First day in Cuba

Escambray Mountains near Trinidad

Our first day in Cuba actually started in Miami, when we arrived at our hotel (International Hotel in the Miami Airport, concourse E—very convenient) right after midnight.  We’d been told to be at the check-in counter at 4 a.m. for our charter flight to Holguin, a city in the east central part of Cuba.  So, we did as told, getting a wake-up call at 3:30 a.m. and stumbling to concourse F, fortunately a 5 minute walk from our hotel.

San Jose church, Holguin

Check-in was easy, though it took 3 steps to accomplish, getting the tickets and visa, then a boarding pass and finally paying the $28 per person Cuban airport tax.  There was a crowd waiting to check-in to the Havana charters, but not a soul but us and the gate agents going to Holguin at that ghostly hour.

The Miami airport is pretty old and seedy.  The only thing to recommend it is the incredibly nice
TSA crew at our concourse who actually smiled and chatted at 5 in the morning, helped me with my bag, and wished us a good trip.  I haven’t ever seen that at any other airport, including Denver, and including the pre-check crews at all the U.S. airports I frequent, who should at least treat frequent fliers, their bread and butter, with a minimum of courtesy, but rarely do.

We showed up at the gate for our flight about 5 a.m.—and quickly learned that, due to mechanical problems, our flight was now scheduled for 1 p.m.  Not a happy piece of news.  Our fellow passengers were in a fury, shouting at the poor gate agent who had nothing to do with the bad news except to provide it.  Meanwhile, we hurried back to our hotel, grabbed our room key again, and slept another couple of hours.

colonial building undergoing renovation

It appears that our particular charter airline, Havana Air, has only a few aircraft.  Ours turned up lame, so we had to wait for one of their other aircraft to fly to Havana and back before we could head off to Holguin.  Which we finally did at 1:45 p.m.  A cloudy hour-long flight brought us to Holguin, where we landed amid banana palms and green fields, backed by large, dark clouds spewing lighting.

A quick tour of Holguin was interesting.  Pope Francis said Mass here when he was in Cuba recently.  Even though many Cubans aren’t practicing Catholics, many are Evangelical Christians, and the government is not supportive of religion, the crowd hearing Mass was enormous.

cross above Holguin where Pope Francis said Mass

The city center has some pretty plazas and beautiful old colonial buildings, some under restoration.  The city is anxious for tourism.  It used to have a number of direct flights from European cities because it is near some beautiful beaches with rather shabby, but popular, resorts, but the 2008 financial collapse cut that number drastically.