After a traffic jam filled drive to the Miami airport, we made it to the hotel where we met the Classic Journey’s tour guide and our fellow tourists. We got some basic information and the bad news that we had to meet at 4:15 AM in the lobby to catch the shuttle to the airport. So, after a few hours of sleep, a bleary-eyed group of 13 met in the lobby, had a box breakfast, and boarded a bus to the airport. We met a representative of the Cuban company that provides the local guide upon our arrival at the airport. He helped us through the paperwork and luggage checking process. After a trip through TSA security we got to the gate with plenty of time to spare.
Our plane was very new 737-800 and we had an uneventful, short (40 minutes wheels up to wheels down) flight to Havana. The airport is very small, there were only three airplanes on the runway. From looking at the monitors there appear to be a dozen flights arriving in the morning from Miami, New York, Tampa, and a couple of South American cities.
Cuba from the air was very green and rural. After going through immigration, security screening to enter the country (a new on us), we got our luggage and headed for the city. It was about a 30 minute ride. The drive was unusual for a couple of reasons. There was not very much traffic (as you expect in a ride from the airport to a city of 2.2 million people. The cars you did see ranged from old American cars to Russian junk cars to newer Asian and European cars. We’ll post pictures of more cars later. The other unusual thing was the billboards. They were infrequent and all related to the government or politics as show here.
Our first stop was at Revolutionary Square, a huge paved square with a monument next to it. The statue in the background is one of the heroes of Cuba’s wars of independence in the late 1800s. Jose Marti was an author and skilled at politics. Without knowing too much about the details he could perhaps be compared to Thomas Paine.
According to our Cuban guide, there can up a million people gathered in the square for concerts and other public event.
On the edge of the square old American cars are parked so people can admire them and hire them for rides around the city. Pictures in the next post.
Our second stop was at the Habana Compas Dance, a dance and percussion studio where 18 young women and 3 young men combine percussion and dance. We heard a bit of the history of the company before they began to perform. The company is not supported by the government. Besides the 21 regulars, they give lessons to younger children and perform for groups like ours, sometime 4 times a day. They have toured Cuba and other countries including Chile and South Korea. Here are some pictures from their performance. Carolyn, as a drummer, was fascinated by the drumming and bought a small percussion instrument as a memento.
There are several YouTube videos of their performances.
More of Day one in the next post.
