Saturday, Jan. 26, Getting to Havana
We spent last night at the Crowne Plaza Miami Airport hotel, a short shuttle ride from the airport. Nothing special, in fact, a rather tired property in need of updating and renovation. But our room was spacious with a king bed and quite quiet. For dinner we walked a block to Catch of the Day, a very casual seafood bar and grill. The Chief Penguin’s mojitos were excellent, his bass a disappointment, but the fries were good. I ordered the shrimp wrap and cole slaw; the wrap was stuffed with yellow rice, but there was an adequate number of shrimp. I used liberal amounts of hot sauce to pep it up. Cole slaw was tasty and my glass of Pino Grigio was crisp and priced for happy hour!
We retired early and were up early and checked out at 6:30 am to ride the 6:40 shuttle back to the terminal. We were glad we had taken the time yesterday afternoon to buy our visas ($100 each) and get the proper entry and custom forms. Breakfast was at Curbside One. Food was just so-so (western omelette and scrambled eggs and sausage), but our waitress and the host were both super friendly and efficient.
Our American flight was completely full, a mix of Americans and Cubans returning home. It left the gate early and we arrived 20 minutes early. From the plane window you could see green fields and brown fields and expanses of open land. The Havana terminal looked pretty basic and dated, as one would expect. There was absolutely no line at immigration so we walked right up and were through in a minute or two! Since we had done carry on, we breezed through baggage claim, handed in our health forms to a smiling woman, sent our hand luggage through the scanner, and then exited after we turned in our Nothing to Declare customs form. Then we looked around for the GeoEx sign with our names, but saw no one. C.P. surveyed the arrivals hall, I nabbed two women who looked to be tour members of ours and they were, Holli and Marian. We waited around and at the stated arrival time, our local guide, Marlon, found us.
Next stop was lunch at Casa Mia Paladar, a private restaurant, which has only been open for 11 months. It is in the house the owner spent his childhood and is now a very attractive white space with a small bar and lots of tiny light bulbs hanging from the ceiling.
The menu offered a range of choices and the food was very good! Between us we ordered the seafood plate special (lobster tail, octopus, and shrimp) in a sauce with Cuban spices, and the fish (grouper) in a creamy lemon sauce which was delicious. The lunch group consisted of six of the eight group members plus Alfredo, GeoEx’s tour leader. Also present were Marlon and Jocelyn, another GeoEx representative. At the end of our meal, the owner came over and we were able to ask him a few questions. One of the biggest challenges he and others like him face is getting supplies, be it decorative light bulbs (he ordered them from Amazon for delivery to a U.S. address) or adequate amounts of chicken and other ingredients to fulfill their menu.
We stopped to change money into C.U.C.s, the special Cuban pesos for visitors, at the bank branch in a luxury hotel. Finally, we were delivered to La Reserva, a restored private home that is now a B&B with about ten rooms. It is lovely and elegant with a garden in the back.
After doing a bit of unpacking, we took a walk along Paseo, a once elegant boulevard lined on either side with embassies and formerly gracious homes. Some buildings have been restored, but many have not. Sidewalks and grass lack regular maintenance so it’s best to watch where you walk. The North Korean embassy and the British embassy and ambassador’s residence are exceptions and simply beautiful. Throughout the city, there are posters, inspirational slogans, and images of Fidel Castro and other leaders of the Revolution of 1959.
Tonight we’ll meet the rest of our group, have a concert about the history of Cuban music and then go out to dinner. I think it will be a late night.
Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).
