Esther is a great support for Viva Cuba.
Esther is a great supporter for Viva Cuba even though she only shows up once a year.
Esther is a trolley driver for Tour St. Louis, the company that provides the trolly for the mural tours during Cuba Fest, the third weekend in October. Esther lives in South St. Louis and used to be a school bus driver. Now, she drives part time for the trolley company.
She gets up very early in the morning, picks up her trolley, and drives it to Cuba in time for the narrated mural tours. Most years she drives an open trolley and has to bundle up for the cold morning and afternoon drives from and to St. Louis.
This year she got lucky and got an enclosed trolley with a heater, and it is a two day job. She parks the trolley inside the Cuba Fire Department overnight and then stays at an area motel. Sunday will find her shopping Cuba Fest and then driving the trolley for this year’s first “Echoes from the Past” Cemetery Tour. Sunday afternoon she will head back to St. Louis.
She has great skill in navigating small town Cuba’s tight streets, she keeps the narrators on schedule, and she doesn’t mind reminding the guides if they leave something out of the tour that she thinks is important. This is her fifth year of driving the trolley, and she knows the murals and their stories.
Esther is skillful at navagating Cuba's narrow streets that are clogged with traffic and parked cars during Cuba Fest.
Esther has become a fan of Cuba’s murals and Cuba Fest. She likes to shop at Cuba Fest and wears a Viva Cuba T-shirt. On her own, she has returned to Cuba with her family, given them her own mural tour, and eaten in an area restaurant.
Viva Cuba members have learned to depend on Esther and her “can do” attitude. We salute Esther as a friend of Viva Cuba and a great representative of Tour St. Louis.
Esther and Viva Cuba member Vanessa relax after the Saturday tours are completed.
Esther is a great asset to the mural tours.
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