10.03.10

Yawn . Our early morning reminder call at 4am, reminded us we had to get up and catch a plane to Cuba. We were taken to the airport by the dawn shuttle bus at 5am. Des had time to shop around in the duty free shops at the airport for a little camera for himself. He purchased a Nikkon Coolpix L19, a pocket sized digital camera with all the whistles and bells you can get for $120.

We flew to Cuba with Lacsa Airlines, with a stop over in San Jose, Costa Rica to change planes. San Jose has a lovely modern airport.

It was delightfully and warm, yet not hot and sticky when we stepped off the plane and onto the tarmac in Cuba. Palm trees and banana palms were in abundance, and the open cocotaxi's were evidence that the climate is predominantly warm. On the shuttle bus ride we met a couple from Montezuma, Costa Rica who were having a holiday from their cabana (cabin) rental business on the beach. They tried to get us to come to Montezuma on our bikes and explained that the road to their cabins was dirt and pot holes . Sounds appealing already.

We weren’t in Cuba long when we noticed all the old vehicles on the highway. Chryslers, Pontiacs, Dodges, Oldsmobiles, Chevvies, Russian Ladas and every big yank tank you can imagine. Even old Jawa motorcycles with sidecars were proud to be on the road. All seemed to be running well.

Our Habana Riviera Hotel had the biggest lobby I’ve ever seen and 3 huge elevators. Des and I dropped our bags in our spacious room and went straight out to see Havana City. A cocotaxi, just a bit bigger than a coconut, took us for an hour tour around old Havana and new, and we ended up with the driver in Ernest Hemmingway’s favourite pub here in Havana, the Floridita. Des and the driver had a Daiquiri before the driver went out to watch over his cocotaxi. The trip around the city was fascinating, a real eye opener for Des and I. We found the architecture of the older buildings amazing, and were saddened that so much of the city of Havana is in disrepair. There is a program in place to bring the old buildings up to scratch, but everything takes time and money.
Our holiday to Cuba had started out very well and we were both very pleased to be here.