Cuba: visiting Casablanca + currency

Thank god today has been different. I was more or less convinced that the Charette was going to be a wipe out.

We went to Casablanca in the morning and had a look round. We walked through the village from the ferry terminal (an experience in itself) and up to the huge statue of Jesus. From there we walked passed the military buildings and past the guards on duty. Of course, we had to

I have put the frustration of the administrative side of the Charette to the back of my mind for now in order to progress with my ideas and the task in hand. It seems the other people I had spoken to have also done this. A couple have made themselves scare though. I will still, however, address my concerns by writing to INTBAU upon my return to the UK.

I have little idea about what was going through the mind of Audun and Julio when they were organizing this Charrette.

Tonight I will compile some ideas I have had through discussions with John (Pilling) and Esteban. (NB. This didn’t actually happen as planned due to going out with friends – meeting at Hotel Nacionale at first and then going to a restaurant round the corner from our apartments).

A note about Cuban peso convertible (CUC) and Cuban pesos (CU): 1 CUC is worth 24 CU. At Coppelia’s Ice cream parlour a non-Cuban is not allowed inside to eat but must go to the stands that are on the periphery. The ice-cream there is 1 CUC per gram. This means two scoops of ice-cream costs 2,70 CUC. I don’t know what the cost is on the inside but will hopefully be taken inside by a Cuban comrade before I leave. Another instance: at the ferry terminal, we stopped before boarding to pay the fellow and a colleague paid 1 CUC for his boarding. Myself and Carmen got out our money and Marianne stopped us. I had already handed over my 1 CUC and she told that was enough with a few firm words to the ticket man. Marianne explained once we had boarded the tug the currency rate for Cubans and non-Cubans. She feels that the two currencies is barmy (my interpretation of what she said) and that we are taken advantage of. ‘You have paid for 24 people to cross the river’.