I got yelled at for taking this photo. The person traveling with me got my attention and said that the guard behind me (up a hill standing near the Department of the Interior, was yelling "No photo!" I know photos are allowed of the memorial so my guess is that he either thought I was taking a picture of the government building to the left or the security guard.
It took well over 10-minutes to wave down a taxi for some reason. On top of that, my direction giving Spanish is poor at best. In addition, I got my "left" and "right" translations swapped so that was an issue.
The ride ended up taking about 15-minutes to get back to our Airbnb in Centro Habana. We had about 15-minutes play with, so we grabbed our backpacks and walked around looking for a souvenir place. Once that was taken care of, it was back to the airport.
One last photo of Centro before heading back to the airport.
A sign on the way to the airport; "Fidel is with us for promoting tourism, peace, health and security."
Small food stall outside the airport. Bread with hamburger.
The Southwest ticket counter wasn't open when we got to the airport. In other words, three hours was a bit excessive. Anyways, once we got checked in we proceeded to the currency exchange to swap out the remaining 47 CUC I had on hand. The line was about 15 people deep. Right next to the line were two ladies dressed like janitors. They nodded me over, I gave them the 47 CUC, they went into the bathroom and came out with 47 USD. Excellent! 1:1 exchange. Most certainly wouldn't have done that if someone didn't tell me to expect it before we went to Havana though. How they get away with plucking people from the currency exchange line is beyond me.
We were through customs in about 10-minutes with no problems. My travel companion got the dreaded "SSSS" on his boarding pass, which would normally result in a full bag search, a nice foot massage and a long list of questions. Cuban officials though only had him take off his shoes. #security
Boarding was chaotic. Southwest normally boards in three zones, zones A, B and C. We were zone B, but I was able to board as one of the first 10 people in A since there was no organization.
Our plane to Tampa, another Southwest 737-800.
Havana Airport.
Climbing out of Havana.
Sunset over the Florida Keys half way to Tampa.
Final Thoughts:
As a photographer, Havana was fantastic. I wish I had been able to capture the people of Cuba (which, by the way, were all very nice) but I simply didn't have the right lens and I've never been a fan of asking people for their photographs. Getting around Havana was easy, the food was acceptable, the weather was great (though a little hot) and there were plenty of sights. Pretty much everything you'd want from a city. I plan on returning to Cuba, although I think I've covered Havana. The only nearby attraction I'd return for is Viñales outside of Havana. Otherwise, I'd love to visit Trinidad which I'd have to fly in to Cienfuegos for. Sure, you're money spent in Cuba may go to fund the regime, but in my opinion, things will never get better there without the people there interacting with visitors. Regimes such as Castros never last, especially this day and age where we live in a global economy. Havana is most certainly a unique city to visit and, I say this in full honesty, one that will absolutely stand out from the others. On top of that, if the Department of the Treasury comes knocking, I'm confident I'll be able to supply them with proof that our trip fit the license requirement of a full time, interactive and meaningful schedule of interactions with the Cuban people.