my own efforts to ingratiate myself
I gave her a pastelito, a hard-baked
triangular pastry containing guava
jam which I’d bought from a man
selling them as he walked around the
port. She accepted it but wouldn’t be
bribed into giving us any information
until the ferry was due to leave. With
one last look at the pelicans which
had been diving into the sea as we
waited, we made the decision to head
inland and westwards and see where
we ended up. A puncture caused de-
lay but Chris always carried two spare
wheels and as he was obviously used
to doing this procedure, swapping
over didn’t take long. Roadside stalls
provided us with cheese and recon-
stituted ham bocaditos (sandwiches),
Cristal beer, and local rum, probably
made round the back of the stall.
It was good to be on the road after
burning in the sun all day. We shared
it with stately relics from Detroit’s
past and boxy Lada's from Russia’s
more recent dominance. We were
heading for the north-west coast,
because Chris wanted to reconnoitre
Puerto Esperanza. He had a boat in
the UK which he planned to sail to
Cuba. Puerto Esperanza might be the
place for her anchorage.
Artemesa was our stopping-place
that night. Its central square with
trees and seats surrounding old colo-
nial buildings now occupied by cafés
gave it a holiday feel and people were
at 8am the following day. Then we
passenger hydrofoil trip to the is-
went to a beach bar and drank rum
land. Hector couldn’t travel on it but doing what they could to provide
interesting restaurants and a relaxed
all afternoon whilst watching the
there was a ferry for freight which
atmosphere. Chris picked a Chinese
sea. Something in the distance that
took twelve hours. The combined
restaurant for dinner but when we got
started as a speck gradually became
cost made a single trip prohibitively
there they had no Chinese food so we
a man who had been fishing way out
expensive, let alone the return. So
into the sea in an inner tube. He
we waved goodbye to the large, com- opted for something at a hotel on a
landed himself and his catch on the
manding cashier at the booking office corner which was doing its best to be
grand whilst offering a very limited
beach.
who I had been observing all day.
Before dawn we thanked the guard- She wore a tee-shirt bearing a drunk- menu. All the staff were pleasant,
polite and served our food with pride.
pig and went clattering through the
en leprechaun and the words ‘Luck
I was still hungry after dinner.
dark, sleepy streets to the port.
of the Irish’. We thought she’d been
My salad had consisted of shredded
At four in the afternoon, we accept- withholding information and was
cabbage and half a tomato. Not to
ed defeat and left. It had taken all
rather unsympathetic to our cause.
worry, I had spotted a large ice-cream
day for those that had the informa-
Either through devotion, fear or
tion to pass it on to us. Finally we dis- subservience, a man knelt before her parlour nearby. An extensive fla-
covered that there was a three-hour
to do up the straps of her sandals. In vour-choice was advertised but inside
TRAVERSE 65