Well, folks tis gonna be in English for now, and hopefully soon I’ll get to translate it!

Click below for each country

Cuba Mexico Guatemala

Colombia Ecuador Perú

Cuba - Oct. 15^th-Nov. 29^th ´02 

por Nanlu

Arrived in La Havana airport at 9pm on a Tuesday night, and after a good long immigration cue, and too many questions, we get out into the warm humid Cuban air, with a wif of gasoline.  The taxis don´t look too old…so much for the auld Cadillac ride says me!   We get in and take off into the Cuban night…. First impressions…Cuba is DARK!  Yup..there ain’t many street lamps at all.  Cuba’s saving energy wherever possible, and street lights outside of the main tourist spots are a luxury.  “ENERGIA QUE AHORRAMOS ES ENERGIA QUE DAMOS “ (energy we save is energy we give) is one motto on the wall of an electricity plant……

  We were staying with some Cuban friends in the suburbs of Havana, and man, I had to concentrate to understand the accent.  Cubans actually think they’ve an easy accent, but beejasus it’s difficult!  I knew Cubans got rationed food, but tis something else to wake up the first day, and them tell ya they were out looking for some blackmarket eggs for our breakfast, as each family only gets 8 eggs a month as their ration.  We knew then we were in CUBA….along with water getting cut off at night (fill your water buckets for the loo when you get the chance!), reused plastic floors, and posters of semi-naked women on the walls advertising beer and cars (yes, we are in machito latinoamerica folks)...how is it mothers, wives, sisters don´t mind (or perhaps don´t notice anymore).  

 First day plunged us straight into Cuba…took a Lada limo into town for 20 Cuban pesos (80pish), with one of our Cuban friends as a tour guide.  Old colonial buildings fly by (as do Cadillacs and Chevys in taters), unpainted for years, some derelict, but mostly inhabited, though badly in need of repair.  We headed for La Havana Vieja, where they’ve done up a load of old Spanish colonial buildings for the tourists.  Cuba has really depended on tourism since 1990, which they call the beginning of “el periodo especial”, due to the fall of the USSR in 1989.  They had to tighten their belts, and due to petrol shortages (US embargo ), China donated thousands of bicycles in Cuba to help people get to work.  

 We hit a bar in old Havana, sipped mojitos ( a drink with limón, hierba buena (mint), and white rum),  and the salsa just sang through the air from every corner…every band amazing players, all living on the dream of being discovered like the Buena Vista S. C.  They play all their hits….which by the end of our 2 weeks in Cuba, got sadly annoying, and the songs became just a tacky tourist pleaser.  But at night when the heat is more bareable, on the malecón (sea promenade) in la Habana, people just sit on the wall, talking, drinking, singing, playing, and there´s where you hear some real stuff, cause they ain’t trying to impress anyone. We never got to try out the local COCO taxis, little three wheeler yellow eggshaped cabs, that zoom about faster than is legal, and you get a nice breeze the whole time!

 Cuba was fascinating….buzzing with culture, history, music, stories, colours. I just wish I’d read up more about it before going, about Che Guevara (plastered everywhere with Fidel!), and other national heros like Camillo Cienfuegos, and Jose Marti who fought in the was of independence at the turn of the century (ahem, when the US decided t’was the time for Cuba to gain independence from Spain and abide by their rules instead…..)  

 You need to look under the surface for the real Cuba, cause there may be water and electricity shortages, it’s what you don’t see that counts…there’s no children working on the streets, or anywhere.., they all have free education and healthcare.  Here’s no homeless people…there’s still some drunks though but hardly any!  Yet, Cuban TV and press is so obviously controlled….it’s all so positive about Cuba, you can’t help but wonder what they’re hiding.  Even the happy clappy music while Fidel visits this year’s hurricane victims who’s houses are all being replaced within some months, tis a bit much!  The people look delighted to meet Fidel, but is there a bit of brainwashing ya wonder? Lots of stuff on the news about globalisation, capitalism, imperialism etc.. But after living so long without, the people do WANT things obviously enough....

 When people say ´Viva la Revolución´, they mean, they are living the revolution…., everything they do daily is part of the revolution…it’s not this event in the past, the revolution is a living thing. 

 Each neighbourhood have a Comité de la revolución, which they elect representatives to.  There were local elections while we  were there. There´s no posters, campaigning, adveristing for the local elections.  When 95% of the population turn out to vote, there has to be something working…  

 But Cuba for tourists is expensive! Transport and food are European prices.  You can get cheap meals (approx. $4-5), but they are really shit, except for the cheap pizzas.  Even in restaurants charging $8-10  plate, the portions are small.  “casa particulares”, which are like b+b’s, the meals are good, cheaper, and generous portions.  Fruit and veg. Is seasonal…so there’s not always a great variety.  So much is imported for tourists and that’s what makes it pricey. Like a large bag of crisps, would be $1.90, when it would be $1.50 at home.     

El Camello…local mad transport in Havana!  Like a double bus pulled along by a juggerhaut truck engine, filling to the brim and beyond! We took it on the last day to the beach for the experience!…cost us 4p for a 40min ride. (approx. $6 on the tourist bus) Squashed to bits, but surprisingly not smelly!  Havana white sand beaches, like Santa María are divine!  

 We also went to Trinidad, Cienfuegos, and Viñales.  Twas nice to get out of Havana, with the auld cars bellowing nasty fumes, the falling buildings…..and hit the highways, which haven’t seen a traffic jam in years, due to the lack of people travelling.  The landscape heading south was flat, flat, flat, palm trees con cocos, corn in the fields.  Some banana plants, some showers, half the cars we pass are broken down.  We would have had more photos, but one of our digital disks fucked up and it seems we lost our first week of pics from it.  All those places were beautiful.  As corny as it sounds, you would imagine Hemmingway sitting in some small bar, gazing at the local folk going about the daily business, churning it over for some novel of his.   

Cienfuegos es tan tranquilo and clean.  The houses are in a much better state than la Habana.  There´s not so many old unpainted ones.  La casa particular (like a B+B) was $15 for a double room.  Muy bien.   

What I can´t stand is how they call you by saying PPPsssst, and it´s not seen as rude here.  It´s not necessarily a come-on, it could be anyone calling you cause you forgot your change, or more likely cause they wanna sell you something...like the bugaholic Cigar sellers who begin ’Wherre you frrom friend?’! Or with a little kiss, but that´s definitely sleezy men of any age trying to get your attention.  Luckily there wasn´t too much of that being with Mark!

Bucanero...good Cuban beer...we definitely drank other very dodgey stuff... and lets not talk about all our exciting toilet experiences, and all the great looking toilets we went to!  hmm, although we did exchange some tales with some fellow travellers, over dinner once.... ARRGHhh, luckily my stomach don´t budge so easy!

We checked Nestlé in some shops,.....packaging says mother´s milk is best.  Figure Fidel has it tightly monitored....

Some cultural unclarities...Cuban´s have strange ways of giving directions, like inside of verbalising it, e.g. at the top of the rd turn left, they do hand signals only...e.g go this way , and it makes it very confusing!  

Casas de la Cultura - the shit!  A building in each town, or city dedicated to all arts, where you can get dance, music, art, acting classes, and see exhibitions, have concerts, do workshops, see recitals, practise... all under the one roof, sponsored by the government! Every town in Ireland should have one!

 Cuba sí! Viva la revolucion, hasta la victoria siempre

 Cuba has a lot to be proud of. Just sitting there a stone’s throw away from Miami, and the US.  Holding out for so long is amazing. It ain’t easy, and it ain’t perfect, but there’s lots to be learnt.  I kinda wonder if the world got fecked over tomorrow, and there was an energy crisis , food shortages (etc), I can see Cuba fairing better than most of us, cause they know how to do it.  Recycling there is a necessity and it’s so beautiful to see how they use things over and are so inventive with stuff…nothing is wasted.

Mark's Cuban spiel,

Perfect Beaches

Cuba, being economically kinda f*cked, doesn’t pollute it’s countryside as much.  Havana is a city of many millions, but doesn’t have a smog problem like Mexico City or LA.  Anyway, the nice by-product of this is thriving fauna and flora.  Or better yet, postcard beaches. 

So just in case you never make it, it goes like this.  You arrive, the sun kisses you on the forehead.  The balmy wind pats your bum with a reassuring hand. You put your shit down on the beach, under the palmtree-esque coverings.  You rub on the factor 25 (paddy irish man milk bottle skin wont last too long in this sun).  Into the water, which after 10 steps is up to your nipples.  You try to convince yourself that the water is cold.  Like in Kilkee, where each trip to the sea either decimates or quadruples your sperm count depending on which side of the ‘coldness improves your sperm count argument’ line you stand on.  But it’s no use.  You know in your heart that it’s not cold at all.  In fact it’s the warmest bleedin water you’ve ever been in.  You swim around.  All you can see everywhere is postcardness.  Post card sky, beach with palm trees, white sand, bikini clad honeys and whatever clad men.  Afterwards you take a walk along the beach, and see everyone playing in the water.  You feel like lookin everyone in the eye and joking ‘tough station, eh?’

And then you sit back down on your towel.  And you realise.... Jesus, this is FUCKING BORING!

Rock and Roll reviews:  The salsa, the whole salsa, and nothing but sasasasalsa

OK, in Cuba, tourism is important to them.  So they stuff every available bar with a salsa band.  Here is an incomplete, slightly smarmy review of every band I can remember.

 The Havana Bands

 Strike a MariPOSE

 Mariposa means butterfly in Spanish.  And that’s the only description I can find to capture the flute player of this salsa band in Habana.  The place was one of the best spots in the whole town.  So the band had to be good.  And the were.  A front woman who had the qualities of a great voice, great story telling abilities, oprah factor.  i.e. she had the moves to make the tourist morons feel like their experiencing real culture, which they were, but it shouldn’t have to come with softly softly spoonfed handheld blabla...  Anyway, the flute player was amazing.  She couldn’t have been more than 16 or 17.  And, OK, she was a cracker too.  But she played with such confidence, soloing with maturity and grace.  OR something.  If solos aren’t your thing, skip this review.  But if you know what I mean, she was great, featuring in the parts of the song that had room made for her, or going off on a 16 bar solo her self.  Fuckin whizz kid.  And we’ll probably never see her, unless Ry Cooder Jnr goes and discovers her... or something.

  Britney + gals

In a salsa band world which (in Mexico definitely, and sort of in Cuba) is almost totally male, it was tops to see an all girl band doing sister moves for themselves.  This band had a residence in Cafe O’Reilly, the ‘Irish’ bar (with no guinness, exactly how Irish is this place?) on Calle O’Reilly (that’s O’Reilly St to non-spanglophones). 

The lead singer looked a bit like Shitney Beers, hence the title. 

Anyway they were groovy.  But we couldn’t by their CD cos we have to eat too.

 Jackie Browne + gals

Some of the gaffs in Havana are fucking amazing.  Kind of what the Old Quarter is trying to be, except there’s no such thing as nice weather in Ireland, and there’s nothing but nice weather in Cuba, with the odd hurricane thrown in for putting manners on the sun worshippers. 

So this place was an old colonial building (i.e. like every building in Havana), with a cool open air mid section.  This is where Jackie Browne et al played.  They were a 30/40 something 5 piece with real (male) drummer, and 2 girl keyboards, 2 girl singers, and maybe someone else that my 9 weeks ago mind can’t remember. 

Much fun was had watching the paid drunk ass boys taking the tourist fat pigs up for a dance.  Then we danced till 1.30AM. 

  Viñales bands, and dogs

  Billie Bob Thornton +  Boys

Viñales, the town near the groovy caves on the west of Cuba, is pretty boring.  So much so that we saw this band 3 times.  The lead singer looks like Billie Bob Thornton with half bucked teeth.  The rest of the band looked like famous people too, one guy was Cristopher Walken, can’t remember the rest...

A word now about Salsa.  This band was a typical set up.  A big double bass, a guitar playing rythm, a ‘tres’ guitar i.e. with 3 main strings, doubled like a 12 string, mainly used for melody stuff or sounding like a piano but not nearly weighing as much.  The singer dude played maracas.  Then there’s someone doing this wooden block or cow bell thing which you’re not at the salsa races if you’re without.  He taps out the ‘1,2,3... 1,2’ or ‘1,2,... 1,2,3’ rythm.  You gots to have that mojo, or it just aint salsa. 

Another word about salsa bands.  They all play that ‘Guantanamera’ and that first song off the Buena Vista Social Club album.  I used to like that song.  But grew to hate hearing when a band would start into it.  You sort of know they aren’t enjoying ploughing through that number for the 1,000^th time.  A bit like when Kauzi (i.e. cow’s eye, pan pipe band on cruises st) go into ‘my heart will go on’. 

Anyway they were neat.  But no Anjelina Jolie alas.

  Bassoon takes its place and f(cks up

In the same town, Viñales, across the road there was a pub that looked packed and popular only cos the band there had a PA, which is sort of unnecessary if you’re going for the true vibe.  Anyway we checked it out.  And it sucked cos they had some bassoon player playing into an upside down mic.  Bassoon + salsa = disaster. 

On a more interesting note, the most memorable thing about Viñales was this poor bitch in heat that was running up and down the main street with 20 something ‘I’ll be having some of that’ male doggies in hot (ie the hottest) pursuit.  I felt so sorry for her.  She kept barking at them as each likely lad went over to stick their tongue into places it doesn’t go 9 times out of 10.  Barks that said ‘Look I know I’m hot stuff, but SOD OFF.  You’re not getting any!’

But all the ‘thinking with their dicks’ dogs don’t understand.  They’ve got mother nature standing in front of them with her shabby jacket open showing them all their ‘hey wanna buy a watch’ bioligical clocks.  “Boys, if you want your seed to go on in this life, theirs the magic door” she smirks while pointing to the poor bitch. 

Anyway, the rat race eventually reduced down to 2.  One big ‘only after one thing’ doggy and another not as big ‘defender of her honour’ doggy.  The 2 male doggies didn’t see eye to eye.  I really think this was a case of love versus lust.  The bitch, exhausted from a hard day of either gneas or keeping her back to the wall is asleep (outside the bassoon salsa bar).  Honour defender doggy, who has resigned himself to not getting his oats, as long as his true love doesn’t get ridden by the other big bastard doggy.  ‘Only after one thing’ doggy keeps showing ‘honour defender’ doggy his teeth, and is the bigger stronger doggy, but ‘honour defender’ doggy shows his teeth right back, cos he knows he’s right, and he can’t get the Nirvana song out of his head, and he’d rather die in battle than let his love get hurted. 

But then I headed home cos I was tired.  I don’t know who won.

 The Trinidad bands

Afro-Cuban slave dancing band

Trinidad, the stupid guide book tells us, is the home of lots of culture in Cuba.  I approach with caution.  But sit corrected upon checking out the dodgily titled ‘Conjunto Folclorico de Trinidad’, or Trinidad folk band. 

Mad rythm only based dance music.  The show was accompanied by a display of dancing.  But it was all definitely from the African slaves that were brought into Cuba during the Spanish ‘glorious’ days of colonialism.  Havana in Cuba and Veracruz were the ports through which many of Africas stolen sons and daughters passed on their way to a life of bondage and opression working for dickface white man.  But no matter what a human’s situation is, he/she finds ways to express him/herself.  Perhaps this afrocuban music is mostly rythm based because most of the instruments available to them were such, stratavariuseses not being to common on slave ships and what have you. 

Seeing as how we bought a CD of theirs, I can listen back to it now and say that the rythms are like nothing you’ve heard, and the singing consists of some main guy singing a main lead bit being answered by a big group.  The melody doesn’t place too much emphasis on being in tune, as it shouldn’t.  You feel like this music is about bringing the togetherness on (a bit like Joni Mitchell’s ‘Circle Game’ on Miles of Aisles).  About the group grooving together. 

Or maybe I’m full of shit and have no idea of what I’m talking about. 

Tacky tourist buena vista sc crap

Alas, with the good shit, comes the bad.  Tacky Kilarney tourist tastic music dished out by a synth keyboard band experience from hell.  Pity too cos it was an ace setting, the steps beside a square with a church (name one Zocalo in central America/the carribean that doesn’t have a church), where one could sip on the cheapest beer in town while watching the sun go down. 

   ‘y bailar’, the group

Paying the cipplingly large cover charge of $1, we are treated to whom I have called the ‘y bailar’ group.  The name stems from the fact that the main singer guy, played percussion while singing.  Percussion while one hand did the ‘1,2...1,2,3’ thing, the other did some crazy shit and smacked cymbals in perfect time. 

During the break, I chatted to the guy in question and extended my notes of appreciation that he was able to play 2 totally different things at once and sing at the same time, to which he replied, “Y BAILAR”, meaning, ‘And I fucking dance at the same time too’.  Truly this man had balls of steel.

Another notable thing is that nobody is shy about dancing in Cuba.  This tiny pub, which was not unlike the back of Nancy Blakes in terms of width and outdoorness, was full of people shaking their sweet hearts around the place.  Indeed some salsa shit is amazing.  How do they make their arms and heads and twists not bump into each other?  Devon knows how they make it so creamy?

  Anyway, OK, fastforward the salsa reviews.

Back in Havana

Annoying grin guy band

One band were good, but the guy had an annoying grin, so I thought they were shit. 

Spanish kidney damage band

Another band were based in a Spanish hostel place and specialised in strictly spanish dancing.  I put my ‘Cortez the Cunt’ aside for a while to check it out.  And the only conclusions I can come to is that Spanish dancers must have really fucked up kidneys, the same way skateboarders to, cos the whack their heels off the ground.  They even got some tossers from the crowd to go up dancing with them...

(insert dancy pic here)

  Bayside buskers/jammers

Finally as with most good mojo, the best mojo (?) can be found where money isn’t the issue.  Down by the wall of the bay can be found folks just jamming or having a session as we’d say in grand ol eireann. 

But you also find drunk spent english tourists hanging out of prostitutes, just as their pirate ancestors would have done, puking over their pizzas and annoying the shit out of everyone. 

Also, the bay, probably not safe to swim in, gets jumped in by the local kids to cool off, often dodging deathly waves off even deathlier rocks. 

And it Havana has a big bay wall.  So just like my dad walked me along the wall of Kilkee, I’m gonna walk my kids along the wall of Havana.  And then throw ‘em into the sea!

OTHER CUBA STUFF

Intranet/TV/Propaganda ads

Internet costs up to $5 an hour, and can be impossible to find.  More common is the ‘Intranet’ the ‘no porn or excessivly western stuff allowed’ Cuban controlled version of the internet.  You can recieve and send emails from the cuban email thing.  And this is so not interesting.

What is interesting is the fish that slip through the net of the TV system.  

Every house (ish) in Cuba has a TV, for surely tis an instrument of propaganda too important not to provide everyone with (of course the same can be said for any nation trying to tell it’s citizens what to think, eg USA). 

All of the TV is state run, and features shots of Fidel visiting hurricane stricken families who in turn praise his ass for actually showing up and the state for providing them with a new house within 2 months. 

But then another night, I see Mariah Carey live from Madison Square gardens on the self same TV telling me a hero lies in me. 

And another day I see Creed sticking their thick heads in... bleblabla.

  American Embargo

Although lots of folks in the USA are up for lifting the embargo, just for the sake of business, George W doesn’t want to.  Talks are taking place all the time.  But in the mean time, Cuba struggles on with non-fresh vegetables on their rice, chicken and avacado dinners.  Although most folks get by enjoying the cheap cheap (20 fags = 60 cents) fags and rum. 

  Havana  trees, heat, don’t go on the piss, the cracks in the footpath Hill claim your drunk ass.

Havana is like ancient Rome.  It is different from every other colonial Spanish city because it has never had the bobs or inclination to rebuild any of the city (except plaza de la revolution, where a million people can fit into here Fidel wax revtastic or someone else read old speeches of Che Guevara, and where that famous metal mural thing of Che hangs)...  So virtually every building in Havana is an old colonial house, and is falling to bits.  Also the foot paths are fucked, so going out for a night on the absolute piss is quite a no no cos you’re sure to fall into one of the many holes in the footpath and go sliding down Havana’s sewage system with a cracked pelvis and a painful meeow coming from your drunk lips that no one will hear. 

  OK.   That’s all I have to say (for now) about Cuba. 

MEXICO a la Nancy

Mexico Mexico Mexico....GREEEAAT  FOOOD!  tortillas, frijoles, tequila, chile, mole, enchiladas, tacos, tascalata (typical regional drink in Chiapas, chocolate, fruit and crushed corn...yum!), icecream with chiles, chilaquiles (spicey breakfast dish!) LONGLIVE GUACAMOLE!

First stop.....Xalapa, Veracruz....

El Rancho Orgánico del Agua Escondida....Permaculture organic farm, going for 20 years, providing its own food for its organic restaurant, organic bakery, and organic shop. ( www.manantialdelasflores.com  ) A great set up where you can learn lots, but we were only there 2 days, and the lady got sick and preferred not having the pressure of us around. So we left behind us the 3 mad cats, 2 gorgeous Alsatians, and took to the highway.  But I got my first taste of permaculture and I think it´s the path, the light and the truth!...cause it´s not just farming, you can have a permaculture town, city, house, office, business...it´s all about being as enviro. friendly and energy efficient as possible!  It ties in everything...physics and farming, sustainability and culture.  It´s really great (more info:  www.  )

  Dia de los muertos (Day of the Dead Oct. 31, Nov. 1) was a bit of a disappointment cause the people we were staying with didn´t really know much about it, and the thing was to just go visit a cementary, whether you had kin there or not!  We passed one on a bus and it was full of colour, flowers, and decorations, and candles...it was beautiful!  But we did get to go to a drama presentation, where they did short skits on death....and death´s seen as a joker, and a criticizer of humanity, and our silly little lives, and that we shouldn´t be afraid of what we don´t know.

Mexico , by Moc

Alas, I have only one concept of Mexico before arriving.  It is the speedy gonzales sleepy dusty good bad ugly shithole town swarming with flies and dusk till dawn titty twistin vampire blood suckin mean motherf(ckin servant of god fearing nice rice and beans eatin tequila swilling  mexican kind of place. 

  And it is all these things I’m sure.  But nowhere could I find the rock, untill my second last day there...  Anyway, here’s how it went...

GUATEMALA

Half ways through our Mexico adventures, we veered south, and dipped into wonderous wild Guatemala for 5 days, of mad bus rides, racing colours of indigenous outfits, and a much realler feel of non-hispanic-ness in the air, with native tongues spoken widely and proudly!  Twas also dirt cheap compared to Mexico....

The Buses!

Retired Canadian school buses roam the mountains of Guatemala, probably the reason why they still conserve their culture and languages so well, i.e. the mountains deterred the spaniards

Lago Atitlán 

We just went to one place..., this amazing lake surrounded by small towns, and volcanoes.  We tried climbing one, and Mark was pretty determined to see the crater, but there was too much cloud at the top, and alas, we didn´t see it. Great views of the lake though..

Panajachel - one of the little towns by the lake where loads of anti-Vietnam hippies ran away to to avoid conscription, and stayed, so it´s a little americano but nice.  You won´t find the real culture there though.

San Pedro

A little town across the lake, where loads of people go to take cheap english courses, and stay with families to practise.  It intrigued me with all its windy streets, and tiny maze-craze alleyways. But they have a bad plastic and rubbish problem...., they dump it anywhere., cause there ain´t no local recycling, and the dump´s half way up the volcano, so that´s no good either!

Chichicastenango Market - THE FINEST CRAFTS I´VE SEEN SO FAR, half of them belonged in museums... prices not as cheap as you´d expect, but the quality and designs were divine. Guatemala has the crafts alright, especially cloths and weaves!

COLOMBIA 

  It was nice to arrive in Colombia and despite all the shit, life goes on, and it´s not easy but people still party, work, laugh, cry...all because.   I think I expected worse in some ways.   Out of 2000 approx- kidnappings last year, only 20 were tourists.  It´s more dangerous in Mexico City where we were before this. There´s 4 taxi kidknap-robberies daily, and one in 4 police are involved in them! So Bucara feels safe in comparison!  

Uyuni

los salares de Uyuni en el sur de Bolivia..., son especatulares! Les aconsejo a todos que vayan por alla..es una naturaleza increible! Es un tur de 3 dias por salares, desiertos, montañas, geysers, lagos, agua thermales, cactuses de 1200 años, y nos tocò nieve a patadas tambien! Una locura linda de Uyuni en 4X4 jeeps hasta la fronter con Chile!


 

Chile esta caro…. Nos entrenó un poco para el regreso a irlanda!

19-05-03

 Ya estamos en Salta, Argentina.., después de un bus de 12 horas ayer de San Pedro de Atacama, primero cruzando parte del desierto mas seco del mundo, por buena carretera y cuando cruzamos la frontera, empezó el troche! Argentina esta barato, pero no mas barato que Bolivia. Los buses son mas caros, pero el hospedaje y comida estan como en Bolivia. Se escucha Che por todo lado…, ´che´meaning ´hey´ …,