Author: Jorge Milanes

In the case of Cuba, the use of signs was carried out in an original way, demonstrating the way of life of its citizens, both from the formal point of view as well as in its content.

Friday was the last time I saw my friend. She had called early in the morning saying that she had a suitcase full of books that she didn’t want any more and that to keep from having to throw them out, she had thought about me.

What astonishment I felt when I got home to find two plastic water bottles, one sitting on each side of the entrance! I wondered, what reason could there be for those bottles, which for the first time I had seen between the two columns out front.

Yesterday, when I was walking briskly to the Payret Cinema (it was just about time for the movie), I saw that a young guy standing against the wall on the side of the cinema had gotten caught up in an embarrassing situation.

“Buy mine! I’m telling you, they’re the cheapest and tastiest, but also inside there aren’t any,” the vendor suggested, using one of the most amusing selling strategies.

It’s a tradition in Cuba to make offerings to the orishas. For a long time this has been used by people seeking harmony with those Afro-Cuban gods.

While I was listening to my brother, I thought that he better not return to the central warehouse because one of these days he’s going to get himself in hot water.

In Cuba it’s a tradition to hang a red ribbon in your car to protect the vehicle. It’s said that this disperses negative energy; in other words, it can reduce the effects of the “evil eye”.

What struck me as odd was that neither the driver nor the guide had ever been there. In any case, the bus left Havana taking a highway on the north shore.

Sitting in the front room of our house, we were watching the nine o’clock soap opera when suddenly we heard an unusual sound.