Paul Nelson in Cuba/31.jpg
Previous | Home | Next31.jpg. Varadero Baseball Fans. Pictured here are three people on the beach at Varadero. I took a tour bus to this resort town and when the bus stopped, we had two hours before lunch. I took off my sandals and walked down the beach. At one point I took a picture of the sky, as seen earlier. I walked to a spot where 12 men were playing a modified version of baseball. One man would bat using his hand, or a block of wood and a tennis ball. There were three bases, not four, two bases and home plate. I watched and the woman pictured here invited me in Spanish to come and play. I told her I just wanted to watch, but she insisted and I played, went two-for-three, scored two runs and made a catch in the field. (They wanted to test the new guy.) I went down on my knees to catch a line drive. It turns out these were sugar cane workers on their day off. They get six days on and three days off. At one point, crossing home, I was given a bottle to take a drink. I expected water, but got rum. AGUA! I said and they made sure I got water before too long. In talking with the man in the middle of the picture, he was surprised I was from Estados Unidos. He thought my Spanish was pretty good, but I think he meant my accent and not my vocabulary and comprehension. We talked about American baseball and he said he liked American music. As an example he cited Barry Manilow.
