Part 4. The Money Nazi.

The inside of the hotel was stunning, but we were starved and the first thing we needed to do before looking around was to eat. We still had no Cuban money, so I decided that I'd check in and Steven could look for the money exchange. There was only one group in front of me, a foursome of extremely jovial Swedes, however it seemed to take forever for the check-in process, so I just waited and gazed around and listened to them chatter to each other about who was going to sleep where, and how they were going to pay. It's a shame how almost everyone in the world speaks 2 or more languages but us North Americans.

Steven saw 2 men at a counter handing over money and getting pesos in return, so off he went and waited in line. The dark haired man behind the desk ignored him for a few minutes, made a phone call, disappeared behind a counter and eventually made a quick sideways glance at him. Annoyed that eye contact had been made, he heaved a huge sigh and in response to Steven's query about exchanging money, he curtly responded "No money. You come back one hour." and walked away.

Steven came back and reported to me that there was no money, so we finished up our check in process and as we were gathering up our luggage, we saw 3 other people get in the money line, and ask and receive Cuban pesos! I walked over there, waited for an obscene amount of time while this same man made yet another phone call. When I got to the front of the line, and made my (really polite) request, he scowled at me and said "No money!" His eyes narrowed with what seemed to be rage, and he jabbed his finger at me and said "You come back...one hour!"

I thought that maybe these other money-receiving folks had pre-ordered their money? Or that perhaps he was just insane.

So we went up to our room, via the scary elevator that shimmied all the way up, and unpacked a bit, changed into some cooler clothing, turned on some fans (*whew*...it was HOT) and headed back down.

There was a new woman at the money desk, so I ran over and quickly asked if I could exchange money. She looked at me like I was the insane one, and pointed upwards and said "Yes, theese ees the money desk." I quickly flung over a handful of hundreds, my breathing becoming somewhat panicked as I saw the Money Nazi approaching. "Oh no" she says worriedly. "Eees too much. Eeees too much."

" No, it's OK, this is good, we're here for 9 more days" I started to babble at the same time as the Money Nazi arrived and started speaking louder and louder to her. "OK, just this much then." I jammed some hundreds back in my pocket and shoved a crumpled pile of bills towards her. "Just this then, just this...." as I was pushing money to her, Money Nazi was getting more and more irate and now she was starting to yell back at him. Thank Goodness she was computing things as she yelled and she counted out my (oh so cherished) Cuban Convertible Pesos at the same time that she argued with him, as he glared at me. I wonder if he was mistaking us for someone else?

Regardless, we now had money! We could now eat and drink and begin to be merry!

The scary elevators. The doors slid open sideways and would sometimes just stick half way. Needless to say, I'd be there pushing them all the way open in a panic.