Under A Cuban Moon

HAVANA,May 20 (www.cubanet.org) - Cuban authorities have implemented
strict security measures at the embarkation points for the small
ferries crossing Havana bay.Now, before boarding, all passengers must
go through a metal detector. Newly posted signs warn passengers they
can't carry furniture or birthday cakes...

You know how it is on a stormy night when you take the ferry across
Havana Bay and you smell the fear of the passengers as the waves call
you to your death and the drunken ferry captain almost falls overboard
three times before the rope to the harbour wall has been cast off.

The captain is drunk again, I said to my brother Ramon.

Not on his salary, Ramon said, He is dizzy with the danger.

Yes that is how it is , I said. But this danger that makes him dizzy
does not affect us.

It is not that kind of danger, Ramon said.

And so we stood on the deck in the rain, all 65 of us, as the small
ferry made its way across the bay.

After a few minutes, Ramon spoke again: It is the other kind of
danger, like when a young chiquita comes down from the hills and sees
the city for the first time. And she brings with her the smell of ripe
bananas and sweet oranges so that when she walks along the street, the
old men look up from their chess board and sigh: Aiy bananas, while
the young

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