Cuba Trip 2/17/12 Richard Porter

"Best Trip in Years"

Richard & Liz Porter's Annual Trip to Cuba

17 Feb 2012

For the first time ever, we flew from Miami to Cienfuegos, a coastal resort on the south central part of Cuba. It's only about 50 miles from our "our city" of Santa Clara. What a joy it was to drive only that distance and not the 4-5 hours from Havana to Santa Clara. We stayed a night in Miami and visited Little Havana and had lunch with a former FBC Santa Clara church secretary who emigrated to the US ten years ago. 

Our flight to CF was at night and we somehow miraculously got seated in first class going down and coming back.  We decided to stay there at a "casa particular" (B&B) which was very nice and a great breakfast with locally grown fruits, fresh squeezed juices, omelets and lots of coffee and toast. $35 for the both of us.  We rented a car that morning at a cost of almost $100 per day. It was a "Geeley", Chinese made. I'd never seen one but they suddenly are showing up in the rental car fleet. No modern American cars are in Cuba and the ones from the 50's are looking pretty sad. They look good only on TV. 



We visited our friends there, one a 92 year old woman, Nanita, who we adore. She is the one who always has a crocheted doily for Liz. We took her a mosquito net and some other items and had a great visit. We drove on up to SC in the afternoon and stopped by the family. It takes 20 minutes to get past the hugging and kissing. It had been a year since our last visit.

 

After a visit we checked into our usual Los Caneyes, a hotel set in cabanas on the style of the native Indian villages of Columbus' time. They gave us a 40% room discount, which the cashier told me that no one else got. I've been staying there for 15 years and have attained VIP status. Net cost per day with breakfast $46. We stayed at this hotel for six nights.



On Friday night the church had a marriage retreat seminar in which Liz and I were supposedly "featured". We are in our 50th yr of wedded bliss now so they thought we were qualified. We also took part in the Sunday am service (a two hour marathon). We played the guitar and sang some hymns (no 7-11 choruses for us) and invited the congregation to sing along with us in their language. There were testimonies from a couple of ex-cons who'd served many years and have come to know the Lord and are active in their churches.



After an hour of music and testimonies the visiting preacher had a full hour sermon.  It's gets a bit tiring, not being familiar with the language. 



It was unseasonably warm while we were there, but not summertime hot. There were a couple of cool days. We took the family to our hotel pool and you would not believe the junk they could consume. It was almost like coming from an orphan's home to a big city carnival. They have one party a year and they feel a compelling need to take advantage of it. We figure, "what the heck", let them have a good time". 



The second night we roasted the pig. Liz was invited to participate in the "prep" but she wisely declined. There is just nothing like fresh pork where you can put in your hand and pull out a lip smacking rib or peel the crackling right off the pig's back and crunch on it. Mama does the best frijoles negras in the world and deep fried malanga (like a hush puppy).  It's a good thing we loved the food as we had the same thing every day. There are a couple of waiters at the hotel who have become good friends to us and are also member of FBC. They bring us anything we want (that is available in the kitchen).



We made chili one night but the store didn't have any tomato sauce or paste so we made our own. Luckily tomatoes are in season. They shred cabbage and top it with sliced cucumbers and tomatoes for their salads. I've never seen "lettuce" there.  They get NO fruits and vegetables that are "out of season". We were fortunate to find some ground beef. At least I hope it was beef.



We also took some boxes of "brownie" mix. They go absolutely nuts over that. It's a once a year thing as well since nothing like that exists in the stores. 



One friend had a bed that was so old he didn't even know its origins. I sat on it and it was like a dog's pallet on the floor. We went to the store looking for a mattress. There was ONE in the city and it was a twin. There are no burger joints. I don't know if that's a blessing or not. Maybe. There are no tire stores, no paint stores, no auto dealerships but all the stores have an abundance of rum and cigars. 



Our trips through customs (there and here) were uneventful. We always get socked for baggage weight with the airlines but that is now expected.  I don't know how Liz got some much stuff packed. She puts the clothes and shoes into huge zip lock bags, pressed out the air and labels them. Upon landing we were in a rainstorm and the canvas bags got wet but all the clothes were fine since they were all plastic bagged.



We accomplished all we set out to do and will most likely go again next year around this time. It's just too much to go in the summertime. Cuba is abandoned by tourist in July and August.  (from Richard Porter 2-17-2012)