The Cuba Story, part 5, Waters

What was in this water? I used it for brushing my teeth so I hoped there was nothing funny in it. Squeaky. I would not drink it of course as we had bottled water in the room. They would bring a new water bottle every morning. Maybe the peso and the soap bar worked. Maybe they do this for every turista. My tip would not work on the tap water though. My hair was made famous by Wolverine of the X-Men. My tilley hat would coif it.

I counted my days. Only four days left. Maybe three and a half. Cary had reminded the group that our airport bus would leave at 7 am Friday morning. We would receive a courtesy wake up call at 5:45 am. As much as an adventurer I'd like to be, I was not about to get stuck in Cuba for sleeping in. So, Thursday, I would hit the sack early. There was not much time then. I had to plan out right. Tuesday was my snorkelling day. It would take a whole day. We would leave at 9am and return at 5pm. We would have lunch on the island. That would be sweet. That would be Tuesday. On Thursday would be my trip into the mountains. There would be waterfalls. That would be Thursday. The two excursions would cost me 83 pesos (43 for the island and 40 for the mountain). Wednesday would be a rest day. From my hiking up the Chief in Squamish, north of Vancouver, I knew I needed a lot of energy. I needed to rest my leg muscles. Wednesday was my rest day. Today, I would hike around and possibly bike too.

I set out to do some hiking outside the resort. I started out at the north-east end of the resort. I could follow the beach but I wanted to go into the forest area. There was a path in the bush on higher grounds. I was all ready. SPF 45 on my arms and legs. My tilley hat. Water in the backpack. My D80 swinging on my side. I had stored away the lens cover so the camera was on ready mode. A bird of tropics would not escape me. I can swing the camera forward and turn it on at the same time. It would be ready in 0.18 seconds. The backpack felt heavy as I had stowed the nearly 1kg Tokina lens in it in addition to at least a liter of water. Thirty meters into my hike, some Spanish local jumped in front of me. I stopped in my track. He said something. I frowned. What did he want? He said something else. I shook my head, "I don't understand, me no comprehende". What did I just say to him? Comprehende? I hoped it was Spanish but really had no idea. One of those expressions I should have learned before the trip. He tried some English. "Dangerous," pointing down the path. "Steal, camera, bag," as he was trying to explain. A mix of English and Spanish, he explained further some thieves stole something the other day on the beach. He felt my camera and touched my backpack. "Dangerous, no go, camera, steal," he repeated. Ok, I understood and nodded, "Ok, thank you." He ran back toward the beach. I turned around, 180, and walked back toward the resort. Maybe there was someone I could trust after all. He warned me of danger. Good samaritan?

Damn, danger outside the resort? Thugs here? How bad could it be? I had to rethink my strategy. There was a lot of sand. Would I manage an escape as knife point? I would not run very fast with my heavy gears. I was not going to go today. I walked around the resort this morning instead. I visited the marina. I walked a bit more. There was not much to see, a few interesting things to capture. I returned to the resort, exhausted from the hike. It was still a good hour of hiking around. I waited in the lobby for the lunch hall door to open at 12:30pm. I had two Kucola's in hand. The plastic cups they serve with are small, too small, so I started to order two of everything. Two Pina Colada, two Kucola, two Orange, two Water, two everything. Louis and Mark walked by. We had lunch together in the buffet restaurant.

My plan for the rest of the day was to bike around. Louis said I could find some bikes downstairs in the corridors. After lunch, we splitted. Mark and Louis went off one way. I went down to look for the bikes. No bikes anywhere. The heat was getting to me. I no longer felt like biking.

I dragged my feet to the 24/7 beach bar. I had wondered if it was really 24/7. Would there be a bartender working the bar at 5am in the morning? I would never know. I never saw the nocturnal bartender. Beach bar. Odd name I also thought. It was not facing the beach. You can hear the sound of the waves from the bar but it was forty meters from the first line of sand of the beach. In fact, there was grass, coconut trees, and a giant square hut between the bar and the beach. Why call it beach bar I wondered? It was confusing, but how else call it? It was closer to the beach than the other bar by the lobby. I guess that was what it was. You want a plastic cup of Piña Colada? You would trot over the hot sand onto the wooden planks or into the hut to get to the beach bar.

Mark was already there by himself this morning. He was in his calm self. Just sitting under the shade of the beach bar. I ordered myself a plastic cup of Piña Colada and picked a chair and faced the beach. I pulled out some camera gears from my AACRO backpack. Everything felt heavy, especially my Tokina 80-400mm lens. I taught Mark some facts in photography, about shutter speed, about aperture, about the difference between a compact camera vs. a digital SLR. I would later learned his brother Ken is an avid photographer himself. Great, another enthusiast I could share my photos with. Mark was glued onto my D80. He held it up, felt the grip, pierced through the viewfinder. He held it up again. Wanted to take some shots. He was sold. The D80 is a marvel of technology. He wanted one, maybe not the D80 but a DSLR. Where was Louis I wondered. I downed the Piña Colada slowly. It cooled me right down. I returned to the beach bar for two more Piña Coladas. I should have brought an extra large cup with me.

A woman strolled by us. Was that not Susana, Mark enquired with me. What did he ask me for? I drew a blank. I had no idea. Susana would be the woman with the daughter I first met the previous night. There was no introduction so I did not remember her face. It was dark. She had sunglasses on as well. Susana is from Toronto, in the fashion belt business. Was it Susana? She walked by our table. No head turn. No hi. No hand gesture. Just walked by. Maybe she did not see us. Maybe she did not recognize us. How long has Mark known Susana anyway, I thought? Mark was so sure it was Susana. Same sunglasses. Same hairdo. He was so sure. Where was the daughter if it was her? I could not be here then. What was the daughter's name again? I had no idea. I could not remember.

She passed by us and picked a table on the edge of the giant hut, by the sands. Mark suggested we walked by her down to the beach and if it was Susana, she would call us over. He was curious. I just wanted to rest. Fine, we walked by her and down to the beach. We picked our beach lounge chairs and sat down. It was not Susana. Mark was still intrigued. No, it was not Susana, I repeated to Mark. He was so sure though. But, he had called her name as we walked by. No answer. She looked exactly like Susana though. It was not Susana, I repeated once again to Mark. Mark decided to verify.

I sat alone on the beach lounge chair, feeling unnaturally hot in some parts of my body. My upper chest and lower abdomen felt hot. My upper back too. Hot. Whatever they were, I did not mind. I was relaxing on a lounge chair in Cuba. Moments later, Louis showed up with Mark. It was Susana, after all.

Mark brought down with him a wooden box. The box was designed to you can see the inside of it. It looked like a miniature crate. It was just big enough to fit a peso bill in it. He introduced me to the box. I lost three pesos. It costed him six pesos for the box and gained three back from me. Fine, it was a good trick. He could keep my three pesos. I still could not figure out the trick. My computer science mind told me the solution was to be simple and obvious, after you have found found the solution. Think outside the box, I told myself. There is no magic. Magic is an illusion. Magic is a trick. After an hour, I was puzzled. I was not thinking outside of the box, obviously. I did not want to play with money that way so it stopped there, but I liked the trick.

There were talks that Susana wanted to visit Cienfuegos. There were five people going but a friend had advised not to go to Cienfuegos. It would be a waste of a trip so it did not want to join. I had my excursion to the island already. I would not go to Cienfuegos but I would try to sell them that island idea. I thought the island would be a perfect trip. Clearer water. Iguanas I heard would be all around the island. Real coral reefs with possibly fish. A paradise to discover.

The afternoon sun was getting weaker as it descends lower in the sky. Louis marched down to the water, did some stretching the way Bruce Lee might, and let out a big yelp. He was ready to wade into the water. Mark joined him minutes later. I refused to go in the water until I have solved this magic box. After a while, Louis yelled over the roar of the waves. "Think diagonal". I see. Puzzle solved. I walked down into the water and stowed away my eyeglasses in the white plastic case, and the plastic case in the ClearNET phone case. I clipped it to my swimming trunk. I knew I had to place it inside the trunk, not outside. I would correct the mistake when I started to swim. I dove into the water.

The water was as warm as it was on Sunday. It was so soothing. I was floating like a fish. "We have to do something," I said, hinting at swimming somewhere. I saw a buoy in the far distance, maybe 50 meters from shore. I knew the slope was very steep. Ten meters out and the water level was already up to your neck, unlike the other beach I was at a day ago. We all swam out. Mark had no problem floating in the sea water I thought. Louis seemed like an expert swimmer. I needed exercise. It was fun. Louis freestyled to the buoy first. It was easy. I breast-stroked over, keeping my head out of the water. Mark followed suit. We hung around the buoy for a few minutes. Lifeguards looked a little agitated on shore. They started walking down the beach but soon returned to their post. I was hanging by the buoy when something hit me. I was constantly fighting against the current even when hanging on the buoy. I was getting really tired. The longer I stayed there the less energy I would have to return. I have not swam this long in ages. I better get back to shore immediately. The shore was 50 meters away. There was a pier only 20 meters away. Without hesitation, I made my way to the pier, and alerted Louis regarding my condition. He understood. "Are you ok, Do Anh?" He asked couple of times. I knew I was ok but my energy was very low. I tried to recoup by laying on my back. The waves would not let me rest though and I hate water splashing into my nostril and eyes. I decided to breast-stroke back. I knew the water would sting my eyes so I kept my head up. Energy very low. Gotta keep on going. Water is deep. In a brief second of eternity, I opened my mouth and accidentally gulped a mouthful. My goodness it was salty! How can it be this salty. Way more salty than the salt water I use for gurgling. A nasty salty after taste lingered in my mouth and throat. My gosh. It was salty! How can anyone drown in this salty water. Maybe I would be the first. Push, push, Do Anh. Forget that gulp of water. A few more strokes and you'd reach the pier. Another call from Louis to make sure I was alright. I raised my thumb as I reached the pier. My energy was too low to talk. So there I rested and regrouped.

"Hey Louis, I dropped my eyeglasses!" I called out to Louis. I felt my swimming trunk and confirmed it. I did drop my eyeglasses! I forgot to reposition the ClearNET phone case.

I lost my eyeglasses. That was the end of my vacation. How could this be? I was still only three days into my vacation and I lost my glasses! Stupid glasses. Why did I bring them into the water with me in the first place? I thought I might need them if I were not swimming. I was swimming through. I did not need them. I could not use them!

Louis swam back to shore looking for Ken. Ken had a pair of goggles but was not on the beach. I breast-stroked my way back to shore. I looked around, hoping my case would have been carried to the shore by the waves. No where here. No where there. I walked up the beach. Oh well, I told myself. Shit happens. I would have to make the most of my vacation somehow. I would figure a way out. It sucks, but I will figure something out. On a positive note, the Cuban customs would not have problems identifying me with my passport. No glasses. No problem.

Just when I was going to wrap up the day, Louis came over and said he would find my glasses if I could find a pair of goggles for him. Was he kidding? He explained he used to scuba dive. Searching for things at the bottom of the sea was nothing new to him just as long as the was daylight. The Cuban sun would not wait on me. It threatened to close its curtain every passing minute. I started scouring the beach for a pair of goggles. No, this couple was sunbathing. They had nothing around them. I walked further down. Some security guards stood talking among themselves. I came over and asked. No English. They pointed me towards the resort. Ok, thanks. Just meters down on the beach, I then ran into another couple sunbathing. I tried my luck. The guy had his eyes close but then looked up and re-iterated my question as if making sure he heard me right. Who would borrow someone else's goggles, he probably thought. He had an English accent. A little like Simon Cowell in fact. A little like Tony. Interesting. Maybe it was the Irish newlywed. Could they be?

I walked back and handed over the snorkelling gears to Louis. He hastily descended into the sea. I stood and walked around the lower depths searching for my white case. Back and forth, back and forth. Seven minutes later, Louis emerged from the lower depths. The snorkelling gears still on his face. My ClearNET case in his hand. My new best amigo. I did not know how to repay for his kind generosity to volunteer his help. We had talked about going into town for a lobster dinner on Tuesday earlier. That would be my thanks to Louis. I returned the snorkelling gears to the couple on the beach. "Mission complete," the fellow English/Irish said. He really sounded like Irish, just like Tony. I wondered if it were not those two newlyweds I just met yester night.

The day came to a close with a lobster dinner that Ken had arranged. Ken had connections. Louis had given my room number to Ken for reservation. There were supposed to be six of us at dinner. Only three showed up. Ken, Susana and her daughter, Carolina, were absent. Ken strolled in later but could not stay. Louis then left for Trinidad. Mark hung around. I went to check on the bikes again. No bikes of course, but there was ai information desk. The sitting staff was absent. Two Spanish-speaking guys were playing ping pong in front of the desk. Maybe they knew something. I asked the closest guy, in English. No comprehende. Probably a local Cuban working here? Odd. He referred me to his opponent. He spoke some English. "All bikes broken. Tomorrow, company come to fix. Warranty." That was clear. What a disapointment.

It was a rather short day. I visited the banco to exchange another $100CAD for 88 pesos. I was then about to retreat to my room when I ran into Susana. She wanted to know the name of the Iguana Island. I did not know myself. I just knew there were Iguanas on it. As some people were waiting on her to go somewhere, we hopped quickly to our tour rep's desk in the lobby and checked out her excursion binder. The island was called "Iguana Island". Duh. She left. Maybe she was sold on the idea. I retreated to my room.

Tuesday was going to be a heavy day, full of activities. I needed to hit the sack early. The A/C was on. It felt very relaxing. I used only half of the king size bed. I still needed the towel on the pillow. There was a funny smell about it. I did not know what it was. Everyday, I would place a new towel to sleep on.