Everything is Sold-Out

Everything is Sold-Out / 14ymedio, Eliecer Avila
Posted on December 17, 2014

14ymedio, Eliecer Avila, 16 December 2014 — The end-of-year all over the
world presents a challenge for many enterprises and businesses,
especially for those in the transportation sector. Nobody wants to miss
the opportunity to considerably increase the profits to be made from an
extraordinary rise in demand for services. To this end, strategies are
plotted and necessary adjustments are made well in advance. It is also
true that at this time there is a surge in ticket prices. What would be
strange is if, assuming you have the resources to travel, you were
unable to find any means to get to your destination by land, sea or air.

That is, unless you live in Cuba. This is an island whose land and total
population are comparable to or exceeded by some large cities of the world.

Over here, starting in the first few days of December, you can already
hear in any office that sells tickets to travelers the famous phrase,
"No, Son, no, for those dates, everything is sold-out
It is also common to find someone who laughs and says, ironically, "But
who in their right mind thinks they can wait till early December to
start shopping for tickets? That's something you start doing at least
three months in advance!"

The problem is that if you don't find an option to travel by plane,
train or bus, then you have to take a "suck it up and endure the
consequences." This means that you have to go outside Havana to get on
some ancient American truck that's more than 50 years old (that's been
jerry-rigged for such long hauls), and deal with a unlicensed driver and
zero guarantees for passengers' safety.

Even so, the price to board these hulking masses of steel exceeds 200
pesos. Thousands of people of all ages, including babes in arms, travel
to and from the eastern end of the country seated on long iron benches,
holding on by the tippy-tips of their fingers, and tossed from their
spot every time the vehicle brakes or makes some sudden move to get
ahead, or to avoid colliding with cars that are travelling in the
opposite direction at hundreds of miles per hour, where there are no
paved roads.

Rain, cold, hunger, darkness, the need to answer calls of nature (which,
when you can do it, you might do it on the grass): these are among the
benefits of this type of travel that can last, depending on the
destination province, between 12 and 20 hours – if there are no breakdowns.

These people are the ones you later see on the news, reported injured or
deceased in the accidents that take place daily on these routes. Of
course, those reports don't dig at the root of the problem, but rather
lay all blame on the drivers of these contraptions.

A serious reflection on this subject – or on any other aspect of the
daily life of Cubans – brings us to the inevitable conclusion that
without a new political system, we will never climb out of this
underdevelopment, which is perilously covered-up by our own selves.

I pray once again, at this end-of-year, that the backwardness, ignorance
and above all the irresponsibility of the State does not cause the loss
of life for so many Cubans on our roads. Unfortunately, the statistics
are stacked against me.
Translated by: Alicia Barraqué Ellison

Source: Everything is Sold-Out / 14ymedio, Eliecer Avila | Translating
Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/everything-is-sold-out-14ymedio-eliecer-avila/