Day 4. – 6 April. Cancun to Cuba.

Sleep not so great last night.

Up before alarm, did a little more packing then a quick whip around the Hotel – Sheraton Four Seasons for a few pics.

My room at Sheraton Four Points, Cancun.

Wall decorations up near the pool.

The pool.

Bathroom

Bathroom selfie.

Looking from our Hotel across in the distance to the Zona Hotelera, where all the hotels are.

Then down for breaky, a long slow leisurely breaky with Jeannie, then Glenda and Margot. It was nice to just sit and savour the fruits, a mug of tea and poached eggs and bacon. Jeannie and I hot footed down to the local Walmart Supermarket – ostensibly to break some larger notes for tipping bell boy and driver.

The bird.

I bought some snacks for Cuba. Back to hotel to rest a bit, last check of email and Facebook and then down to check out and catch our transfer to the airport.

Checking in was entertaining, we are flying Cubana Air – firstly we had to purchase our Cuban visa, from a little guy with official book and visa’s he hand wrote the 5 visas with our passports and pocketed the dollars. He had a massive wad of pesos in his back pocket and quite a stash of US dollars in his breast pocket. It was so casual. This all took place as we slowly moved forward in the queue. We had a very dapper American in front of us and a large group from the States beside us, but the real entertainment was the cargo/check in luggage that people were bringing on ‘our’ plane. OMG, there was 2 sets of car tyres plus car audio gear and other assorted stuff, including at least 6 air conditioners – both internal and external units.

The piles and piles of goods ready to be checked in and weighed. No clue what the baggage costs would be.

waiting at the luggage carousel, Very dapper dude in the background.

Tyres on the luggage carousel.

Not great shot of Dapper Guy.

The family  behind us had bundles of stuff all plastic wrapped in a roll like a large pillow or sleeping bag but heavy – goodness only knows what was in them – Mum, Dad and teenage son we rolling and lifting and stacking all of this – every time we moved forward in the queue – they had at least 8 bundles between them.

Finally go to check in where we paid to depart Mexico and finally breezed through customs. Cancun has quite a nice little airport, with some different shops to look at, so we wandered to spend our last Mexican pesos and buy some lunch before meeting at our gate to wait, wait, and wait. Then without any announcement, Suzie noticed people move away from our gate lounge, upon checking our flight was delayed and moved to another gate, so back downstairs we trooped to wait a little longer. Finally we were called and boarded a BUS which took us out on the tarmac to a COPA airlines plane. Boarded and waited again, finally away, only to have to wait again for 30 minutes on the entry to runway. Jeannie had the window and could see we were in a queue for the runway and we were about 4^th when she noticed, but there were another 8-10 of all sizes and shapes waiting behind us. Finally up, up and away at 4.15, an hour late for our 50 minute flight.

When we boarded there was a yank – I’ve named him POP (Prick on Plane) – he was finding it difficult to find space for his and his wife’s cabin baggage, and he just started moving people’s luggage around and stuffing bags into smaller spots. Needless to say this upset and concerned a number of people, Suzie tackled him about his approach – ohhh he was a mongrel. We were plotting how we could hold him up at the other end. As it turned out he had so much and large sized cabin baggage he didn’t even need to stop at baggage carousel, grrrrrrr!

We were met by Juan who was our van driver, 

Chatted to a nice fella who comes to Cuba often, he recommended only exchanging some Euro at the airport, better value rate in town, so we did that and off we went.

We were like kids in a lolly shop, so excited to be in Cuba – there were loads of vintage cars in all states of repair on the roads, no anti-pollution gear and lots burning oil – black smoke and fumes – but it was amazing to see. Our heads were like swivels, looking every which way at cars, trucks, buses, bikes, decaying buildings, concrete box apartments.

We drove past Havana Port, the Castillo, walled city ruins, train station and Havana’s histórico Centro.

Our ‘home’ for the next few days is on the second floor of a building close to Plaza Vieja – it’s called “Casa Alta – Havana.” We were met by our hosts, young Cuban guys – Harold, Alex, Dennis and Rodney. They were agog at the extent of our luggage! We walked a few metres up Calle San Ignacio and up a few flights of marble steps to a lounge area, which opened onto an open courtyard; our 5 rooms surround the courtyard.

On this tour we stay in ‘Casa Particulars’ which are basically Cuban home stays. Our rooms are big, with high ceilings, basic, clean and all with ensuites, air con, mattress with base and shuttered windows. There is a kitchen area and dining upstairs on the roof.

Basic but awesome.

Simple but comfortable and clean. The bedroom.

Bathroom, Things got a bit wet, but still very nicely done, Especially when you see the conditions they work in and the very poor access to fittings etc.

Looking across the Courtyard to Suzie, looking out her shuttered windows.

The kitchen, the staff eat here, it is their home too.

Glenda in her room.

On our first night out. Our home is 412 Calle San Ignacio.

We were each shown to our rooms and then quickly out for dinner, it was about 8.30 by now and a lot was off the menu.

Forgot to mention when we pulled up to our street (Calle) it was filled with Salsa music, a band playing just up the corner at a bar – oh so Cuba!

We ate – yummo chicken skewers el Parilla for me.

My chicken skewers, very nicely presented.

Selfie with skewers.

We sat awhile to watch the comings and goings of the Plaza.

Our dinner venue.

One of the building surrounding the Plaza Vieja.

Looking along the side of the Plaza.

The tubes of beer that people were drinking. The restaurant is actually a micro-brewery.

The band at the Plaza Vieja.

 Home to bed.