{r
:l Ji *9 $*
spelled hqbonl
occcrsionolly
B Y J A T V I ER O B E R T S O I . J
As I ar-rived in the scenic Cubern
harbor clf Havana (occasionallr'
spelleclHabana)" I rvas arve-struckbl-
its beatrt1., b) the beautiful palms
su'af ing in the gentle harbor breezes;
lr)- the busl- olive-skinrred Cubans
busilr- loading, r-rnloading,and reload-
ing the many thousands of bags of
sllgar; by the picturesque silver-u'hite
bubbles rising belor.r'the borv of ml.
humble craft. ( raft" life, for l)reserva-
t ion of . U .S.. G.L . 1 9 + 2 ), a s th e p i c -
turesque, olive-skinned skin divers
slowll' approached with their beauti-
ful bundles of picturesque an'e-inspir-
ing T NT .
Feeling a sudden uncontrollable
Lrrgeto leap quicklv onto the pier. I
leaped quickly onto the pier. I rn'as
immc'cliately surrounded b)' o large
friendly welcoming group expressing
their rvelcome to me u,ith the quaint
S p n n i s h colloqualism, "V6yate,
gringo diablo!" meaning. "\A/elcome-
kind friend- to Havana, rvhich name
of this citv is occasionally slrellecl
'Habana'."
As I shielded my e1'esfrom a feu'
friendlr,-sharyrstones.cast lovingly to
me by the ha1rp1'throng. I suddenly
realiz.edthat I u.us also sut'rottncledbv
ir smtrll €{roupof frietrdlr'" fatigue-clad.
beardeclrnen. Irone of u'hich I esti-
'r:rtcd trr he or,r'r the arre Of thirteen
5 !G*
** * s
\:ears" although rlone lvas less than
six feet in stature. M)' nen'ly-founcl
friends said unto me, said thel', "Vdn-
gate. Cabr6n." u,hich" from mt' class
in Spanish 406 at LIT, I kneu'to be arr
idiomatic exyrressionmeaning- "Kind
sir, if vou r,r'illkindly rn'alkalong rvith
us. sir. rve shall take you ul)on a tour
of our beautiful. )'€d,,but humble city
of Havana. rvhich by some. upon oc-
casions, is spelled FI-a-b-a-n-a, for,
indeed, 'we love thee" kind sir," and I.
not rvishing to appear ungrateful unto
nly benefactors, marched off. with
them friendlill. patting me on mY
care-\\'orn back the kindly flats
"vith
of their machetes.
As our friendly march continued
onrvard. I suddenly discovered that
\rye had marched directlf into the
midst of thriving Havana, the Metrop-
olis of the Carribean. As rve rvalked
on. I noticed man\- of the beautiful
sights to be seen.The most prominent
thing r,vasthe man\r beautiful moun-
tains of rvhitc substanceto be seen on
every street corner and flolving dor"'tt
every gutter. Upon inquiring. I rvas
told- rvith someu'hat of a sneer, that
thesemountains were composedof the
rare-earth element. "azucar." As \4'e
rvalked by the market. I heard ladies
cr'\' out. rvhile on their heads they
bear'cl-s<,1x.and rice. anclfish are nice.
and the rum is fine any time of yetrr-.
*
*
Soorr rve reached the outskirt:
the cit1., arrd passed bt' the sc(
ruins of a monument to one of
ancient godsof the former inhabit,
of this peaceful little island-in-
sun. The name of this ancient god
inscribed across the front in fai.
legible letters: te-xac-o, the anc
faded letters seemedto read. Inc
a strangename.
Momentarily rn'earrived at our
parent destination. as my frit
suddenly stopped patting me on
track rn'ith their machetes and sta
softll. lancing me in the abdor
each sclftlance being accompanier
the mild command- "alto." Fee
that persistence on my part of
tinuation of the tour might lead t
feelings on the part of my hosts.I
that I should stop, u'hich I then
Glancing up, I noticed that we
stoppeddirectly in front of the qu
little Policia hotel. M1 friends ush
me in the small. antique, \ryorm-v
door of this tinr,' motel, and I fc
myself in front of a kinclll. old ger
man behind a fine antique des
knew. deep in my heart, that
gentleman was kindly and old. fo
wore a beard. and a kindly .45 cal
automati c a t his kindlr 'olcl side.
gentlenran offered me il chair u;
a light" rvhich wAS indeed a
gestnre.as this light vvasthe onll'
in the room, but I felt obligeclto refuse
his amicable offer. as the chair n'hich
he offered had a rather uncomfortable
appearing t1'pe of decorative ernbel-
lishment consistingof several rou's of
steel spikes,r,vhichapJrearecl to me as
though they might conceivably be un-
comfortable. LTnfortunatelv, Ll I) o n
hearing mv polite refusal. the kincllv
old gentl"-itr became cordiallv in-
sistent that I be seated irr the chair.
and I. again not rvishing to apl)earLln-
grateful, sat. The old gentleman then
placed in front of me lvhat I assumed
to be the hotel registration form. I
quickly glanced through rvhat \4'ere
apparently the hotel's terms of resi-
denc/, and signed the docnment, after
n'hich tw,o of my ne\^,-found friends
stepped forrn,ard and signed their
names in the tlvo spacesunderneath
my name. The old gentleman then
bid me rise and follou' the bearded
yout h, \ 'ho was appar ent lv t he bell-
boy. to my room.
M ) 'r oom was not exact ly u'hat t he
average American n'ould call cleluxe
accommodations"inclucling onlt' a Pile
of strau' and a cracked clal pitcher
of stagnant rvater. but I realizeclthat
there \,verernan\r people much \\'orse
off than I. and accepteclall of this com-
parative luxurr- u'ith great thanks. I
thought to mvself" \\'ere rrclt the
builclers of this firre hotel not irrcleerl
t hought f ul of t he saf et r 'oft heir f ut ur e
guests.as be it not trtte that the1.hur.e
r I a a . l
t hat one coulclnot f all out of it if one
t r iecl?Feeling indeeclsaf er t har r I had
ever' prer,iousll. felt" I quicklv fell
soundlr - int o t he ar m s of Sleepin t he
comparativelt' lnxtrriclusPolicia hotel.
I u'tr s au'alienecl brightlr- and
earlill' tlte next morni's b' the 1'outh-
ful bearded bell-bor'. The time u'as
erpllroximatelv four-thirtr.. I noticecl
as I glanced at ml. wristwatch, n'hich
the bell-boy \\.ascarrving for me upon
his u'rist. Nothing alike urtto getting
an earlt' start on the day r,r'henyou're
touring a scenic countrv like Cuba. I
thought to myself. As \\'e rvalked
suaveh' dou'n the hall-u'ay. the bell-
bol' clressedsmartly in his olive-drab
fatigues" and I in ml. casual tattered
tr,r'eedsuit, I thought, again to mrrself.
"What unpredictable day lies ahead
for me in this beautiful peaceful coun-
t r y of Cuba?"
The bell-boy explained to me in
quaintly halting English that today
u'arsto be a day of fiesta.the climax of
rvhich r,r'ouldbe the shooting of a pig.
He also explained that I would be
seated,or actually. stood.in a position
from rvhich l could best obsen'e the
events of the clar..With this. I found
that ershe had been conversing r,vith
me he haclplaced me against a u'ooden
post and securing me to the post r,vith
a fine grade of hempen rol)e. rvhich
\\'ils alrpart'ntlv necessitatedb1' the
I'act that clirectly irr I'r'ontof the ltost
\\'ils il hole into u'hich I quite con-
ceivablr- conlcl fall if I u'as not sorne-
l-,--,'.^.rr.o.l lrt thp
Obvioush'. this is r,r'hat the bell-bov
h a d in min d a s h e t ie c lt h e f if t h s q u a re
k n o t in t h e e n d s o f 1 h e f in e Cu b a n
rope.
B e lo u 'me I c o u ld d is t in g u is hma n r-
shouting, h o o t i n g- merr)--making
forms in the clim light just befor-ethe
sun-rise. u,hich sun-rise u'oulcl soon
cccur directly in front of me.
Soon,as the first golden ra]-s of snn-
light peereclover the horizon, I be-
came aware of a figure rvalking to-
u'ard me rn'ith r,r'hat appeared to be
some sort of a locally manufactured
sunshade- somewhat resembling a
lone-ranger mask l'l'ithout the e'y'e-
l-roles. These considerateCuban people
think of everything to make an
American visitor comfortable. The
man ayrproachedme and covered mv
eyes with the sunshadeand stuck a lit
cigar betweenmy lips. IJnfortunately.
he placed it, purell' by accident, be-
tn,een my lips wrong-end first, but I.
not wishing to appear ungrateful.
merely ignored this slight oversight,
and smoked the fine Cuban tobaccos
rvith great gusto.
Before I had even a chance to gene-
rate a fair-sized ash betrveenmv lips.
I rvas aware that the reveling had be-
gun. as I could hear the joyous shouts
of some happy Cuban reveleer belorv.
as he shouted hayrpily. "Listo .,"
and then some rn'ord somervhat remi-
niscent of an ecluivalentEnglish r,r'ord
su c h a s " A imr" t )r " s ig h t . " o r s o me -
thing similar'. then the rvorcl" "FLIE-