Day 10:

I get up this morning just before 6 after stressing all night about how I’m going to be able to make this trip happen: if no one else shows up, do I try to bargain with my last pesos? I’m still going to be here for another 4 days, 5 counting today, so I really can’t afford this trip….grrrr but I so want to see Pinares de Mayari. I hear it is the most beautiful place in Cuba.

But I’ve been to many beautiful places already but I keep thinking, what if I can never come back? I do have an emergency 50 dollar bill usa, do I try to bargain with that and hope there will be no emergency or nothing else I need to pay for before I leave? Lots of people are asking me if I have u.s. money – the dollar is climbing in value here. Perhaps Cuba is not as strong as I’m hoping. 

Oh decisions decisions. I think by the time I shower and prepare my backpack and dress, I’ve decided if no one else shows up, I will try to first bargain for today, and then if not, I’ll still have four days to figure out how to get there.

I get to our agreed meeting place by the outdoor market at 6:50 and he is not there. I entertain the thought that maybe he will not show up. At 7:00am, I decide to wait 10 minutes and if he’s not here, I’ll leave.

7:10 he is not here. I’m relieved and disappointed both. But there are several things I need to do today: first I can go eat breakfast! Then I told the nurse I’d be back so she can wrap my big toe and cut the toenail that is digging into my big toe; I need to change the last of my Canadian money; I need look and see if I can replace my water bottle that smashed this morning – I will not buy plastic water bottles; I need to talk with public relations about losing 45 or 50 minutes of my 60 minute internet card last night.

And I need to go to the hotel’s ecotur business to see if there’s a tour already to Pinares de Mayari or if they’ll schedule one for me to join.

But first I need to go run on the beach and complete my stretches. My skin has been erupting and mostly where the sun is turning me brown. I don’t know if I’m getting bitten or I’m suffering from the heat and humidity. Whatever, it is not that uncomfortable and I spend a lot of time in the ocean or in the shower.

I will return to the marketplace after I exercise, eat, and finish my chores – and write of course. Maybe someone will tell me what happened to the taxi driver this morning. I’m betting everyone knows everyone here.