At almost one thirty in the afternoon, Arlena and Carolina finally get their precious sun loungers in front of the Atlántico hotel, and a menu with meals for 3,000 pesos
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 4 August 2024 — At 1:20 in the afternoon, Arlena was putting her bag on a lounge chair on the beach at Santa María, west of Guanabo. “I’m already in place”, she exclaimed with relief, not knowing that she would still have to wait for the moment she had been looking forward to since 8:40, since she arrived at the Havana train station. It was a private beach where only hotel guests could stay. They set off again.
The Cuban authorities announced at the beginning of July the restoration of the service of this train that leads, for a modest 35 pesos price, to the beaches of the East of Havana during an unforgettable trip of an hour and a half for the scant 25 kilometers that separate the two locations.
Arlena and Carolina decided to spend their first day of vacation on the sea shore this Wednesday, although to do so they had to take a train that, from around the station between Egido and Arsenal, promised to be what it is: a trip suitable only for the most common classes. About 50 people were hanging around the platform, where the smartest ones were trying to do business, as always.
When the two women arrived at the platform, after a long walk from Luyanó, without a taxi in sight, there was already a cake seller on a bicycle selling the cakes for 70 pesos a piece, and an inflationary peanut vendor, who had gone from charging one peso for a cone to 10. There was also a coffee stand to bravely face the morning, and cigarettes for 400 pesos, although a worker from the Railway Union was giving a warning before the Beast arrived: drinking alcohol or smoking is strictly prohibited, under penalty of a fine of 2,000 to 5,000 pesos.
The rickety train arrived just a few minutes before the appointed time. Families with children heading to the beach and passengers heading to Guanabo, as a less recreational destination, are milling around, leaving behind the kilos of garbage that pile up next to the station.
The interior view is not that more encouraging. Looking down, you see torn seats; looking up, you see torn-off roofs in all the carriages. The hard plastic seats are uncomfortable for Carolina, who has been suffering from pain in one leg for weeks, so the two of them change carriages, and settle on the third, which has more comfortable seats. Soon after, they will no longer be able to choose.
After a stop in Guanabacoa and another in Cambute, the train is more than full and the passengers resign themselves to standing among the incessant clatter and noise that serve as a holiday soundtrack.
“This is going to end up like the trains in India, with people on the roof,” jokes one passenger. Although there are two policemen in the third carriage, discipline is set aside and several people smoke openly, while out the window all you can see is grass everywhere, fields of sweet potatoes and some isolated wooden huts. As Guanabo approaches, a “rare bird” is spotted: cattle.
It’s after 10:40 and the hardest part of the journey is finally over. Or so Arlene and Carolina think, as they walk through the town of Guanabo towards the west, towards the beaches.
When the beach comes into view, businesses multiply, with their escalating prices in sight. Mamoncillos (Spanish limes) at 100 pesos, pizzas at 170, beer and malt at 200… but the kilometers take their toll on the couple, who are looking for a beach without trash to settle down on, so they end up renting a horse-drawn carriage to smooth out the distance.
600 pesos later, when everything seemed to be going better, there was still one more problem to overcome when the horse-drawn carriage breaks down. “It’s 12 o’clock and I still haven’t placed my butt on the beach,” she laments. An hour later, they barely reached the promised beach.
Carolina and Arlena sit on a lounge chair in front of Santa María Beach hours after leaving Havana, but their joy doesn’t last a minute, because they are in the private area and only hotel guests have access to those amenities, just like the water bikes and all the good things they see, so it’s time to pack up again and start walking.
At almost 1:30 in the afternoon, our central characters finally get their precious sun loungers in front of the Hotel Atlántico, and a menu with meals for 3,000 pesos. Two pizzas and a few beers make the long day easier. A line separates the shiny beds of the hotel guests from Carolina and Arlena’s rickety ones, who, at around 2 in the afternoon, finally take their first dip.
Before 3 o’clock, they are already packing their things for the trip back to Havana. “Are you going to take the train back?” asks a neighbor lying on a sun lounger. “No way!” Carolina is indignant. And they walk away until they catch an improvised taxi that takes them to Santos Suárez.
Translated by Norma Whiting
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