As I made my way down to the village, this silver car and a very happy woman sat in the car with the door open. It seemed like a perfect photo op. Later we met her at the market. Her English was very good. Turns out her husband was the circuit doctor for local hotels. She told us a little bit about what life is like as a doctor's wife. While he doesn't get paid any more than other government salaried people, he was given a nicer home. I think he probably was given the car too, as a tool to do the driving he was required to do. In looking inside the car, it was no gem. Seat springs were barely contained by the seat coverings. The stick shift had a nut at its top to help the driver maintain his grip.
Today was market day in the village.Well every day is market day but the Saturday before Valentines Day is BIG!!! I'm not sure if most Saturday's are this energetic but wow. Everyone was stocking up. It's probably bigger than Christmas in Canada or Thanksgiving in the US. We saw countless cakes carried, uncovered, supported by only a piece of cardboard. Two such cakes got to ride with the driver of one of the horse and carriages. It jiggled like it was made of Jello.
Everybody was happy. Everybody but the lady on the bus. Two kids were carrying one handle each of a reusable grocery bag. The bag's contents squirming to get free - the live chicken somehow knew that it would be tomorrow night's supper. As for the market, they had lots of tomatoes, dried beans,rice and bananas (or plantains). I wonder what would normally be sold from the booth that was locked up tight.
Isn't every holiday worth a haircut? It seemed that on every third front porch was some kind of a barber's chair. This day, they were all in use. I bet every man in Chivirico had a haircut that day.
At the end of our walk about, we had the opportunity to visit the local cinema. Cuban and international movies are shown there. Concerts and dance performances are held on its stage. The projector room was open to us. In it, two Russian projectors, connected by a cooling hood, stood like sentries watching over an empty theatre. The seats of the theatre were all carefully arranged but the seat numbers did not follow any logic. Life in Cuba.
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