What you didn't want to know about TD...in 10 words or less: Day 7. Monday

I think I am near the end

(This was written while in Cuba, but not posted due to a lack of Wifi)

Kind of a quiet day today.

We went to a senior center and danced the slow style, danzon..

Just like 8th grade.....the women dancers picked guys to dance with and I was the wall flower. One woman even picked another woman!!! Ouch.......

Then we went back to the hotel and had dance lessons......I would like to learn to salsa, but the feet don't move quite right. I could not get he arm leg combo right.

Big story is the weather. It is chilly and very windy. So windy, there was a red flag warning and no one could swim. I have 6 hours to entertain myself.

I walked the beach, got my legs wet, came back and decided to go for a long walk into town. Walked about 20 minutes and realized I was still a long way away, so I went to Xanadu, which was a mansion built by a DuPont in the 20s. Now it is a restaurant.

I peeked inside, and that was a mistake. I should have gone inside. I could have gone up to the roof top for a drink and toured the house. I did not know that.

Wandered back to the hotel and still had three hours.

So I asked about a taxi......10 CUCs. Too much for me to go into a town just to walk around.

I asked a coconut driver, same price. Visited a tourist shopping mall next to the hotel.
Two hours to go. Found Michael and Janet and ended up in the bar, drinking mojitos. I had too many today and swore off any more drinking......

We had a special supper in the streak house part of the all inclusive resort. I did not drink wine, just water.

Food was good, but it was a little bittersweet, as it was our last meal together.

Things I learned from Rosalen:

People get pensions at age 60 for women, 65 for men. Pensions are based on the importance of their job and their earnings. The artist we visited the other day gets 270 pesos.....no CUCs.... a month. The lady in charge of the dance studio gets 20 pesos a month.

A small bottle of rum costs about 125 pesos.

Yes, they don't have house payments or insurance payments or medical bills......but I can't imagine living on that little.

The women in white are funded by outside agitators from Florida, the older Cubans who oppose the revolution. To me, it sounded like the party line.
The women in white were in the news Sunday when several were arrested when Obama came to town. They are protesting the imprisonment of political prisoners.....husbands, sons, nephews. Seems if you don't agree with the administration, you pay a price.

Don't remember the details about elections. Seems complicated. Large group of citizens meets and selects the outstanding professionals for a convention. At that convention, delegates are elected for a regional convention....then a national convention. The delegates then vote on the candidate they want for president.

Best guess is the current Vice President or one of the Cuban 5 will be the new president if and when Raul steps down.
No campaigning. No tv ads. No radio ads. Candidates presented, then voted on.
The Cuban 5 were arrested for spying in the United States in 1998. They were convicted, imprisoned, and by 2014 all were eventually released back to Cuba, where they are viewed as heroes. The Cuban Museum of Art even has a solitary confinement display set up to honor them.
Guess that is about it for Cuba. Tomorrow night I will be in Miami, USA!