The Landlady’s flashback

When it comes to building work, best laid plans never seem to turn out exactly as predicted. While I was away in Cuba, I’d arranged for the builders to come in and plug the leaking holes in landlady Towers. I was rather glad not to be there to witness the exposed brick wall in my bedroom (which I’ve already seen many times before, due to previous leaks) and looked forward to the fact that the only sand I was going to see was the hot, white stuff on a Cuban beach.

We arrived in Cuba with minimal fuss – and only 5kgs of hand luggage – and installed ourselves in the house of a family in the South of Cuba. The City of our first stop – Holguin – is very much a local Cuban city with a minimal amount of tourists, most of them going straight from the airport to the resort of Guardalavaca and missing the city altogether. Although Holguin lacks the glamour of Havana and the cultural dynamic of Santiago de Cuba, we soon warmed to its down to earth nature. To the North of the city was a stairway of about 150 steps, which went up the side of a steep hill to a viewing point at the top, giving panoramic views of the city. It was rumoured that there was a bar serving cold beer at the top – in spite of the poverty, communism and lack of other things, cold beer is readily available everywhere in Cuba – and this was enough to entice me to the top. Of course, being British, my friend B and I were mad enough to attempt the climb under the scorching midday sun.

“Holguin is very much a local Cuban city with a minimal amount of tourists”

I have to admit that, looking back down the steps from the top was a little vertigo-inducing, and we weren’t looking forward to going back down as we were both feeling quite faint. I felt a little better after a fortifying cold beer and we set off back down the steep steps. About halfway down, I glanced to my left and saw a man, erm, ‘flashing’ in the bushes. I went to an all-girls school in the seventies and we were much accustomed to similar scenes around our cross-country course, so I wasn’t unduly alarmed, just a little surprised. I then, looking back, realised that the man was coming down the steps behind us, which unsettled us slightly, especially as we had to concentrate enough as it was. We were quite relieved to reach the bottom without further incident, but were glad that we hadn’t attempted to go up there in the dark, which had been the initial plan, in order to see the city lights at night.I think we might have got a little more than we bargained for…