First stop on our last 'tour day' was the local Ration Store. It was a very tiny building with a large storeroom in the back. Every family gets a ration book which can be used anytime during the month to get their rations. Monthly rations of rice, beans, sugar and a few other staples are given for each person in a family. Ration books keep track of the distributions. Jose said that in recent years the quality and well as the number of items that are supplied (like soap) have gone down. The shelves on the left were the items that they had available for rationing.
We went to the local farmers market - definitely not USDA approved - good thing their meats are well cooked (but the dogs roaming around were all very happy with the scraps being thrown out).
Bus ride to Santa Clara for a visit to an senior citizen center. It is generally the norm in Cuba for the young to take care of their elderly. They were in their 70's and 80's and seemed very active and aware. I wonder if the purple hair was by accident or on purpose.
Lunch at a hostel then a trip to the Che Memorial. I can see why he was popular - in his younger days without the scruffy beard he was a 'hunk' (Brad Pitt type of handsome). Very idealistic and still very popular with the Cuban people living here. Neat story about how they used a bulldozer to push a supply train off the tracks making it one of the last battles of the 1958 revolution. Batista left Cuba 12 hours after this battle.
After the memorial we hopped on the bus for our trip back to Cienfuegos for another choral performance and the opportunity to purchase the yo-yo spread that I coveted on our first day. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough cash with me to purchase it then and needed to exchange $ at the hotel. Remember there are currently NO credit cards or ATMs anywhere, which sort of controls 'impulse buying'.
