Day 2

            Wow! What a day!!! 4:30AM wake-up to check-in at the Miami Airport by 5AM. The flight left at 9AM from Miami to Havana. I arrived at the check-in counter and there were incredible lines of Cuban-Americans waiting to check in and check luggage and goods for travel: Flat-screen televisions, bicycles, bicycle tires, baby strollers, etc. All of these things were wrapped in green plastic wrap with last names written in thick black magic marker to identify once they got to Havana. After standing in line for about 10 minutes, I realized that I was in the wrong line. A gentleman saw my Insight Cuba luggage tag and we figured out together where we were supposed to go. A few minutes later, the Insight Cuba representative appeared, and within a few minutes our entire tour group was assembled. The Insight Cuba representative collected all of our documents (passport, letter of authorization for travel to Cuba from OFAC). Then, she walked all of this information to the counter and processed everything. This took about an hour! During this time, we all got to talk to one another and get to know each other. We talked about where we were all from, what we were doing on the trip to Cuba, and other topics of conversation.

            After our documents were all processed, we were given our tickets and Cuban visas and moved to another line to weigh our luggage and check it. This is the counter where we received our actual boarding passes. There was a 44lb weight limit for both our checked luggage and carry on combined. Naturally, My luggage weighed more, and I had to pay $2 per lb (for a total of $14 or 7lbs over). This fee was only payable in cash. Then, we went through the security checkpoint at Terminal E, which is the international terminal. Ironically, the security checkpoint was directly in front of the hotel that I stayed at the night before; I had made a huge loop since I woke up in the morning! Security took a while, but I had no problem at all going through the line. By about 7:30AM, I was through security, but I wasn’t at the gate quite yet. After security, I had to walk up 2 escalators to a train/skytrain that travelled across the airport to a remote terminal that was used for nothing buy flights to Havana, Cuba. None of the shops/concessions were open except for Café Versailles, which was a small coffee shop with some food of the Cuba Nature (I believe this restaurant is owned by the restaurant I went to last night in Miami). I got a cup of coffee, which was very good and ate a cereal bar that I brought with me from home. This was the first thing I ate or drank all morning.

            Then, we had to wait till our 9AM flight boarded around 8:30AM. The flight itself was easy, painless, and I got to sit in the exit row, which had extra leg room. There was severe turbulence, but otherwise it was fine. When the plane landed in Havana, the passengers on the plane cheered and clapped. The flight was only about 45 minutes (if that). When we taxied to the gate, there was no jetway, only stairs leading to the runway. What an INCREDIBLE site when I walked outside of the plane! We all walked a couple hundred feet to the airport doors and walked inside. The next leg of our trip was customs. The lines were not too long, but the process was slow. You walk into a small booth and are asked a few questions. Then, you are buzzed through a door into baggage claim. The customs agent that I dealt with was not in the best of moods and she didn’t talk much. With that said, she was nice to me and let me through with no problem (one member in our group got his ENTIRE bag searched, so I think I made out pretty well). Once through customs, we had to wait about 30-45 minutes for our luggage to come off of the conveyer belt. I already knew some people on my tour from earlier in the morning, and we chatted while waiting for our luggage to appear.

            While waiting, there was a huge pile of luggage all wrapped in green plastic wrap (like in the Miami airport). It was an incredible site and I thought I would take a picture of it; not a good idea in retrospect. Within seconds, a Cuban security agent came up to me, and waved her finger “No!). I apologized, said I didn’t know, and put the camera way. It wasn’t a big deal and I got to keep the picture, but I now realized that that part of the airport was a government facility and you aren’t allowed to take pictures of government facilities in Cuba. Nothing like almost causing an international incident only minutes after I got to Cuba!

            After getting my luggage, I went outside to a sea of Cubans waiting for their friends and loved ones to come through the doors. I found our Insight Cuba Tour guide, Meylin, and she showed me where the bus was waiting with the bus driver, Julio. It was a small Chinese made manual bus and was owned by the Cuban travel and transportation company, Transgaviota. It had Air Conditioning and was quite comfortable. We had to wait another 30-45 minutes for the whole group to get to the bus, so I took pictures of the aiport and the 1950’s cars that were driving around and parked at the airport.

            It was 12pm by the time we were on the bus and leaving the airport. We couldn’t check into the hotel yet, so we went to the Plaza de la Revolucion.

            This is where all of the major political speeches take place. There is a huge monument and statue of José Martí. Getting off the bus at this plaza was simply incredible. Outside of the airport, this was my first real stop on my first visit to Cuba. I started to tear up a bit because I was so happy that I finally made it to Cuba. Just simply incredible…very hard to put into words.

            Then, we went off to the hotel. We still couldn’t check in, so about half of the group ate lunch at an Italian Restaurant in the hotel (not exactly what I expected my first meal to be in Cuba, but it was food nonetheless!). I got to practice my Spanish with the waiter. After lunch, we were finally able to check in. When I got to my room, it smelled like smoke even though it was a non-smoking floor. I tried to get another room, but the hotel was filled to capacity, so I just went with it and hoped that the smell would dissipate (it did very shortly after!).

I decided to unpack, find internet access to check and send e-mail, and explore the hotel. I wondered out to the pool area and there was a live band playing Cuban Traditional Music. The instrumentation of the ensemble consisted of upright bass, tres, bongo/cowbell/singer, and maracas/singer. They played wonderful music and were very friendly! They played some of my favorite songs: Son De La Loma, Besame Mucho. It started to rain a little and they stopped playing. I went up to my room and took a nap. It was about 4PM at this point and I was tired. We had a group meeting at 6PM to meet our other tour guide, Annie, who is an American living and working in Cuba through Insight Cuba (the company that organized my trip) and Tulane University. I set 2 alarms for 5:30PM and figured I would be fine. Unfortunately, I was wrong and I slept through my alarm and woke up at 6:30PM!!!!! I rushed downstairs and just missed the meeting by a minute or two. At the time I thought it was not a good way to start the trip, but ultimately it didn’t matter.

            I ended up getting a private description of everything from the guides and I was completely fine! It was actually better this way because I was able to express the things that I wanted to do on the trip. Annie told me that the music conservatories were not possible to visit on this trip because they are currently in exams and closed their doors to foreigners. I was bummed about this, but realized that there was not much I could really do. I was hopeful that I could work something out and still get to visit. After this, I met up with some members of the tour and we walked on the Malecon.

For those of you who don’t know, the coast of Havana borders the Atlantic Ocean and during the Spanish occupation of the island, they built a massive sea wall to protect the city from opposing ships, but also from the sea and mother nature. Our hotel was extremely close to the Malecon and was a beautiful site to wake up to in the morning. Like many things in Cuba, the pavement was cracked, and the road and sidewalk was rundown, but functional nonetheless. There were many buildings along the Malecon with such varied architectural designs that were simply magnificent. After this walk, we returned to the hotel and had our first Mojitos of the trip.

            Next, we went to dinner at El Ajibe, which is a very famous restaurant in Cuba for Chicken, rice, beans, and tostones. The food was exquisite! The sauce that came with the chicken was really good. I had guava juice, which is very common in Cuba as well as my first Café Cubano of the trip!

            After dinner, the group was supposed to go to the music club next door, Dos Gardenias, in order to hear a night of Boleros. Unfortunately, the band’s start time got pushed back and wasn’t supposed to start until 12:30PM. The entire group opted to return to the hotel. I was still adamant about hearing music on my first night in Cuba, so I went to another club (that the bus dropped me off at) on the Malecon that had salsa casino music (Cuban son/etc. from the 1940’s and 1950’s). Margaret (woman on the tour from Philadelphia) and Annie (tour guide from Insight Cuba and Tulane) got off the bus with me and we walked towards the club. It was unfortunately closed because of the rain that had occurred earlier.

            When we returned to the hotel, Margaret, Elaine (Spanish Teacher from San Diego), and I decided to go across the street to a place called Jazz Café. We walked across and payed the cover charge and went inside. The music was really good. It was a mix between jazz standards and Cuban traditional music. The instrumentation was keyboard, baby bass, timbales (with 2 bells, bass drum, crash cymbal, and splash cymbal), congas, guiro, soprano and trumpet/flugelhorn. They played things such as Blue Bossa, A Night in Tunisia, and a F Blues. The musicians all had such virtuosic skills, incredible chops, and rhythmic complexity. It was very much a fusion between jazz and Cuban music that I wouldn’t quite classify as Latin Jazz (the swing definitely felt implied without being heard by a ride cymbal, etc.). The bass player and the piano player interacted beautifully (rhythmically and with chord substitions). The show cost 10CUC (Cuban Convertible Peso) for the show and 2 drinks (although each of us only had 1 drink).

            It is still hard to believe that I’m in Cuba. All of the things that I’d read about and seen on television and in the Buena Vista Social Club Documentary was right before my eyes. Wow. ¡Buenas Noches!