We're Here!

It's been an amazing day. I'm dazed, still thinking that I'll wake up and it will all have been a dream.  Let me start at the beginning.

The flight was smooth. When we approached Cuba, I could see the island so clearly, choppy waters all around, lots of forests and small towns with buildings in various stages of disrepair. I sat next to the mechanic that flies with the plane to do small repairs as needed, a fellow from Peru who said he'd never seen so many Anglos in one plane. There were two groups, ours and a group of attorneys from the same Professionals Abroad sponsor.

When we landed, we went through customs and immigration, and I was asked when I entered the country, twice, and they asked me if I was 3 when I arrived, which I corrected...no, I was 5. They went through checked luggage, but everything turned out to be there when I got to the room. It resulted in a delay for our bags, but we had time to observe the drug sniffing dogs that wandered through the luggage, oblivious to passengers, just checking bags. Beautiful springer spaniels.

At the final point, I exchanged the euros and spotted my cousins outside at the fences, waving madly. The reunion was too emotional for words, but not for tears. They had talked to our guide who pulled me aside and said that he would slow things down and let them come to the bus with us until we boarded. As the other group members saw the scene, everyone pulled out cameras and recorded the moment. Good thing, because the family was hugging and I couldn't even find my camera in my bags. We visited, hugged, and the group went to the hotel for orientation, followed by time on our own.  I took advantage of the free time to call the family and they came to pick me up. I spent the afternoon with them, had lunch at their home, and then walked around my old neighborhood. Marta walked to the house where I was born and explained to the family who I was, and they let me in with hugs and kisses, and I walked straight to my old bedroom. It moves me as I write this. I was in my first home, 50 years after leaving it. We then went to the home of other friends with whom my parents left our furniture and, yes, they have the couch from my old home. We laughed as I told them that they were welcome to keep it. ;)

We returned to the hotel in Ernesto's old car, the taxi that he sacrificed to drive us around, and I had time to freshen up, bring items for goodie bags (we'll have fantastic bags for our hosts--my colleagues are very generous and creative when it comes to gifts). We capped off the night at an outdoor restaurant in Old Habana, then stopped off at Hemingway's hangout, a delightful bar with a live group that was playing some of my favorite salsa. One more bus trip to the hotel, and it's time to rest...finally. The day began very early with a 4am wake up call, so it's time for bed.  Or maybe one more mojito...