Report from Havana

I’m in Cuba. Got here this afternoon (after getting up at 3:30 in the morning to make the plane, so I’d like a medal, please). Why I’m here: my friend Monty has an apartment here (it really belongs to his cousin, but real estate is no more straightforward in Cuba than at home) and I’ve been here with him three times, the most recent last October. I got ideas, then, for a book in each of the two series I write. One of Monty’s cousins, a marvelous eighty-five year old former revolutionary named Olimpia, really got into the idea of the books and started, on her own, doing research and emailing me location information, newsreel clips, and all kinds of other things. This stuff is gold, but more on-site research by the writer was needed. Of course it was. I was planning to come back later in the spring, or even summer. But the US kicked Maduro out of Venezuela, started a war in the middle east, pulled off some military action or other in Ecuador, and is threatening Mexico that it better not send Cuba any oil because Marco Rubio has been salivating over regime change in Cuba all his life.

In other words, this is a helluva time to come to Cuba, but it’s better than it’ll be for awhile to come. The oil situation has already caused the cancellation of some of the long flights because Cuba can’t guarantee refueling. (Our flight from Miami carries enough fuel to get back if it can’t get any here. My nephew, who’s a pilot for JetBlue, says we don’t have to worry because “American Airlines won’t let its equipment get stranded in Havana.” I said, “Its equipment? What about its passengers?” He said, “You can go back on the equipment.” Very practical, these airline pilots.) So we’re here, Monty and his sister Luisa and I, and I thought I’d send some photos and report.

One, there are taxis. Warnings were dire: no fuel, no taxis, you won’t be able to get around. This isn’t minor, here, because the only mass transit is buses, and no fuel, no buses either. Plus even when there are buses they’re inconvenient in their timing and their routes. We’re good walkers, but everywhere we need to go that’s not within walking distance must really be gotten to by taxi. That was a risk, that a number of places would be out of reach. But we’re close enough to Olimpia and her family, and to the Malecon, and a couple of other places that are useful to me, that I figured even without taxis it would be a worthwhile trip.

Well, taxis are available. Fewer at the airport than last time I was here, but enough to carry all the passengers on the planes that came in when ours did. About a dozen flights had landed by midday, and another dozen were scheduled for the afternoon. None from Europe, most from Central America, the rest of the Caribbean, and, um, Miami.

So we’ll be able to get places. Right now our internet is down, a fairly common occurrence. We’re sitting on the balcony having a drink (rum, in my case) before dinner, which will be in a casual place up the street. I’ll add photos to this and send them when I can, and report in again tomorrow.

Note: it’s tomorrow. No internet last night, but here we are. So included in the photos, breakfast.

Flying into Havana

Sunset from the apartment

The folks next door

Bananas at the market

Fruit platter for breakfast