The Cubana Night

The following blog post was written on the evening of the 11th July. Due to technological restrictions it was posted at a later date.

While in Bloemfontein we wanted to try a little nightlife, since nightlife at the Trading Post in Lesotho consists of an evening fire that usually ends by about 9pm (yes, we are a little lame but we get up early and we are non-stop the whole day). Anyway, Doug and Marshall were already out and said we should join them. On the phone, Doug told us the place was called “Chewbaca,” so that is what we tried to tell the taxi driver who only spoke Afrikaans. It turned out that it was actually called “Cubana,” which is funny considering Doug’s attempts during Sesotho lessons have concluded in Spanish responses.

The place was warm, had good deals, the people working were friendly, and one member of our group was enjoying the hooka. On tv, instead of sports, they were showing a fashion show, which was a little strange.

The bathroom attendants were very aggressive in their attempts at earning rand. In the ladies room the attendant told Allison to use soap and then waited with a towel to dry her hands, and in the men’s room the attendant saw the US dollar in Doug’s wallet and asked for it instead of rand. Then, when Mike went to the bathroom, the attendant asked for something from America instead of money, so Mike gave him a bracelet. Then the guy thanked Doug for sending his American friend when he went to the bathroom a second time.

Overall, it was a fun night and we still managed to make it back to the hotel by a little after 11pm.