December 25, 2006
Pedro (a high school physics teacher who now works as a musician because he earns more money)
Hershey Station, Matanzas

I arrived at 10:30 at the Hershey Station in Matanzas on Christmas Day to catch a train that was supposed to leave at 12:30. The next train wasn’t until after 5 o’clock, and I was on my way to Havana.

The train had electricity problems all the way from Havana, so those of us diehards (I was the only non-Cuban) had to amuse ourselves all afternoon because they cancelled the 12:30 departure altogether — it would never make it to Havana and back before the next scheduled departure of 5:15. The train sat from about 2:00 until after 5:00 with no guarantees to anyone that it would actually run.

Such is life in Cuba, and many other countries where people depend on public transportation but can never count on it. It reminded me a lot of taking the train through Thailand.

I got out my iPod, which no-one had ever seen before, and played some music for people. Some requests:

"Beehees!"
Me: "Beehees…? Ahhhh, BeeGEES… I have Stayin’ Alive…"
"Boys 2 Men!"
Me: "What? Are you kidding me?"
"KC and the Sunshine Band!"
“Do you have Celine Dion?”
Me: “No way!!!”

Pedro was camera shy, so the only way I was able to get his picture was to flip the LCD screen so it was facing him and while he was distracted I pressed the shutter button.

Gotcha!

Technorati tags: Cuba, digital photography, black and white, portrait