Many came with US dollar bills taped across their mouths. Others carry Cuban flags made of paper. The Che Guevara stickers made by the Young Communist Organization go like hot cakes with hundreds of people wearing them throughout the day. A broad sense of solidarity with Cuba, and the Cuban trade unions and people, saturates the protest. Thousands of people come in their cars and vans with friends and relations, some because there weren't any buses, or because the buses were long since filled.
Whole families arrive, often with their own signs in the trunk.
Everyone has brought water, along with winter coats, boots, scarves and mittens. Winter clothes are stripped off, and suddenly the crowd is a mix of summer and winter, coats tied around the waist, paper hats made of leaflets and newspapers, everybody sunburned and exhausted at the end of the 10 kilometre hike. Some turn back before the final kilometres, a stretch through industrial land where marchers feel isolated and sidelined. Why did the march not come close to the perimeter, many ask. The end is the exhibition grounds where toilets await, together with brief speeches, and more music.