MY LIFE IN HAVANA

TURNING THE TABLES OF FRAUDSTERS . THIS TIME A LYFT DRIVER AT MIAMI AIRPORT

 I had arrived on a flight from Havana to Miami International Airport and cleared the customs and immigration in record time. (I have Special Entry)
I requested an Lyft driver and he immediately answered my request.

 I knew something was amiss, when his car was stationary on the GPS.

 Minutes went by, and the driver, Daciel by name driving a Mercedes Benz C Class was not budging from his position.

 This is a well known fraud practised by Uber and Lyft drivers, they know that the recently arrived International arrival, want to reach his destination soon. By not answering the call and not moving his car, the person who requests cancels the ride and Daciel would collect his 5 dollar fee. and wait to entrap another Lyft requesting passenger.

 I called him several times and send him texts to tell him where I am and that I am waiting for him. Still no movement from Daciel. He never answered his call, but I could see that the ringing would stop and silence would follow.

 Now it occured to me to turn the table on him. I called him and let the call open, as he was not answering thus blocking his incoming calls. He will not be able to answer another Lyft request

 Forty minutes after I had requested the car and having watched him not moving, I think he got the gist, I was not going to release my call to him.

 Then I saw him moving and coming towards the airport

 I did not cancel my ride and I could see him coming to the spot where i was supposed to meet me a full 44 minutes after I had requested a LYFT ride.

 To add insult to injury, LYFT informed me that the ride was cancelled and I would be charged 5.00

So for LYFT to know this fraud committed by one of their drivers. I am sure I was not the first one that Daciel the LYFT driver had cheated, adding to the reputation of MIAMI as the FRAUD capital of USA.
If LYFT was decent, they would reimburse the 5.00 charged for Daciel arriving 41 plus minutes late and cancelling the request which was made all that time ago and compensate me for the time and anguish.
I will write to LYFT and if I don't get a satisfactory answer, I will delete their app from my cell phone and request my friends do the same
Golden days of share rides seem to be over!

DE SASTRE DE SAN JOSE . MY FRIEND VALENTIN TAILOR FROM MAYABEQUE

Sastre is tailor in spanish and a play on the word, de sastre, sounds like disaster.. Was not there a book by John Le Carre The Tailor of Panama? made into a movie starring Geoffrey Rush ?Pierce Brosnan?
My colleague from Sancti Spiritus in Cuba, now working in Miami, is a good example of the excellent tertiary education in the Physical Education Culture before they are allowed to become medical massage therapists. It takes five years of tertiary education, compare that massage therapist courses offered in the USA where with a few thousand dollars and 300 hours of training you could be licensed to massage. Of course in Asia it is even shorter a course and the massages you obtain in places like Cambodia or Thailand would be classified as caressing in Cuba. But even in those places the massage therapists have a psychological function. Imagine you are traipsing around the archeological ruins of Angkor under the hot sun, it does feel heaven to come to an air conditioned place and lie down on a sofa in a semi erect position and have someone stroke your legs, it does relax you, so there is a role for that type of massage too.
But I needed a medical massage therapist who would relax some tight muscles pulling on my scapula (infraspinatus) and my friend in Miami had proven the worth of  his Cuban education and through mutual friends I met the tailor of San Jose who happens to be  a graduate of Physical Education..

As is our custom in Cuba, the relationships are important and the Tailor of San Jose came four times during the week and each time, administered massage therapy and then we would have a nice lunch together assisted by other friends.

I wish you well, my friend Valentin the medical massage therapist, the Tailor of San Jose

PS I plan to bring some nice cotton material from India and would reward with a bundle and hopefully he would craft me a Kaftan!

SAN CRISTOBAL DE LA HABANA 500 YEARS OLD . THE FEAST THAT NEVER ENDS

I have stolen the epithet the feast that never ends from Hemingway when he described his life in Paris. Living in La Habana I can understand the euphoria of being at a place that stimulates your mind, your body and your emotions as well as your spiritual life!
Each day brings something new, you can walk around the streets that you have walked a thousand times and if you look closely you will see new things, new growth and new embellishments.
I also have the luxury of living a minute away from the seawall called Malecon and each evening, if not cloudy, i would walk over there to watch the sunset. Each sunset is different, as each day is different for me in my beloved Havana.

 Two suitcases for Havana: one with food and the other with gifts

 this is the roundabout in Cerro in front of the stadium and I enter my neighbourhood of Vedado

and a hair cut by Adonis..