March 29
A beauty of a morning……..yes, I know, those who have read our blogs, we are always complaining about great weather…..yes, it is arrogant !!! Sonia welcomes us with us a nice breakie and we talk a bit about their life…..her husband is a professor fluent in 4 languages, but is working in a hotel as a rep, she is working on the B&B business and learning English >>> doing pretty well …..and a son in university …not to speak of a ’48 Ford (white) in the garage!!! Another example of folks with a will to do the best they can……the Casa has been in operation for only 5 months.
Our taxi is supposed to arrive at 9:30……….well, we wait but it ain’t coming, Sonia says not to worry, we can get a collectivo at the Viazul bus station. So onwards to the station, ……and after a bit of a run around we are good: Annie and I, plus a nice German couple >>> try to negotiate but the guy is adamant and we pay 20 CUC each for the trip to Habanna (about a 2 hour drive) …….it was quite pleasant to spend some with a well-traveled, smart young couple and yours truly had a grand old-time exploring a variety of subjects with them…..some neat insights > as they were into diving and apparently Cuba has some great dive sites which are in good shape, as they haven’t suffered from pollution or boat/human traffic…..yet. Also, it is great to meet people one would never be exposed to in our normal life.
As we pass a number of oil derricks and pipeline complexes (CUPET the national oil company has several offshore fields near Habanna) and soon thereafter, we are in Habanna and part ways……we are dropped off at the Parque Central > as” old hands” , we know exactly where we are and in about 7 minutes, we are at the Casa. We are expected and language is no issue as the host Ana is fluent in French and, well, we are better in French than Spanish !! For a late lunch she recommends Van Van..
…. and then some minor exploring around Viejo Habanna…… checking out some of the places we missed on the first go around:
……we pass by the Museum of the Revolution (in the Presidential Palace > home to Cuba’s presidents until Batista was ousted) post revolution it serves as a repository for the 1950’s war & post war artifacts …..
Back at the Casa we prepare ourselves for tomorrow’s departure and then lo and behold Andy, my brother, pops up and we arrange to meet for our last supper at the appropriately named Restaurant Rum Rum ….
…..as per usual he is elegantly late (just 30 minutes)……..dinner is nice with the customary serenade:
……and we conclude with after dinner drinks at the casa…….the owner, Ana has innocently left us at the controls… Andy tells us about his adventures > he is staying in a 3rd floor walk up apartment in Central Habanna and apparently it is a tad shady…..as a single older guy, he is propositioned each time he walks out the door and his best “value” deal was a 2 for 1 proposition > mom and daughter!! Well, we hope he makes it back safely and alone ….
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March 30
Well guys, we are done…..up and at em’ >>>>> back to America, breakie, goodbyes to Ana …our taxi driver arrives early!!! and off to the airport we go! Departure formalities are a no brainer and Jet Blue blasts off on time, bound for Fort Lauderdale …..leaving Habnana below us……
…….in spite of all the Trumpisms we go through customs etc, with no issue, Enterprise has our wheels ready, AND WE ARE BACK IN THE WORLD!!!
We are staying at the Birch Patio Motel in North Hollywood close to the ocean tonite and we just wanted to relax, take in some TV, internet and take-out chicken and salad from Publix with some chilled white wine >>>> basic “desocializing” !!!
Nice beach and promenade …..
…..with some tech touches….
……….lots of development, it doesn’t look like this motel will be here for much longer……America is coming to “olde Florida” and you better have some bucks:
……Cuba get ready!!
We are staying in Englewood, Florida for the next 2 months having sold our condo there …included in the deal was free rental until June 1……so R&R for the next while and as much fishing as will be possible !!!