Cuba

3/12/2013

I have been interested in traveling to Cuba for some time. Lennie and I talked about going several years ago but then Bush closed legal licensed travel for U.S. citizens. Several friends went illegally with Canadian Tour companies going through Mexico but I wasn't comfortable doing that. So last summer when Obama removed the restrictions for travel Lennie and I started talking about going again. We looked into several companies that were able to get the required licenses and eventually decided to go with International Expeditions. We liked that we flew into Camaguey in the Eastern part of the island and then drove across to the West, flying home out of Havana. Then we were delighted when our friend Pat Grange decided to join us - that made three birders for sure on this trip. Cuba has several endemic species of birds and we hoped to see some of them. This was not a birding trip - it was a people-to-people licensed program. I believe the license was issued by some division in the U.S. government and mostly deals with what we can and can't do. They don't want us doing business in Cuba nor can we buy anything that isn't art. We definitely cannot buy cigars or rum to bring home.

Tuesday 3/12 We left Palo Alto early this morning - 5 AM, but fortunately Pat's daughter, Julie drove us to the airport. The flight was normal and we arrived in Miami some 12 or more hours after we left. (A little more than 5 hours flying time.) We found the shuttle to take us to our hotel and were glad to check in - exhausted as we were. At 6:00 PM we went to a welcome reception where we met our leader, Pauline Standish, along with the rest of our fellow travelers. Blanche Alter, Carol Barker, Pamela Bartley, Mike Bertram & Kathy King, Tommi & Stan Elefant, Peg & John Galle, Kathy & Bill McClaskey, Gail and Tom McInerney, Lorraine and Charles Jespersen, plus Lennie, Pat, and me. We had some wine and snacks and chatted with each other. Pauline gave us some instructions and paperwork for flying to Cuba the next day. After that we just went to bed - we were so tired.

Wednesday 3/13 We went to a Cuban restaurant next door to the hotel for breakfast. I ordered French toast and instead of getting what I expected I got pieces of deep fried bread - like MacDonald’s would serve. I couldn't eat them. We also ordered sandwiches for lunch since we'd be on the plane around lunchtime. It was also not very good and I think it made me sick. I won't be eating there again! We went to the International Miami airport and it was like we were already in a foreign country - no English spoken around us - all Spanish. In fact the speaker announcements were in Spanish first. The place was chaotic and we were glad to have Pauline to direct us. Eventually we got through the check-in process and security. Our flight was late leaving, so we were later than expected when we arrived in Camuguey - a city towards the eastern side of Cuba. There we met our Cuban guide Edelso, along with our bus driver, Jose. There was a lot of activity in the area with lots of Cuban families waiting for their relatives to arrive from Miami. The relatives were all bringing lots of packages with various household items. While waiting we noticed a school "bus" picking up children for their ride home. But the bus was like a big open army transport trailer. The kids had to be pulled up and over the edges to get into the back of the trailer. We saw all kinds of trucks and trailers hauling people while we were in Cuba. Many vehicles are from the Russian period - few new cars since then. Hitchhiking is very common throughout the country. It is even regulated in spots with a government official in charge of stopping cars to pick up people. All government cars (blue license plates) are required to take passengers who are going their way. Many people depend on hitchhiking every day to get to work and home again. We were supposed to visit a School of Ballet but for some reason we didn't. After we were home we heard that 7 members of the Cuban Ballet defected to the U.S. and were asking for asylum. We wondered if that had something to do with why we did not go for a visit. We drove through the outskirts of Camaguey to the town. Edelso pointed out several tall buildings - 18 stories or so. These were built during the Russian period. We also crossed several train tracks - also from the Russian period. But since the Russians are gone the trains and tracks are deteriorating because of lack of skill and parts to keep them in shape. But now the government has brought in some company from China to repair and restore the system. This theme was continued throughout Cuba. There were a lot of well-built buildings that were seriously showing signs of deferred maintenance. The paint would be peeling, railings falling off, in hotels plumbing not working well, windows not fitting well and so forth. Since the government owns most things individual tenants have no incentive (or money) to fix things up. In town we stopped and walked to a club for a drink and some music. I think the place we went was called Casa de la Trova Patricio Ballagas and the band was Son Entero. They were fun and we enjoyed the drinks and music. Our choices were beer - Buccanero which is dark or Crystal, which is light, Cuba libre which is rum and coke, Mojito which is rum, crushed mint, sugar, and seltzer water. I tried them all throughout the trip but ended up enjoying the Bucanero and the Mojito for most occasions. We walked around town and enjoyed seeing the people and places. Eventually we arrived at our restaurant for dinner: La Campana de Toledo. I can't remember the food but the seating was attractive in an old colonial sort of place - with patio seating. After this we drove to Sancti Spiritus to overnight at Hotel Rancho Hatuey. It was late when we arrived and not having our flashlights at the ready we had a hard time finding our rooms - numbers were not easy to find but finally we got in and were greeted by towels folded to look like two swans. Slept well at last. It was a long day.

Thursday 3/14 We had a buffet breakfast this morning. I can't remember the details but most breakfasts were similar - I usually had cereal with yogurt and fruit, mangoes, watermelon, sometimes canned fruit. The coffee was ok but I understand you had to go to a special coffee house to get the good stuff. After breakfast we loaded up the bus and headed towards Trinidad (on the Caribbean Sea). Sancti Spiritus is about half way between the north and south coasts of the island. Just outside of town we stopped at Torre de Manaca-Iznaga, the former home of one of the wealthiest sugar planters in Cuba. We walked around here and tried out a sugar cane press and tasted the raw sugar - very sweet. This area was once Cuba's most important sugar producing region. The street up to the home was lined with local women selling their handmade lace and embroidery. It was beautiful work and if it weren’t for the fact that I had lots of similar work already I would have bought some. Pauline was friendly with one of the farmers who lived nearby so some of us went into his home to see how he lived. The house was very tiny - the bedroom was just big enough for walking space around the double bed but all was clean and neat with some nice amenities. He even had a large flat screen TV, refrigerator and a microwave. He told us he has a brother in Miami which is how he can afford these extras. This is the case with most Cuban's - they need a relative working in the U.S. in order to have anything above the most basic needs - including eating meat regularly. Out the back of his house was a rather rough area that served several other houses - for junk, animals, cooking, and even two outhouses. But he told us he had indoor plumbing. Before arriving at Trinidad we stopped at a look out point to see the Valley of the Sugar Mills - or Valle de San Luis. In Trinidad we had an interesting walk through town up to the church in the town plaza. Then we walked around just to look at part of the town. The streets were all cobblestone and the buildings were Spanish style - some in good repair, some not. Streets are very narrow and we were warned throughout the trip to be careful because drivers will not stop for pedestrians. But as usual, I didn't have any problem - just gave them my San Francisco stare. We did get a little turned around because the town is built on a hill and while we thought we were going around the block the blocks are not square. We asked some old folks and they managed to tell us how to get back to the Plaza despite the fact we did not speak any Spanish nor they English. About language - we were told that English was taught in school - and everyone goes to school. But we even met some young people who did not seem to speak any English. Somewhere along the way we ate lunch at some local restaurant but I can't remember it at all - except I noted it was a buffet. Then we went to a pottery house: Casa del Alfarero, run by the same Santander family for many generations. A delightful older potter demonstrated his skills on the potter wheel, it was amazing. I would have loved to have brought something home but it was all so big and breakable that I felt it was too difficult. It was very unique. We continued on to Trinidad to Ancon Hotel - a lovely hotel right on the Caribbean Sea, just a short walk to the water's edge. I walked along the water but chose instead to swim in the pool - I had the place to myself since the water was rather cold. It really is a lovely hotel with a nice balcony looking at the sea. Then we had the fun for dinner. We met in front of the hotel and several cars from the 1950s drove up and they were there to pick us up. They were such beauties (on the outside) and several of us (me included) commented on the fact that this car was exactly the same as the one we learned to drive on. We had a very noisy and bumpy ride to dinner. When we turned off the highway to drive on an isolated dirt road we wondered where on earth we'd be eating dinner. Suddenly we arrived at a small town with dirt streets and several rows of home. We stopped at one home and walked into the back of the home at a Patrona - a private restaurant in a home. Recently private individuals have been able to open a restaurant for a limited amount of guests in their homes. The ones that we went to had a separate space - usually a covered patio for their dinner guests. We had a delicious dinner with the usual drinks all accompanied by a local musician. It wasn't long before we found that all music groups would be singing Guantanamera to us. After dinner we had a fun ride back to our hotel in our 1950s taxis.

Friday 3/15 Today we were off to Sierra Maestra, the mountains where the revolutionaries hid out during the start of the revolution against the regime of Batista - starting in July 1953. We went to Topes de Collantes: Parque Codina and met at the visitor center. There we met our local guide and we climbed aboard these huge Russian era jeep like vehicles for our off road foray into the park. We drove through the park to a building where we were served our usual welcome drink - considering the early morning hour most of us chose the drink without the rum. Then we went on a lovely walk through the woods enjoying the fauna and several fun birds including the Cuban Tody and the Cuban Trogon. Then we went back to the place we had first stopped where we were served a very nice lunch. We had pork, potatoes, rice, beans and fruit. I think eating so much pork is bothering my stomach - I almost never eat it. Eventually I found that if asked there were many places that would serve chicken instead. After lunch we continued driving and we stopped at a place that processed coffee beans and had a coffee and a restroom stop. A comment about restrooms - many of the public places were pretty disgusting, but most of them had an attendant to hand out toilet paper for which they expected a tip from us, so we were always hoarding change. Also throughout the country - even in fine hotels you did not put the toilet paper in the toilet because the plumbing was so bad. Every place had a special basket for the paper. Then we stopped at a building that used to be a rich home but was now the Cuban Modern Art Museum. We had a supervised visit to see the paintings - some amazing work. We were told that one of them was worth over a million dollars. Then back to the hotel for rest, shower, and swimming. I think we ate dinner in the hotel - a rather nice buffet - along with all we wanted to drink. Most dinners we had two drinks for dinner, I often had one mojito and one bottle of water. We were not supposed to drink anything but tap water, not even for brushing our teeth. But we were given plenty of bottled water - the bus always had a good supply of water which I really appreciated.

Saturday 3/16 Today we left on a long drive. The hotel we were supposed to stay in had no water because of low rainfall this past year so we had to drive some 5 hours to Playa Giron which is near the Bay of Pigs. During the drive Edelso showed us a movie "Fidel" which looked interesting but since I couldn't hear it or read the subtitles I bought the DVD and will watch it here at home when I have time. Along the way we stopped and met a guide who works for the national parks. We got out of the bus and followed him - first behind a house (I think a family member lived there.) and he showed us some Cuban parakeets and then we walked down the road right to the Bee Hummingbird! She is the smallest bird in the world, barely 2 inches long, about half the size of our local Anna's. That was the one bird I particularly wanted to see so that was fun. We saw a few other birds here too and then loaded back onto the bus for our long ride. We stopped for lunch at Restaurant Cueva de Los Peces where we had a few choices (chicken being one) and we were served at the table. It is next to the "cave of the fish" - a sinkhole filled with fish that come in from the sea through a subterranean passage. Wish we could have had a swim. But on we drove watching some very small villages as we drove by. It was interesting to see on the highway a mix of trucks and buses, along with a horse and cart every so often. We stopped at the Museum of Giron which has vivid displays of the Bay of Pigs incident and other war stuff. While we had to hurry through many places we were given too long here. I noticed that several different companies all have the same stops on their trips. The Cuban government has a certain agenda for us which explains why there were many places we didn't see or spend much time at. I would like to go back to Cuba when it is more open and spend more time in some areas. We checked into our hotel Playa Giron, a very interesting place. It was directly along the water and the rooms were spread out over a very large area. It took us 15 minutes to walk from the lobby to our room. Each building had two bedrooms (with a private bath) and then a larger community room with tables, chairs, and TV. They were rather nice although in need of maintenance and a long walk for dinner. We tried to go swimming/snorkeling but it was very rocky and the water cloudy, so no luck. We met with a park employee who talked to us about saving the wetlands and then after a drink we went in for dinner - I believe it was a buffet.

Sunday 3/17 We had an early morning bird walk on a trail called: Sendero Enigma de las Rocas - "the secret trail of the rocks". The naturalist from last night led us and we saw a dozen or so species of birds we had not seen before. It was a lovely walk. Then back to the hotel where we loaded up and drove to the small town of Papite to visit the Korimacao Project, a group of artists, musicians, and dancers. It was never very clear to me how this project operates but it was started by the government some 15 years ago and talented artists live here and practice their art. They perform for visitors but they are not allowed to sell any of their work to us. Although later when our bus stopped at our next stop some of the musicians were there to sell us their CD. A group of very talented musicians performed their African/Cuban blend of jazz for us. It was a fun time. Next we went to a crocodile farm. The Cuban crocodile is endangered so there are several farms in Cuba that are trying to raise more. While here we had a drink and more Cuban music. We also saw some tree rats which are more like guinea pigs and very cute. We ate lunch at a restaurant here, we had ordered earlier so all was ready for us when we arrived. We continued on towards Pinar del Rio with a stop at the town of Jaimanitas were the artist Jose Rodriquez Fuster lives. (The town is just outside of Havana and also near where Fidel Castro lives.) He does a lot of ceramic art as well as painting and engraving. His home is often referred to as Fusterlandia and the whole town participates in his art - most homes have his work out in front. It was fun to walk around. We continued on to our hotel Aguas Claras, near Vinales - our western most stay on the island. They had cabins with two rooms upstairs and two down. We had a nice but small room upstairs - it took some rearranging of furniture for us to fit into this room with a little space between our beds. Also the air conditioner didn't work and it took 3 or 4 men running around up and downstairs and yelling out the window in order to get it working by finally flipping the circuit breaker on and off. We later found that was the only way to turn it off. This was again a lovely place that was in bad shape due to lack of maintenance. The stair railing was so loose it was a danger and when I opened the bathroom window it practically fell out. But we had a good stay here and a nice dinner and then off to sleep.

Monday 3/18 Breakfast this morning was bread and eggs so since I don't eat eggs I just had bread - not one of the best breakfasts I had in Cuba. After breakfast we drove to Finca Montesino, a tobacco farm near Vinales. The farmer talked to us a bit about his business. The government owns the farm and the farmer sends the tobacco to the government - I think he sends 60% of the crop. Each year he grows a corn crop to replenish the soil. The government sends him the seeds for the tobacco they want him to grow. It was interesting to see the fields in various stages of growth. We walked through the sheds with the tobacco hanging in various stages of drying. It had a very pleasant smell. Then we were offered a chance to smoke a cigar and some did - I had no interest - I couldn't even stand the burning smell, but I did enjoy the coffee they served. All of the private places served really good coffee; the government places served coffee that was cut with wheat. I would have liked to bring some real Cuba back but it is questionable if it is legal and further more no place sold just the beans so I wondered if it was cut with wheat. They did roast their own coffee in the back of their home. We left here and drove to our next farm. Along the way we stopped at one of the Che signs that had the standard picture of Che along with the quote (in Spanish) "All our action is a cry for war against imperialism." There are lots of images of Che in Cuba - he is very much idolized. In fact the school children start each day with a salute to him and say something like "May I grow up to be like Che". I asked our guide what part of Che they wanted to be like and he answered - they wanted to be well educated like Che (he was a doctor) and they wanted to be concerned with the wellbeing of their fellow citizens - especially the poor. There are not many images of Fidel because he is still alive. He has also supposedly been a very private man in recent years. We drove through the town of Vinales in order to get some CUC (Cuban pesos) for our lunch but the town was busy with some kind of festival so we continued. We stopped at Sendero Cueva del Indio, a system of caves where we first walked through and then took a boat through the rest of the caves. There were some interesting drawings on the walls. Then on to the organic farm. It was very interesting to see this farm and hear the story of it. I think it was started in 2005. The land was very poor and the rains washed away the topsoil every year. This was a time when rural villages had a hard time getting enough food to eat so the government which owned the land persuaded some farmers to come build an organic farm here. I think it is all one family plus some other workers that runs the place today. It is still owned by the government. They first had to use water buffalo to help cut and pull out all of the maribou, an invasive plant that is overtaking the land in places where it isn't being controlled. Then they spent a year added in compost from many sources, but the rains washed it all away the next year. Then they got the idea to terrace the land as it was all on a hill above the Vinales valley. And now they produce many kinds of fruits and vegetables, flowers as well. The place is very large and very well run. They are required to return a certain amount to the government - in fact while we were there a government official came to inspect which slowed down our lunch servings a little bit. They also raise animals and of course use the manure in the terraces. They have a major worm bin and they do all the watering by hand. They are self-sufficient and the only thing they need to buy is rice. The government hopes to spread this project around the country. After walking around the farm for a while we sat at a table under a roof with a lovely view of the valley. There we were served a delicious lunch. We were served plate after plate of a large variety of vegetables all very good. We also had the ubiquitous pork and the best chicken yet. We then went back to Vinales and had some time to wander around town, by ourselves. I ended up alone for a while and walked several blocks up and then back down. It was a busy village and there were lots of school children there. People seemed very relaxed and friendly and it was pleasant to watch them. Then back to our hotel in order to clean up and rest before we went out to dinner at a nearby private home - again we drove down a dirt road - rather isolated - until suddenly we arrived at several streets lined with houses one of which was our dining place. Again, it was a delicious dinner. The private places certainly feed their guests well.

Tuesday 3/19 We left this morning headed to Havana with stops along the way. First we stopped to visit a private farmer that Pauline had met before. He has lots of pigs, guinea fowl, rabbits, and chickens. He calls the chickens and it is fun to watch him walking along feeding them - a whole line of baby chicks behind him. It was hard to walk around without stepping on the chicks. He owns his farm outright because he inherited it. That is the only way to own your own farm and if he didn't have heirs it would revert to the government when he dies. He does have a son. He has a smoker which he uses to smoke pigs which he then sells to local people. I gather he is free to do what he wants on his house and farm - he does have to pay some kind of tax. We then continued on to Las Terraza. Las Terrazas is a small community and nature reserve in Pinar del Rio. It is located in the Sierra del Rosario mountain range, which was designated a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1984. Our local guide described a biosphere as a place in nature where man can live without destroying the nature. This area was first planted with coffee by the French but in 1844 the area was destroyed by a hurricane which took a lot of the good soil. After that Spain clear-cut the area for making furniture and charcoal. In 1968 Cuba started a plan to reforest the area with hard wood making terraces to prevent erosion. They developed a social experiment building a planned town for the people living in the area in order to improve their living conditions. The town maintains the population at around 1000 people. No new houses will be built and only people who were born here can live here so the only new people are ones who marry someone who was born here. As best as I can figure multiple families have to live together waiting for the old folks to die off so that they can have the whole house. They are supposed to be a self-sustaining community, raising everything they need for themselves. They keep 65% of what they raise and send the government 35%. We visited the local school and talked a bit with the principal. We visited a pre kindergarten class of about 14 students who sang a couple of songs to us, including itsy bitsy spider which we then sang back to them in English. We went to Maria's for a coffee - so good. We were lucky getting there before the next tour group because we all got seats under the roof while we watched a torrential rain fall - I guess this is a tropical forest. Eventually the bus driver borrowed an umbrella and walked us one by one back to the bus - the rain was that hard. We have had such lovely weather we had all left our rain gear in our suitcases! We went to a farmhouse in this village for lunch where I had the best chicken and beef of the trip. This beef was cooked in shreds with a delicious sauce on it. Also notably this place had one of the nicer restrooms, clean, with toilet, soap and plenty of water along with a large glass window with a beautiful view of the valley below. (Most public toilets in Cuba are disgusting and require a tip for the attendant.) Then on to Hemingway's House where we enjoyed walking around the building looking in the windows to see where he lived for many years. He had a lot of books plus many dead animals on the walls, plus a drinks table with all his favorite drinks. I really enjoyed looking at his surrounds as I had read all his books when I was in my 20s and have fond memories of them. His boat Pilar was here too. Then on to Havana on our very busy day for a stop at Revolution Square - the place where so many rallies have taken place. It is dominated by the Jose Marti Memorial - a 358 ft tall tower and a 59 ft statue. Jose Marti is a national hero who died in 1895 at the age of 42. We had a group photo in front of this memorial and also in front of the iron sculpture image of Che Guevara with the slogan "Until the Everlasting Victory, Always". This image is on the Ministry of the Interior building. The other iron sculpture is of Camilo Cienfuegos with the slogan "you are doing well Fidel". Che died in 1967 at age 39 and Camilo died in 1959 at age 27. Cuba's heroes all died young. I wonder what kind of status Fidel will be given when he dies at an old age. We drove through Central Havana to our hotel Melia Cohiba, built in 1990 by the Cubans to encourage tourists who enjoy a more up to date and modern hotel. It is right on the Malecon which is the road along the waterfront - the Gulf of Mexico. We had some time to clean up before meeting to go our to dinner in Old Havana at a fish restaurant also along the waterfront. The restaurant is called El Templete because it is near the temple which is on the sight where Havana was founded in 1519. We had an excellent dinner.

Wednesday 3/20 We started this morning driving along the Malecon to Old Havana. Along the way we noticed a lot of restoration being done on the old Spanish style buildings - this will be a beautiful area again some day. We all noticed a statue of a man holding a boy and the man had his arm out and was pointing. We correctly guessed that it was in honor of Elian Gonzalez - the boy whose mother died trying to come to America with him. Then there was an international fight by the father in Cuba to have his son returned - Fidel got involved in the fight until the boy was finally returned to Cuba. It was an important victory in Cuba. Our bus dropped us off at San Francisco square and we made our precarious walk to another square. The streets are very narrow so we have to watch out for cars, as well as potholes and other construction projects. The sidewalk is very narrow so we could walk single file along it where it existed. The buildings along the walk were a very interesting mix of well maintained Spanish style 2-3 story concrete buildings alongside shabby buildings between 1 and 3 stories high. We were headed to a senior center located in Our Lady of Belen Convent. The seniors were outside in the plaza doing exercises and we were not permitted in the building to visit anyone. We tried to leave our donations but the proper person to accept them was not there. So we watched the people in the plaza for a while and then went on a walking tour of old Havana. We had been encouraged to bring donations for people we would meet in Cuba, as many supplies were very hard to come by. We brought things like books, vitamins, gardening supplies, notebooks, pencils, pens, soaps, shampoo, etc. Things were given by Pauline rather discretely and could only be accepted by certain people so I assume there were government rules about that too. We walked through several of the squares which also involved walking down the narrow streets in various states of repair. There were small shops - they looked like they were underneath the living quarters upstairs. But there were also people living in some of the downstairs part and many would open one window and would sell coffee, drinks, food, CD's from that window. I don't know if they were legal or not. In some of the squares they are doing a lot of restoration with the hopes to make them more of a tourist destination - which they certainly could be. We stopped along the way at a chocolate factory and bought some very good chocolate. We also went to one square that was devoted entirely to selling used books. I enjoyed seeing that because I had just finished reading a novel by a Cuban author that took place in this plaza. Some of us went with Pauline to see the library. We thought we would just be able to walk in and look around but it took a long time standing around waiting for the right person to come and give us permission to see something - and then we only got to see what she wanted us to see. But it was interesting, a modern building but they still use index cards like we used to use before computers. And it seemed that there were more empty shelves than books. We continued walking around the plazas and eventually got back to San Francisco Square. I noticed the statue there of Fray Junipero Serra and on the base was written: 1713 Petra -Mallorca and 1784 Carmel - California. Next we went to the local art market - in a huge warehouse so it was set up like a street fair. There were booths after booths of crafts, the usual things you would see anywhere. I walked around a bit but I hate shopping and the vendors were quite aggressive here and I don't buy under pressure. Eventually Pauline showed me the paper-mache booth and I found some fun fish and the guy let me go through them one at a time without pressure so I bought two. Lennie and I sat around and waited for the shoppers and then we loaded up and went for lunch at another place in Old Havana, El Hostal Valencia. I had a delicious lunch of paella. Again it was a precarious walk back to our bus - lots of street construction. Some people went on to museums but Lennie and I chose to go back to the hotel - it has been a full day. We rested a bit and then walked along the Malecon - putting to work our dodging traffic skills. Then we walked in a large circle through the nearby neighborhood just seeing regular people in their homes and going about their business - it was a pleasant walk. Then back on the bus to Old Havana - again near Saint Francis Square, down a narrow alley to a very elegant restaurant. The place was very ornate and very formal and I had a very good steak - the second time I had beef on this trip. Then we walked to the current Buena Vista Social Club and enjoyed several hours of good old Cuban jazz. Many of the musicians were old timers but most of the original BVSC musicians are gone. The young dancers were amazing and with 3 mojitos we had a grand time.

Thursday March 21 So our time in Cuba is over. We went to the airport where it took us one and a half hour to go through check in, passport control, and security. We left later than scheduled and the whole system was very chaotic - flights for two different flights were in the same line and it wasn't at all clear but eventually we got on our plane and an hour later arrived in Miami. Passport control took a long time but was very simple - they didn't even ask for our license to travel to Cuba. Customs was a breeze - we caught a shuttle to our hotel where we had to wait for 2 hours to check into our rooms. The house cleaners didn't get the information to the reception clerks that our rooms were ready. But we checked in and then Pat, Lennie, and I went out to dinner. I didn't want to go to the Cuban restaurant that had the awful breakfast but as we walked down the main street we found another one and had a nice dinner. We spent the night here and then left early in the morning for our trip home to San Francisco airport.

It was a great trip and I would love to go again to Cuba - especially when travel restrictions are lifted. There is so much more to see than we saw and I would love three or four more days in Havana. It would be especially fun in a few years after some of those old buildings have been restored. I certainly have a different view of Cuba than I did before. Everything isn't great and wonderful but neither is it horrible. There is a lot of beauty in the country and a lot of potential.

Written by Penelope Bowen from my notes, memories, and photos.

If you find any errors please let me know.

4/7/2013

Picasa Photos

My photos are on Picasa photos and are grouped by dates. Using this journal while looking at the photos may help identify where the photos were taken.