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July 6, 2005
La Entrada
Our most complicated destination is our first, it seems. Waiting in Cancun for hours until our 8 pm flight to Habana we grappled with how we would change our money and where we would stay in Cuba, as well as actually purchase our plane tickets for which we only have reservations. On top of it all, we were nervous… I have conflicting expectations about Cuba, some that soar with possibilities and some fearful of finding only dead ends. We counted the hurdles we had to clear in order to actually sleep tonight. First, had to hand over sealed envelopes with payments enclosed to a strange Mexican travel agent without an official office in Cancun for our tickets to Havana. After purchasing tourist visas, landing in Cuba, warily going through customs, waiting hours (literally) for our bags, Peter getting searched for the electronics he was carrying (we thought it was the book “Human Action” hidden deep in his bag), changing Mexican pesos to Cuban pesos convertibles rather than being hit by the huge US dollar conversion charge, talking a taxi driver into helping us find a hotel with available and cheap rooms, we finally were in Cuba. In the taxi from the airport to Centro Habana at 2:30 por la manana, we caught a glimpse of a few details: old Chevies and small Russian cars, police pulling over other taxis, billboards with slogans like “Viva la Revolucion” but no advertisements, only government propaganda, absolutely no graffiti—only painted murals with more government slogans.
As we entered Havana, the haunting faded old buildings with grand architecture were lit up by streetlamps. The streets were empty. It was an eery scene.
Posted by Emily Marie Stremel Mork at July 6, 2005 11:42 PM
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