Cuba Trip - March 2016

Thursday February 11, 2016  Ft Lauderdale to Miami

Busy day

Drive down in the Ford to the Crowne Plaza Hotel at the Airport

Found out that we can park at the hotel during our stay for only $6 a day.  What a deal.

Checked in.

Met the group at 4:30.  Information on what to expect.

Left a little before 7 to go to Marion – a great French restaurant in downtown Miami.  We ran into Jerome there who used to be our waiter at Johnny V’s in Ft Lauderdale.  Delicious dinner with oysters, beef carpaccio and then fish and pork.  Back to the hotel about 10 and to bed.

Friday February 12, 2016  Miami to Cienfuegos, Cuba

We got up about 7:30 and went to breakfast at the hotel buffet.

We met the group at 9:30 and Andrew went over other information.  Then a speaker came in and talked for an hour about the revolution in Cuba and brought it to current day.  Very interesting.  It is interesting that the Cuban Americans want reparations and they care nothing about the welfare of their blood lines still in Cuba.  Disgusting.

We dashed out of the meeting at 1:30 and headed to Versailles Restaurant for lunch.  A good Cuban sandwich and meatloaf.  We got there just before the crowds.  We headed back to the hotel about 12:20 and parked the Ford for the week.  We met the group at 2.  They had gathered our large bags from our room and we identified those.  We loaded on the hotel shuttle and headed to Xtra Airlines check-in at the airport.  LOTS of people with all kinds of shrink wrapped bags in long lines.  But Andrew pre-checked us in.  We got in line to check our bags and get our boarding passes.  Through a long security line but it wasn’t too bad.  There are 22 in our group so we have to wait for everyone to get through.

We waited about 45 minutes at the gate and then loaded up.

Packages in baggage claim

Health then immigration then x-ray for weapons then baggage claim then customs

Bus with driver Yackson

15 minutes to Hotel Jagua

Outdoor restaurant – band with trumpet player really good

Roast pig

Changed cash $300 they charge 13% fee

Cervesa – Cristal

Sat in garden listening to music with Tammy and Josh and their girls

To the bar – no internet

Check in across the street – we are in Casa Verde – large room

Mosquito in the room

Hard bed – twins

Saturday, February 13, 2016 – Cienfuegos, Cuba

Up at 7 am

Everything worked – toilet and shower but not paper in the toilet – awkward

To hotel buffet at Hotel Jagua

Bus load up at 8:30

To Botanical Gardens  Guide walked us through and pointed out the trees and flowers and birds and fruits

To Trinidad – many undernourished cows and horses along the way – really skinny

Propaganda posters

Trinidad – cobble stone streets – walk around – water in street

Central square and cathedral

House and garden – the love garden that he made for his wife

To restaurant 2.5 hours for lunch – lobster

We walked on our own around Trinidad after lunch

Load on bus again.

To pottery place – demo – shirtless boy with great pecs – 2 bells and a picture

To Cienduegos Theatre

To Bodega – cheap in Cuban pesos

To hotel to change clothes for dinner

Learned that Antonin Scalia died – time to celebrate – had a bottle of wine at the hotel bar

Walked to the restaurant – pork or lamp – good – ate with Brent and Jane from S. Dakota

Walked to the hotel and then to the Malecon

Lot of police presence and many young people.  Rave going on near the bay

Crumbling infrastructure

We sat on the wall on the Malecon and people watched

Back to the hotel about 10:30 and to bed

Sunday February 14, 2016 – Cienfuegos, Cuba

Valentines Day

Breakfast buffet – very busy

Took the bus to Santa Clara – Andrew made us change seats which caused some controversy with Grame – he was really upset!  It was funny.  We told him we were going to put him in the luggage compartment.

The trip was 1.5 hours.  Janet talked the entire way.

Several detours – muddy roads

To the Santa Clara street market – garlic, pineapples, everything really cheap

To the town square – Museum and concert – Alejandro played guitar and violin

Goat cart rides for the kids – so cute

Lunch restaurant – Social Club for retirees – they introduced themselves and then wanted to know about us.   They showed us about fans, they danced, and played a game with a bean and stick.  Fun

Lunch buffet there

To Che Memorial – displays, his tomb, statue, museum

Movie on the Yank Tanks on the bus – documentary about how they maintain the old cars.

To Cienfuegos for another concert at the museum – excellent acoustics

To the hotel

Change more money

To the Yacht Club for Valentines Dinner – just the 2 of us.

Rave party there with a DJ

Dinner was okay but it was noisy until 9 pm when the DJ stopped.  The group had trashed the area!

Lou, Carol, Sean and Jane came in.  Lou sent us a drink but it never came!  Typical of Cuba.

Walked back to the hotel and went to bed.

Monday February 15, 2016 Cienfuegos to Bay of Pigs to Havana, Cuba

Had breakfast with Brent and Jane

Checked out of the hotel and loaded our luggage on the bus.

To the School of the Arts for young people – concert with guitar, piano, violin, flute and trombone then dancers

To the Prado for a walk – many stores and pedestrian street

Shopped for Xmas ornament – got an old car ornament

To the Bay of Pigs – Janet talked.  Watched documentary on the Bay of Pigs and Kennedy – it was a covert CIA invasion which Kennedy denied.  Big mistake.

To Playa Giron where the invasion occurred – now a resort

To the Bay of Pigs Museum – artifacts

Drove along the coast – stopped at a coral beach

To lunch family style.  Beach view but not much at this location.  Pretty water.

Speaker on the National Parks and their conservation efforts.

Two hour drive to Havana.  Drove by a crocodile pond – rest stop

Saw the rest of the video on the Yank Tanks – the classic cars

Arrived in Havana about 6 pm – dark

Drove along the Malecon and by the Hotel Nacional – they bumped us so we are staying at Memories Hotel which is about 12 km out of town. 

We had 20 minutes to check in until we left for dinner – quick turnaround.

Drove back to the Hotel Nacional – walked through – to Celebrity Bar and looked at all of the pictures of celebrities who had stayed there.  Went in the Ballroom even though we weren’t allowed as the Transportation Department had a meeting set up the next day.

Walked through the gardens to dinner.

Then to Parisien for the cabaret show – very colorful – somewhat repetitive – singing and dancing – they were excellent.  Now we don’t need to go to Tropicana as it is the same thing.

Andrew rented classic cars to take us back to Memories – we had a ’54 Cadillac convertible and rode with Jack and Janelle

We had a convoy back to Memories – it was 12:30 by the time we went to bed.  Much needed sleep!

Tuesday February 16, 2016 – Havana, Cuba

Up at 7:15 am – opera singer in the shower next door

Had breakfast at the hotel buffet – meet the group at 8:40

Went to a school for our Spanish lesson – I was a show-off:  Me gusto much los autos classicos!  Me no gusto la playa!

To Liberation Square

To an Art Project where they turned a dump into a studio – we danced and listened to presentations.

To the Malecon and Playa San Francisco.  Paella lunch.  Liz was our walking tour guide through old Havana.  The architecture was amazing – crumbling – wedding at the cathedral.

Back to Memories at 6 pm for a nap.

Dress.  Bellman got us a taxi, a vintage car but not a convertible – 15 cucs – no 20 – no 15.  And off we go.  We went to the Hotel Nacional and had drinks at the Celebrity Bar.  Other groups came in and I asked a couple of people to try to find my picture on the wall!  Martini and then mojito.

Took a taxi to El Litoral Restaurant next to the American Embassy.  Great cold bar – mojito at the bar -waited for table with our drinks.  Great waitresses – delicious seafood platter and fish encrusted.

Walked by the American Embassy – flag at ½ staff for Scalia.  By Revolution Plaza – lots of flag poles erected to hide the messages being broadcast on the American embassy.  The Cubans protested at this plaze.  We got a vintage taxi and for 15 cucs got back to the Memories Hotel.  Off to sleep.

Wednesday February 17, 2016 – Havana, Cuba

Up at 6:30

Breakfast buffet

Left at 8 for Hotel Nacional

Speaker on Cuba – US Relationship

Tour of Hotel Nacional by Andres – to rooms where celebrities stayed – Ava Gardner suite

To Museum of Illiteracy – created in 1961 – only one in the world

Taught > 700k people to read and write

To Lunch

To Hemingway’s House – set up as a museum by his last wife after his death

Grounds as it was in 1961

Dropped Josh and Tammy with the girls at the Revolution Museum.

Nap

To dinner at 6 – restaurant in Havana – combo of 3 – great music – they wrote and arranged all of it

Left at 8:15 for the Fort Cannon Ceremony – drum corp – flags – torches – large crowd

Packed the cannon – sort of funny

At 9 pm the cannon was lit and fired to signal that the gates were closed and the chair protecting the harbor was raised.  They have been doing this for about 200 years.

Back on bus – we dropped Jack and Janelle at the Malecon so they could walk.

To the hotel about 10 and to sleep.

Thursday February 18, 2016 – Havana, Cuba

Up at 7 for coffee at the coffee bar

On the bus at 8 and we went to a home for the elderly run by 5 nuns.  About 400 people live here and 250 come just for meals.

Drove through town – lots of old cars.

To a neighborhood where a tile artist has transformed a neighborhood.  Interesting.  Some is Gaudi style.

We went to the Malecon for pictures.  Then to the Rivera Hotel to tour it.  Then to a restaurant for drink making and cooking demo.  Carole made mojitos and Jane made a beef dish.  We had the same for lunch.  Meals have been amazingly the same – just slightly different order and preparation.

Then to a school for under-privileged children – we gave them gifts.  They sang and talked about Children’s Rights.  They sang and danced.  One boy wanted to dance with me and he said “You don’t dance so good” and went to the next person!

Then to a huge market which had much the same thing as everywhere else.  So Tim and I walked to Plaza San Francisco instead through the old city.  We walked back and saw a steam train that carries tourists a very short way along the waterfront.

Back to the hotel for a nap.

At 6:30 we showered and dressed for our Farewell Dinner at the Restaurant L’Orientale at Plaza San Francisco.  It was a beautiful restaurant and dinner was different and one of the best meals we have had in Cuba.

We finished about 9 and headed back to Memories Hotel.  We packed most of our stuff and went to bed.

Friday February 19, 2016 – Havana, Cuba to Miami, FL to Ft Lauderdale

We were up very early.  We skipped breakfast and coffee and met the group at 7:30. We loaded on the bus and Yackson took us to the Havana airport.

We retrieved our bags and went to check in for our flight.  The process was a bit slow but not too bad.  Check in, immigration, the security.  We went to the Cyber Café and had a great café leche.  We had to wait about an hour and then they called our flight.  We watched them unloading the plane that came in to take us back to Miami.  So many shrink wrapped bundles of things being brought into the country.  Not as much leaving.

We got an exit row seat for the 45 minute flight to Miami.

We had to walk forever to immigration but they were using the machines so we got through quickly.  There was a huge line to get us through the checkpoint with only 1 TSA person.  Finally 3 others came and it went much quicker.  But we still had to wait for our bags.

Once we got our bags, we went upstairs to get the Crowne Plaza shuttle back to the hotel.  We got our car and headed north to Ft Lauderdale and home.

We stopped at PDQ for a big salad and some chicken – it was so good.

We got home about 2 pm.  A fabulous adventure in Cuba comes to an end.  The End