So
much of what you have to do to make a trip like
this work — not just the travel part, but the TV show
part — is done before you leave home. When you get out
here, the concerns of everyday life-at-home fall away and
the day at hand and its tasks are sharply focused and strangely
simple.
When you are creating a program
like Adventure Divas there are certain marks you must hit,
but the spirit of the journey is serendipity and our modus
operandi is go! go! go! That's where the fun comes from. Not
to mention the potential for disaster.
We decided it was high-time
to leave behind the big city of Havana and headed for the
train station. Railway times are all approximate in Cuba (to
say the least) but the train we thought we needed was rolling
as we ambled into the station. Paul and Holly and Pam leaped
on but Cheryl and I didn't make it. Keep in mind that this
is not the 'A' train to Chicago Hope.
"That's OK . . . we'll just
take the next one," said Cheryl, realizing that not only might
there not be a next one but that we didn't actually know where
this one was going. We asked around, but strangely, nobody
else seemed to know either. Cheryl and I were like, "Oh rats,
what are we going to do?" Those guys have the equipment, we
have the money. Since we never did make plans where we were
going to sleep next (serendipity) there were no rendezvous
points (disaster).
So we're sitting there with
our backs up against the wall (literally and figuratively)
deciding, finally, that since we've got the money, they gotta
come back to us. We'll wait. By and by we hear "choo choo,
choo choo." We pay little attention. By now we've gotten used
to the fact that Cuba's old trains really still do speak "choo
choo," a dead language in U.S. trainland. The engine passes
us, then the cars start by and Cheryl spots Holly in the window.
We don't believe it! Only Castro can turn a train around in
Cuba.
The train hasn't quite stopped
but there's Holly (serendipity!) on the steps with a huge
smile on her face, Paul, right behind her, camera rolling...
Holly jumps, then Paul jumps... CRASH! and our $70,000 rented
camera breaks his fall (disaster). Holly's face turns from
pink to white to green; Paul's face turns red. I'm remembering
the old wisdom from my years at CBS: protect the camera first;
cameramen can be replaced. "What the $@#! happened?" Holly
screams (I'm quoting her exactly).
Turns out that train had just
been going around the block to reposition itself so we never
were in danger of being separated. And thanks to Paul's insistence,
we had a back-up camera. But that was our disastrous, serendipitous
day, and such is the nature of low rent travel (not counting
the camera).
