La Dio de las Madres
As she was studying in Cuba during the 2002-2003 year our daughter lived with Cuban friends of ours in Santiago de Cuba attending university during the week. On the weekends her usual routine was to catch some form of local transportation and head out to Chivirico, a small town about an hour down the south coast. This area has several resorts where we had stayed on previous trips and many of the locals worked in the tourist industry. This combination of urban/rural immersion had led her to a complete mastery of the language, both academic (Spanish) and slang (Cuban) as well as the culture, or so our friends proudly told us.
The ‘some form of local transportation’ could be anything from a dump truck, service bus, small van or jeep in various states of repair. Many were pre-revolutionary vintage meaning a 1956 Chevy was commonplace and about as reliable as it sounds. A flat tire which meant everyone off the back of the truck, sitting in the tropical sun while a tire change was accomplished with rudimentary tools was not that unusual and actually more welcome than waiting pick up…whenever, by another camioneta. Sometimes the trip was spent squeezed onto a bench holding a sleeping baby for a mother or standing up trying to avoid small ants climbing out off a bag of pineapples being carried in a market bag. In fact, transportation (along with housing) is one of the crises in Cuban society and not much is made of the fact that your professor didn’t arrive for class as “the truck didn’t arrive” is not an excuse but matter of fact statement.
On the Mothers Day in question when our daughter had spent an enjoyable weekend with her ‘Cuban family’ celebrating Los Dios de Las Madres, she started out to catch a ride back to the city on Sunday afternoon as was her habit. A ride was caught as far as the largest resort about a 20 minute drive away and she was hoping to hop a ‘worker bus’ to the city. But things started to go downhill after that. She and her new found Cuban friends had to wait at the gate as there was such a crowd of mothers that workers had brought with them for the day there was no one else allowed in. When the worker buses finally came through the gates they were full of workers and mothers and didn’t stop. There were no other trucks or transport on the road as all the drivers had gone home to visit their mothers on the special day. Proving that mothers are held in special esteem in that country for sure. After waiting for hours in the heat, she walked and walked wearing a hole through the bottom of her flip flops, finally getting picked up by a flat bed truck which only took them part of the way back. Finally she was forced to catch a lift in the cage- like back of a tractor to her Chivirico family who were surprised to see her about 5 hours after she‘d left. “I’ve been to Santiago and back” she announced before being fed fried plantains and getting up at 4 a.m. to catch the early truck into the city for class the next morning.
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I asked the baby daughter what today’s post should be and she says “write all about me, I’m perfect” But when we talked about specific subjects it turned out to not be so positive. One of her classmates has now been accepted into the Dalhousie School of Nursing and missy is making noises about resubmitting her marks. When I mentioned that this form of masochism was probably not healthy as the choice had been made and we would all have to live with it, she wasn’t impressed. I said “things happen for a reason, you’ll find out why you’re heading to Fredericton one of these days” At my age I’m beginning to realize that if you don’t like the choice you’ve made you can make another one, but that still doesn’t ensure I’m always happy with the short term situation.
With the warmer temperatures of late, we have officially entered tick season locally and the above mentioned daughter was doing tick patrol for the tick magnet aka Keely this morning. The dog certainly enjoys her canine massage and likely thinks we love her more this time of year. This also leads to daily human inspection of suspicious moles and freckles ‘just in case'.
I’ve had a wonderful Mothers Day today with a chance to sleep in, read the newspaper, putter generally and a nice message from a fellow blogger who added these ramblings to his blogroll - what a compliment. Oh and a bit of a rethinking about Facebook especially once I found that there are a number of groups about nurses - am in the processs of checking if there are old nurses. A special surprise from daughter # 3 of Laura Secord chocolates on my pillow - not sure how that fits with my healthy eating plan but they’re delicious! A phone call from daughter #2 in the city and getting caught up on the news. She informs me that the food at the Cuban restaurant is wonderful - she and some friends had tostones and fried pork after having merengue lessons. She gives it 4 stars so it's on the agenda for us to check out. And a great visit from daughter # 1 where we cooked and enjoyed a feast of salad, tostones (friend plantains) chicken kebabs and corn on the BBQ and chocolate pie for dessert. I can’t move - that’s why I’m sitting here. A day of wonderful small pleasures.
