The night at the Police station

Veradero was a tourist only beach with resort after resort blocking the sea from normal cubans.
Rich snot nosed tourists gathered here from all over the world wanting just 1 or 2 weeks of fun and games in the sun. For them, they wouldn´t have known the difference if it was Miami. I hated this but couldn´t complain beacuse I remembered the story this loud Aussie traveller told me. He ended up by him self in Trinidad cuba. He sat down at a table near the bar where another old english guy was sitting close by reading a book. The Aussie guy raised his voice and said "too many tourists have ruined this place." The old English guy raised his head away from the book and said "You are half the problem!" he went back to reading his book.

Daniel, the spanish guy and 2 other travellers from another hostel in havana had joined me on this trip. We got bored of the resort in 5 hours. The other 2 decided to stick with the resort while Daniel and I stepped out at night to find a nice Cuban place. We stopped at the first place that looked tyical of Cuba. Outside bar with live Cuban music and people pouring onto the street dancing salsa blocking traffing into the one way street.

We found a spot close to the small stage standing almost on the street. I could only pick up a few words of the songs but was mesmerised but the music staring at the band members playing different instruments. After a few minutes I realised Daniel wasn´t standing next to me anymore but chatting to an attractive Cuban girl further away. Her friend was standing next to her staring at the band. I waited for Daniel to return but he was completely engrossed in the conversation. The other girl smiled at me. It was an invitation. I looked away back at the band. After a few minutes I thought that Daniel might actually need my help in the form of a distraction for the other girl. So I decided to walk over.

We sat down at a table close to the bar. The girls were paying for their own food and drinks which was reassuring as it could not lead to any wrong sort of transaction. I tried to have a conversation in my broken spanish but Daniel was doing much better since he could speak spanish. 20 minutes later I noticed the police car parked near the bar on the street behind us. I looked at the girls they both looked uncomfortable exchanging glances. Daniel hadn´t noticed this. I knew Cubans weren´t allowed to mix with tourists and saw what was comig next. The girls excused themselves to go to the toilett. 5 minutes later Daniel wondered where they were? I pointed at the police car. The toilet was a dead end. These girls weren´t going anywhere. They returned after another 5 minutes and were escorted to the police car. Daniel followed and I followed him. He tried to talk to the police officers but to no avail. As the car drove away with the girls in the back, I saw the sadness in one of the girls´ face looking straight at me waving her hand in a way that clearly meant "Please help me"! By the time Daniel had finished talking to the security guard and found out where they were being taken, my guilt and sadness were starting to wear off.

Daniel had pulled over a taxi. "Are you coming?" he said. "Er... erm.. yeah OK" I was a reluctant knight in shining armour, "Caballero" as the cabi called us after hearing the story. With Daniel´s perfect spanish he was able to enquire about the whereabouts of the girls from the only officer present in that police station 2 in the morning. he explained that these girls were just talking to us and having a drink. Another officer appeared out of a dark hallway fixing his trousers, buckling his belt and looking sleepy. For a brief moment I wondered if that girl was in that room. The other officer disappeared to the back of the hallway after telling us to wait. He returned 15 minutes later with two sheets of paper which turned out to be criminal records. The photos were blurry and I can´t honestly say it was them but what choice did we have but to say thank you and leave. What astonished me was that at no point the police officers asked us for names or identification. They will treat their own citizens like animals but will not touch tourists.

These girls earned $10 month from there day job but they were both really attractive. A rich old tourist staying in the resort across the street paying $200 a night for a room could shower them with more money in one night than they would earn in 2 years. I felt sad in the taxi back remebering the sad look in that girl´s face and wondering about her fate. Daniel remained quiet on the way back and was probably thinking the same thing.