Gibara in mourning

Thanks for posting this JA,
Certainly unpleasant stuff.

Thanks, John, for the heads-up on this.

Excellent article by Marc Frank of Reuters about funeral in Gibara and general update on the crash at https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-crash/cuba-begins-to-bury-its-dead-from-airline-disaster-idUSKCN1IL0V7

I have an acquaintance living in Holguin. Her husband lost 6 friends on that flight. Truly sad.

I have an acquaintance living in Holguin. Her husband lost 6 friends on that flight.

It is amazing to realize just how many in Cuba are one step removed or friends of friends due to the Cuban close knit family and friend social structure.

Same day as the plane crash, a family member of my significant other died. They were so close that she had taken me by to meet him. But I never really understood how they were related so asked after he died. Turns out he was her father's ex-wife's ex-husband. But still considered a family member.

True....the concept of family casts a wide net.

I think it has to do with everybody struggling.....the more people you know and have some connection with, socios not included, the better. People you can trust, to some degree.

Reminds me of where I park my rental car in Marti, overnight. There is an older couple, up the street that have a carporch. Nice house. Lilly white. My family is all black/mulato. They are always gratious and,truly, friends of the family. I have to fight to slip 1-2cuc into their hands every night.

Reminds me....I need to gift them something more substantial on my next trip.

Although things have changed. Now there are brigades, architects, for renovating your house, that didn't really exist in 2002 when we did the renos to our place in Havana. Had some friends recommend tile layers, etc. All were a disaster.

Discovered we had family in Havana, a plumber, tile layer, one that worked in a glass factory, and one of them knew an electrician that they could trust, and since it was family, they weren't going to let them rip us off. We brought family into Havana from Marti to do cement and concrete work. Found a welder in the barrio that did windows and doors.....quite inexpensive.

Everything went very smoothly, when all the help was family or friends of family. And it cost us almost nothing except for materials. Family doesn't expect to do it for cash. The glass for 6 huge windows and front door cost us about a 1/3 of what it would have cost in the store and that included cutting all the panels and installation. Yes, it was stolen....lol

We would go out shopping and buy stuff for them and sneak cash into their clothes. There was the end of day dinner, domino's and rum. That was a given.

There was an insane amount of work done... I think, didn't keep close tabs, it ended up being around $2000usd.

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