Random Thoughts by Ktownbuddha

So today I went to my first Emulation Party.  They have these every quarter to celebrate the production and employee's contributions to the company.  They give out a bunch of awards to a ton of staff.  They must give out 60 certificates.  They clap to a strange rhythm and play techno throughout the whole thing. When they play the anthem of the revolution the whole place goes strangely quiet.  Nobody sings along to it, but they all stand there dead still.  Very strange. I have attached a few pics of the party.  It starts at 10am and seems to go all day.

So as per usual I got over served on Friday night.  It had been a long and stressful week and I wanted to blow of some steam.  Well I did.  I definitely drank too much rum and paid the price for it on Saturday. Sunday I wanted to get out of Moa.  Clear the head and refresh myself for the week ahead.  Most of the usual crew was either busy with work or out of the country, but me and Yisel made the trip to Cayo Seitia (sp???).  This is the natural game reserve created by Raul Castro.  The top party official used to come there to shoot wild game.  They had transported in around 10 different species of animals from Africa.  We saw a Zebra, Buffalo, Long Horn Cow's, Antelope, Ostriches, and Camels.  The only one we couldn't find was the camel.  This is indispite of being lost for over an hour.  The roads are marked with names, but they don't give you a map.  Go figure.  So we had to backtrack to the main road to get out.  Next time I go I'm taking a good pair of binoculars

Its been a hectic couple of weeks.  I'm looking forward to this weekend and having most of my deadline work done.  We did hit the beach on Sunday even with though it was raining.  It was nice to get out of town, and it was nice to be doing the driving as opposed to getting bounced around.  I don't think I've shown you a picture of the car I'm driving so I have included one for you.  One of the guys wanted a picture of me driving through this patch of grass in the middle of the road.  He thought it was hilarious.

Ah Cuba.  You never cease to amaze me.  So as part of one of the audits performed here some people were sanctioned and or lost their job.  Now then a few weekends ago a bunch of them were arrested and are being charged for something or other.  These poor people were just doing their jobs.  At the time we were spending $500 million on capital projects to expand production.  The project was suspended in 2008 due to the downturn in the economy.  As a result the government was looking for a scape goat and has found it in these employees.  The charges are totally without merit.  These people are good people and didn't do anything wrong.  However in Cuba I don't think that means very much. Last night was a bit of a gong.  Usually Friday nights are poker nights, but we were down a bunch of people so instead we sat in the bar and had a few beers before dinner.  After dinner one of the contractors bought a bottle of rum.  Next thing we know, the lights are off and we had turned the res

It really was great to be home.  I tried to see as many people as possible and to relax as much as possible.  I could have had a month and I would have wanted more time.  As it was I felt very rushed the last week.  I will have to have a better plan for next time. I did end up getting my bike bag, and I now have the nicest bike in Cuba.  lol.  I haven't had a chance to ride it yet, but I'm hoping to give it a go tonight. I just sat through 3 hours of defensive driving videos (all in spanish) only to find out that the vehicle I'm driving is too dirty to drive.  I need to get it washed before I can take my tour of town.  I will hopefully have that all sorted out for this afternoon. Anyhow life in Cuba shall be interesting.  I am getting used to it, but I need to get the freedom of driving.  That will help a lot. Ciao