| Thanks to a severe case of the Revenge of | | | | finally hop into a taxi.On the way in from the airport I |
| Montezuma (or Ricky Ricardo?..,) I am sitting here in | | | | noticed that there was a mixture of industrial |
| the Hotel Havana Libre and I finally get around to | | | | developments and agricultural areas, right up until the |
| create updates from my first 4.5 days here in Cuba. | | | | centre of the city, which is strange compared to |
| The Internet connection is definitely the slowest I | | | | Toronto, where there is no significant agriculture until |
| have ever seen in my entire life, (15 minutes to | | | | way outside the city. The older gentleman driving the |
| access my messages at Yahoo..), but I am giving it a | | | | taxi was very friendly and explained a few basic |
| shot anyways.Friday morning I arrived at the airport | | | | things to me, e.g. that most of the area is industrial |
| in Toronto at 5:30 am since my husband gave me a | | | | and agricultural. He also showed the National Sports |
| ride before work. The plane was scheduled to leave | | | | Centre to me. Of course you see old cars from the |
| at 10:30 and several transfers with public transport | | | | 50s and earlier as well as beat-up Russian Ladas |
| would have taken me 2.5 hours anyway, so I decided | | | | everywhere. Old sidecar motorcycles are also a |
| to head there early and read a book.Air Canada was | | | | popular way to get around.I finally arrived at my |
| delayed after all (due to a problem with the water | | | | hotel at about 6 pm where my brand-new friend |
| supply on the plane) and we had to wait for a | | | | Pedro (a connection through a friend in Canada) was |
| substitute plane from Winnipeg and finally got off the | | | | waiting for me. I had told my friend that I wanted to |
| ground at about noon. 3.5 hours later we arrived at | | | | really spend some time with locals to learn about |
| the airport Jose Marti in Havana - a reasonably | | | | Cuba, its customs, its way of life etc.Pedro is a |
| modern airport. However, it took me and the other | | | | brown-skinned black man in his late thirties with a |
| travellers almost 2 hours to collect our luggage and | | | | common-law wife and a young daughter. |