found an interesting article as I start to delve into the China plan...

http://www.globalpolicy.org/empire/analysis/2005/0126ciareport.htm

Can I smell Dunkin Donuts, or is the rival - DK'D Donuts? Either way, I smell a donut.....

On the move (almost) and some pics

Today was the last day of my Spanish course, so to anyone who is thinking of travelling through Central America - go to San Pedro la Laguna, learn spanish at Emmanuel Spanish School and with the Ramirez-Gonzalez family (Francisca y Felix). The course was great, and the family was even better - some of the nicest people I have ever met. Generosity really carries so much more value when it makes up a large portion of what someone has to offer. I would like to say something about how we are far less generous in the west than the people scraping a living in much of Latin America. But the truth is that this has been one of the few occasions that we have been shown true generosity and nothing has been asked from us in return. Tonight after she cooks us dinner, the mum (Señora Francisca) is taking us shopping to get the best deal on some traditional Guatemalan material that all the women wear as skirts, and some men as shirts and trousers. Afterwards, we're all going to sit down and watch their TV to see the guy who apparently looks like Lucas. Last night we sat around and played songs on our guitars for them and they sang Guatemalan songs for us. But we are off early tomorrow morning, via Guatemala city, to the Copan ruins on the border of Guatemala and Honduras.

Once again I will have to bore any readers with my ramblings on the contents of my head as the finishing line for the Latin America journey draws ever closer. One side of me is filled with excitment about seeing my wonderful cousins and grandmother again, yet the other is dwelling upon the other apsects of my life that will need to change in order to establish a semblance of a life in Inglaterra. I suppose I have some reservations or even fear about re-entering the world of social ettiquette, obligation, responsibility and related elements of 'normal' life. We have had no responsibility or obligation to anyone or anything (except each other to some extent) for the past 6 months, and am a little hesistant to be going back to a life of complicated relationships and histories. I am so used to paying for everything, ie. nothing is free, that the idea of asking someone for a favour feels like I will suddenly be deeply indebted to them, almost a relinquishment of some independence. I also think that this feeling has been compounded by our two weeks in this little pueblo. The life here is so simple and the relationships seem simple too, people have very little to gain or lose from cut throat entreprenuership or getting drunk at 9am on a Tuesday, and as a result they are so incredibly lovely to one another, not once on this trip have I felt as safe, comfortable and accepted as this town. I suppose the only times I have felt twangs of horror have been the nights we wandered past the rabid murmurings of a church full of evangelical christians talking in tongues - conjuring up images from 'Zombies' or 'The Excorcist' - it really freaked me out, people en masse losing control of their actions, regardless of whether it is supposed to be into the hands of a benevolent God (didn't he order some crusades or something??) is something that makes my skin crawl. But I digress. That was a couple of moments of discomfort during two weeks of otherwise relaxed bliss.

However, to avoid past errors of not explaining myself enough, this is only part of my head thinking, the other half - which I think still belongs to Canberra and before - is screaming 'gym', 'MILK', 'money INTO the bank account' and other such homely and workly pleasures (I must find a way to encourage money into the bank account in the absence of work).

So on our last night in San Pedro, I say 'thanks u lus (Mayan dialect for San Pedro) and everyone here who has made the place so great'. See you in a couple of years.

Spanish course and travel reflection

I have suprised myself and been fairly quiet on the topic of health and fitness (that's not to say any of you should be slacking off!!). It has been in the back of my mind sometimes, but with a return to the 'real world' looming, my mind has brought the gym to the forefront again - and I am chomping at the bit to finally put all my theories of diet and exercise into practice on a totally untrained subject - me!

After just over 5 months of living on the road we are winding up the last days of the grand adventure in this quiet little town San Pedro, doing a Spanish course in an effort to unlock the stores of spanish in our heads we have heard but not entirely understood, and reflecting on the experiences, people and lessons that we encountered during our travels. Maybe it is part of my tendency to never throw anything out that gives me the urge to document every moment of this trip, from the most mundane of topics, such as public transport in each country to....other mundane topics, such as the brand of beer in each country. I want to make lists and categories, draw pictures of the people and mountains, and write essays on every aspect of everything we've seen. Sometimes I'll lie awake and relive every day of the last 5 months, laughing to myself, feeling 'homesick' for places like Buenos Aires and Bolivia.

Apart from our little town here, we haven't really 'done' Central America, which I am glad about, as it gives me all the more reason to indulge myself and return here (and why not South America too hey? it's close enough!).

I wonder sometimes, as we discuss our next and possibly greatest adventure through Asia (currently planned as an overland trip from the UK to Indonesia), whether the incredible time I've had is due more to general travel experiences of meeting new people and places every day or the charm and wonder of South America? I think both and I'm sure that Asia will be equally as breath taking. For the moment however, and it is probably clear to everyone, we are a bit travel weary. Seeing spectacular mountains, villagers in traditional Mayan dress and steaming volcanoes has, to an extent, become the norm. And as Lucas mentioned in his post, McDonalds, mobile phones, road rules, air-con and toilet paper have become foreign objects to us. It is time to re-enter the society that we fled and once again appreciate the simplicities, complexities and beauty of Latin America.

San Pedro del Lago - Lago Atitlan - Guatemala

After 5 days in San Pedro del Lago, we have decided to enrol in a Spanish course for the next 7 seven, which includes living with a Guatemalan family for the next 6 nights. We had considered doing a 6 day diving course in the Bay Islands of Honduras, apparently the cheapest advanced dive course in the world with some incredible diving, but the lack of monetary resources has meant we will take the cheaper and probably more productive option of consolidating all the Spanish we have learnt over the past 5 months.

This town is probably the Central American equivalent to Byron Bay - eco lodges, fire twirlers and meditation centres around every corner attracts a very alternative type of traveller, some visit on day trips, others get stuck here for months. And there is a bank and internet so there is no reason to leave this tranquil little town on the edge of Lago Atitlán.

Tragically we have lost all the photos from before the Huayna Potosí mountain climb in Bolivia. Obviously we still have the poorer quality images that we uploaded into the gallery, but those photos are about half of what we had/have. So it looks like we won't be able to develop any of the photos pre-Huayna Potosí, we also just found out that the CD we burnt with all the Cuban pics has also not worked, so we've lost all the high quality pics from Cuba. A fairly deflating experience after imagining reliving the experiences through the photos, but what can we do I suppose?

Time for a coffee and then some scrabble or chess until the free movie starts at 7:30 (every night). I hope everyone is going well and the Canberrans aren't freezing to death. I am vaguely entertaining the thought of a return to Canberra one day. Having done a little reading on the Chinese economy I'm fancying getting involved in the economic development in China, which would require some more study while getting experience in a DFAT related area, probably best infiltrated via the DFAT AAU in Dept of Finance. Anyway - it's an option I'm entertaining at the moment, along with retiring and becoming a self-sufficient farmer, so who knows....

Soccerdog and the Mexican Spew Bus

It was without an ounce of anxiousness that we boarded our bus from Cancun to Ciudad Cuahutemoc on the border with Guatemala, the bus was clean and comfortable and air conditioning was on a bit high (which I was prepared for as always by wearing just a singlet and sandals). This was to be an overnight bus, which we would connect to another bus the following morning to our current location - Lago Atitlan. Apart from being freezing cold the whole night and wrapping myself in Lucas's raincoat (suprisingly effective) the night time leg wasn't too bad. When the bus stopped for breakfast we suddenly realised this trip was going to take longer than we had thought, as after 12 hours on the road we were barely half way, this is when the wailing begain.....

Two young boys decided to commence crying in the most unimaginable tones in some sort of tag team timing, for the remainder of the bus trip. I think the wailing could partly be attributable to their parents throwing up all over them, much like the rest of bus was doing in their laps and on the floor as we wound through the mexican mountain range, it could have been the strong smell of urine from the toilet we were seated next to that covered the smell of vomit. And if it wasn't the winding road that caused people to revisit their breakfast it was certainly the movie 'Soccerdog' that induced boughts of uncontrollable nausea. Quite possibly the worst movie ever, with a title that typifies the lack of effort put in by everyone involved in the production. Aaaanyway, we finally arrived at the border and a car, tuk tuk and several offices later we were in Guatemala with a 4 hour wait until our 11pm bus to Huehuetengo (where we hoped to get a connection to Panajachel (on the lake). During our wait an enormous storm crashed through, with lightening strikes that looked like the enitre sky had been cracked like an peice of glass and a bright light was shining through from behind.

After finally boarding our bus we were alloted our seats - plastic chairs in the middle of the aisle, 2 hours and a police raid (looking for a fugitive - not me this time) later, we arrived in Huehue and settled in for 4 hour wait until the first bus to Pana. Of course nobody knew when that bus would be leaving so we entertained ourselves with our guitars and talking to drunk Guatemalans after their night on the tiles (or were we entertaining them?). Hearing the call for our destination two minutes before our bus left we disentangled ourselves from our hammocks (now trusty blankets) and leapt aboard. Three hours of half sleep half wake as we passed through the incredible Guatemalan highlands before being dumped (bus still moving as we extracate our gear from underneath) on the side of the road and instructed to get into another bus that was just pulling off - apparently bound for Panajachel. When this bus finally stopped and told us to get out we imagined this nice little town on the lake was Pana and we started to walk towards the lake in order to catch the boat across to San Pedro (our ultimate goal). Luckily a kindly truck driver told us Pana was still another 8km and so we leapt into the back of a ute and finally arrived in Panajachel after 37 hours on the road (our next to last destination - boat ride to come). No internet in San Pedro, so again last contact for a few days as we explore the lake and climb the surrounding volcanoes. I think the scenery in Guatemala is close to the best I have ever seen with regards to green mountains and houses perched on the ends of ridges with a misty pool filling the valleys below.

Leaving Cancun

Well we've been hitting the net pretty hard over the last couple of days, partially due to the large amount of emailing to be done and also getting to check out the new comments. But that exciting phase has drawn to a close as we count down the last couple of hours before we jump onto an overnight bus to Ciudad Cuahutemuco - on the border with Guatemala - for some reason you can't catch a bus directly through to Guatemala or Belize, but have to catch a bus to a border town then get a new ticket for your destination in the next country.

There would be plenty of things we could see and do in Mexico before heading south but it wouldn't be doing the place justice to skip through a couple of towns, I think Mexico will need to be part of South/Central America Mach II.

Cancun has been a taste from home for a couple days, and despite my socialist rant earlier we have enjoyed a couple of the luxuries such as air conditioning in shops and tasty mexican food, but we are bored again now as Cancun is really just the Gold Coast with ordinary beaches, plus thousands of drunk american kids (not exaggerating).

I also wanted to list a couple more of my observations from Cuba before I forget them, hopefully these are fairly benign and won't induce the wrath of too many people.

- Instead of calling out to each other something like 'oi' to grab your attention, Cubans say 'pssst' - as loudly as is necessary if you are a good 100m away. I'm told this is a trick learnt from the Soviet Secret Police.
- Most of the builings we saw in Havana were still in the colonial style with beautiful pillared buildings lining all the streets.
- When I went and visited some of the housing estates in the outer suburbs of Havana the exteriors of the buildings (like most of Cuba) were very delapidated, however upon entering the apartments they were nicely furnished and looked very comfortable. The inference I made was that due to the lack of a housing market the incentive to add value to the exterior of your house was practically non-existent whereas the interior of the dwelling provides you with more utility if it is nicely kept. Not something that I saw as a problem. As long as the exterior works, it's not important if it looks shabby.
- The vast majority of cars are those big old style cars you see from the 60's. I don't know what they are called, but they looked pretty cool.
- There is a dual currency system in Cuba. Convertible Pesos (roughly equal to a USD$) and the Cuban Peso (24 pesos per Convertible Peso). In general, luxury items that might be purchased by tourists or wealthy Cubans, such air conditioned buses, marginally more upmarket restaurants, taxis, hotels etc were charged in convertible pesos, whereas the essential living items, such as bread and beans and fruit are sold in Cuban pesos, at a signifantly cheaper price than products sold in Convertible pesos. A trap it seems most tourists fell into was to pay Convertivle pesos for products sold in Cuban Pesos, living and travelling is vastly cheaper if you can manage to work with Cuban pesos wherever possible.
- There is a strong barrier put up between Cubans and tourists. There are hotels for Cubans and hotels for tourists. Although I'm pretty sure anyone can stay in a Cas Particular. There is an expensive bus company that we were made to use (unless there was a truck running), and a cheaper less comfortable bus company for Cubans.

Anyway, that was some more of what we saw.