Meeting Up with my German “Girlfriend”

Fernando Aramis

HAVANA TIMES — I kept in touch with Trixi by writing letters and, as my English wasn’t very good, I used to always go in search of my doctor friend Reinaldo Pantoja so that he could translate her letters to me. We wrote to each other for exactly one year. She even sent me a German language course on tape so that I could learn her language.

All of her letters arrived on time, except for the last one, in which she told me the date she’d arrive on the island and the name of the hotel where she’d be staying. By the time this letter reached my hands, she had already been in Cuba for 25 days and only had 6 days of her trip left before she’d leave again. I went to where my ex-stepdad had a car that would help get me to Guardalavaca beach. We would meet again on Guardalavaca beach, located in the Holguin province.

After having called her at the hotel she was staying at to tell her I was coming, we set off. We arrived that same day at about 7pm. I described her to the Hotel doormen and they tracked her down within a few minutes. She appeared. It was a odd and dull meeting. She asked me to come into the hotel not aware of the fact that we Cubans are unable to enter these kinds of establishments.

For that reason, we had to go to the town of Guardalavaca in order to rent a room for the night where I could stay. Before having left home, I’d given 15 USD to my ex-stepdad for his favor to bring me here. When I’d settled in, she returned to the hotel and I was left in that room as lonely as a cloud. I asked myself whether this had been worth all the effort.

The next day, early in the morning, she came to look for me and we went to Holguin city. Everything was very strange and I could tell she was being distant. We arrived in Holguin’s city center and we decided to eat something at a cafe. Suddenly, a young man came up to us and started conversation. I realized that this man was very comfortable with her to be a complete stranger. He sat down at our table and stayed there until we left again for Guardalavaca.

When we got there, I asked her for some money so I could get home to my city and that’s just what I did. I thought that I didn’t have anything more to do with her, and I understood that the whole time she’d been in Cuba without me knowing, she’s already found a substitute. We politely said our goodbyes and I went back home.

When I got to Bayamo, my wife was pissed off at me for not calling her. I told her that I never should have gone anywhere and that it had been a total disaster, and that she could sleep peacefully because absolutely nothing had happened.

I know that a lot of people had to do what I did out of confusion, curiosity and necessity during that time. For me, it was all useless. And at the end of the day, it was my wife who over the years, when we were no longer together, decided to be a jinetera, prompted by her partner at the time, who she now calls the “Unspeakable” with the difference being that she actually did make her dream of crossing the Atlantic come true.