San Christobal – San Antonio de los Banos - 85 km
Records showed 24% of the population was of mixed race, 65%
White, 10% Black and 1% Asian. Of course, one could easily question
these figures as I barely ever saw ‘White’ people in Cuba. Still, then
again, race is very much a social construct. If you ask me, the old
model for classifying people goes back to the 18th century and is
slightly outdated. The so-called ‘White’ people were, obviously, of
Spanish descent, and many were French immigrants who came to
Cuba in the early part of the 19th century. Even so, it remained
surprising to see blond-haired women in these tiny villages who
looked kind of out of place. Maybe I had been in Jamaica too long.
During my ride to San Antonio, I passed through small communities
where people were busy with daily routines. Everywhere I went, it
seemed like people were constantly fixing things, and the word
‘resolver’ seemed the most used word in Cuba. These settlements
had numerous small shops that sold various food items, such as
bread rolls, juice, and pizzas, all at affordable prices of a few pesos.
The plan was to head to Batabane where one could get a ferry to the
nearby Isla de la Juventud. The diving was excellent off the island's
west coast, but halfway through the day I learned getting a ferry
ticket in Batabane could be challenging as tickets were generally sold
in Havana as a bus-and-boat combo.