Cuba, Day 08
Farewells and Welcomes
This was the switch-over day. After breakfast, our first group checked out of their rooms, and headed off to the airport, but not before they bid sad farewells to our new Cuban photographer friends who opened their eyes to new ways of seeing and provided charming hosting to us.
Regular flights cannot go into Cuba from the U.S. Certain of the airlines, however, run charters that are sanctioned by the U.S. government. Those charters are generally full, so it is important that everyone check his/her tickets before taking off from Miami to make sure the dates are listed correctly.
There was a mistake on Arnie’s and my tickets, but the charter company, with the help of the licensed group with whom we were working, got it straightened out before we left the U.S. Two in our group had not checked their tickets, but fortunately, through the efforts of our HavanaTur guide and me at the Cuban end and Cuba Cultural Travel back in California, we got them home on a flight a few hours later. They were very happy. Initially, we were told they would have to wait for a week! They travel a lot internationally, so they were patient and figured they would just go with the flow, whatever it produced!
We were so relieved when the new tickets were issued and with no penalty. Arnie said his goodbyes and went to wait for the new group whose plane had already landed. I waited to make sure they had no problems with the departure tax, and they headed through security.
As I joined Arnie, we saw the first familiar faces from the second group.
Arnie and I were exhausted. The concern for our two delayed travelers was even more than we realized as we collapsed into our seats on our bus. Arnie had already relayed the story to the second group, and they all immediately checked their tickets!
Everyone met Lazaro (pronounced LAH-sah-row), our new guide, and Caimito (KIh-mee-toh with a long I at the beginning), our driver. Lazaro gave an introductory talk about Habana (we saw it spelled both ways).
We headed off for lunch, where sangria awaited us, and no, those are not all mine!
People got their keys, dropped off luggage, exchanged their currency to CUCs (pronounced kooks), and we took off for their introduction to this part of Habana!
As the light got low, there were some wonderful shadows that we pointed out to our new group of participants.
It was time for dinner, and after just one more shot, we headed up the rose-petal-lined stairs to an upstairs private restaurant where the owner and waiter remembered us from last week. There was a lot of laughing and merriment, and a table next to us kept looking at us and smiling. Finally, the husband asked, “Who doesn’t have a Nikon?”
We laughed and pointed to the one in our group who was carry an Olympus! We think their evening was made even better by our good mood. When we first sat down, they looked a bit dour!
Back to the hotel, and Arnie and I collapsed into bed, thankful that everyone from the first group was back in the U.S. and that the second group had arrived without undue hitches.
Next: Textures & People (Because we lost a couple of days to the official mourning for Chavez and the Internet being down, click to go to Day 09.)