For Billy Ocean, with apologies.

The game is Pick The Client / Pick The Driver, and it goes like this:

Driver 1: “Taxi?”

Jane: “Yes. To Alemandares area. Near Hotel Kohly.”

Driver 1: “Of course. This way, this car.”

The car is beautiful, one of the renovated 1950s machines tourists love to drive in.

Jane: “How much?”

Driver 1: “To Hotel Kohly? 25 CUC.”

Jane: “You’re kidding. 10 CUC.”

Driver 1: “To Hotel Kohly? 25, absolutely.”

Jane: “Every other time I’ve taken a cab from here to there, it’s been 10 CUC.”

Driver 1: “Then those drivers were stupid because you have a pretty face. 15.”

Jane: “10.”

Driver 1: “No way. 15. No one will take you to Kohly for 10 CUC.”

Driver 2: “I’ll take you.”

Driver 1: “…except for my stupid friend here who doesn’t know how to make money.”

And that’s how I meet Lazaro.

I’ll introduce you to him later this week. In the meantime… if you’re enjoying PostCards from Cuba… think about buying me a cup of coffee…

*

LANDED here for the first time? Let me catch you up:

Series 1 of Postcards from Cuba is now fully live. Check out the annotated table of contents for a tour, or, if you prefer, hop over to the chronological table of contents.

xoxo

“Jane”

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