Lorenzo Martin Martines, Author at Havana Times

How I Spent My Christmas

Midnight came along with the alcohol we drank and Chacho’s stories, we wished each other well for baby Jesus’ birth and went to sleep…

“The Police Captain came looking for you,” said my neighbor Fina without even saying hello. “You must be making that up Fina,” I replied

I went to visit a friend in the town of Cojimar. We visit each other every now and then and try to fix the world as we drink coffee & smoke.

Getting old must be devastating. It scares me at least. I’ve become more sensitive, more sympathetic with age.

As I do almost every Sunday, I went out to forage for the week’s food. The Egido market was nearly empty and with sky-high prices.

I took advantage of Sunday morning to do some shopping with the money my daughter sent, and later share the purchases with my mother.

After waiting an hour and a half for the bus, I give in and began to walk to 60th and 11th Streets, in the distant Playa municipality.

I was a happy child, from my neighborhood, from my time… We were happy with little, and we didn’t even notice we were poor…