Miami to Havana (March 09)

Yesterday evening we met our fellow traveler and our tour leader Hilary Duffy, after which a large subset of us had a pleasant dinner together.

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This morning we grouped up in the hotel lobby and moved as a gaggle to the Miami International Airport. Check-in and security were the usual slow shuffle forward, but otherwise uneventful as was the short flight from Miami to Havana.  Having been prepped for rigid baggage restrictions and sharp scrutiny by Cuban customs officials, both were anticlimactic in actuality. I do not fault Insight Cuba, recognizing the merits of controlling expectations in case things went sideways.

We landed at José Martí International Airport.  Once clear of immigration and customs we collected outside the terminal where we were met by our guide Marlon (right) and bus driver Ozmel (left).

Leaving the airport we got our our first view of Havana while on route to our lunch location - La Ferminia - a paladar. During lunch we had our first exposure to in-country Cuban food and music, including a birthday serenade for Barbara.

 

After lunch we went to the José Fuster Community Art Exhibit. Fuster has been called by some the Picasso of Cuba. The linkage can be seen in some of Fuster's tile works, but others were distinctly different.

Having settled in at Hotel Melia Chohiba, we boarded the bus for dinner at the paladar El Templete on the Malecón, a road and seawall separating the city from the sea.