Wednesday, January 4, 2017
We miss our connection to SFO!
AeroMexico buys us some food and a hotel room in Guadelajara. We get three hours of sleep, then back for a 6am flight to Mex City, then to SFO.
Finally, we re ready to go!
The AetoMexico captain announces over the intercom "Havana Airport is a disaster!" before departing Cuba...
Waiting for two hours on the plane in HAV
One guy was tasked to take all the luggage on and off the plane. Job security I suppose.
Lunch in Camaguay
After a whole lot of arm twisting with Yoanni about stopping in Camaguay, we found an excellent place! It looks like Keith had chicken McNuggets covered in Montezuma's Revenge and I had some enchilado shrimps again.
Inside the trunk and under the hood of the '51 Chevy
With a new diesel engine, some things may be different looking...
Back to Bayama for 2nd Night at the Casa Particulares
The owner's wife is pictured here making us dinner. Keith was very impressed with the enchilado camarones we had. I think it was the same dish I had for lunch that day, and 1/2 of my meals in Cuba.
Honor Guard
Every 30 minutes, 24 hours a day, the honor guard marches to and fro Jose Marti's and now Fidel's memorial.
View From the Restaurant
The city scape of Santiago was breathtaking. Off to the right, is the city center cathedral with its two steeples. Off in the distance, the Sierra Maestras where Fidel spent two years fighting off Batista's men.
Photo Display in Santiago's City Center
"The Giant of the Sierra Maestras" is what the photo exhibition is called. It was probably out there as Fidel had just died. The reference is to Fidel spending two years on the mountains that overlook Santiago.
Santiago's City Center
Keith had plenty of time to site see as I waited in line at the bank. Here is a view from the bank back toward the Hotel Casa Granda. To the right is the cathedral. The photo below is shot from the plaza.
Santiago City Center: The Cuban Bank
I ended up spending over one hour waiting in line at this bank to change Euros to CUCs. It was a complete 'Government of Cuba' joke. Inside the bank lobby, there were at times 3 to 5 security guards with batons watching us. Then there were two guys sitting at separate desks tasked with simply handing order numbers out. Then behind these bars, there would be between one and two tellers available at any one time to serve the large line of 20 -30 people waiting.
Hotel Casa Granda 1914
The first thing we did in the city center is find a bathroom. Then we sat down for a Coca Cola at the beautiful Casa Granda.
Antonio's 1951 Chevy made it to Santiago!
At 45 years old, Antonio our taxi driver had never been to Santiago de Cuba! And because the two Gringos insisted we make a road trip to Santiago, Antonio had an excuse to go. I have to say Antonio was just as excited as us to make it to Santiago. For one, he got to say goodbye to a hero of his, Fidel Castro. Another reason, he quickly realized his 1951 Chevy had no business on the roads south of Santa Clara and Trinidad. Apparently, not too many people make the trip of the entire island. Plus the roads have a lot of problems. His Chevy got a serious workout driving 2000 km with us. The other interesting point was that these old time cars were mainly up in Havana. So seeing a '51 Chevy was a curiosity in Santiago. Antonio didn't feel comfortable leaving his car alone when we decided to explore the town center.
Propaganda
Occasionally we would see billboards extolling Cuban propaganda which generally came with words of inspiration like this: Until the Victory Always!
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