First Full Day on Turks . . .and Caicos Too

Fully expecting to wake up to rain, we were surprised to find the sun poking through some cloud cover. After a breakfast of bagels and donuts purchased from the grocery store, we went out to the beach in front of the hotel. After a bit we decided to go into the water. It was a comfortable temperature. Not really much in terms of sea life to look at with the exception of an occasional lost fish, but it was nice and clear. We were at the beach for a while, but for whatever reason, my nose started draining uncontrollably from the salt water, so we went back in to take care of me.

After regrouping, and blowing my schnoz a few times, we set forth again to explore the other areas down the beach from our hotel. We had walked about a mile down the beach when I turned around and pointed to rain in the distance that appeared to be about two miles away. I told Nicole we should find a place to eat lunch or get out of the rain should it strike. I assumed we had a few minutes, but I barely finished my sentence when it started pouring. An employee at the nearby resort was sprinting to gather up towels and beach equipment while yelling, "It came too quick!"

We found refuge at a prime ocean view spot at the bar & grill. We split an $18 club sandwich and I tried a Turk's Head Amber beer. The waitress said that everyone has been complaining about the weather. I was thinking that we had gotten lucky with the weather so far. By this time, the rain had already stopped. It had poured for all of maybe three minutes and the place was practically deserted. Now don't get me wrong -- I was concerned about getting rained out, but I realize now that this week the weather may be like Hawai'i, where it does technically rain everyday, but it's not a washout. I assume these folks who are complaining are from the east coast because they need something to complain about.

After a relaxing lunch and finally meeting people who were actually friendly toward us, we continued down the beach beyond what may have once been a pier and for another 1/2 mile or so before turning around. The wind on the beach is quite strong, but it's almost a necessity because the sun, heat, and humidity is extremely strong. The weather online said it was a feels-like temperature of 109º Wowzers. This was making us quite parched, so we walked back to our place where I mixed some ginger-ale with some fruit juice we bought at the grocery store. Gin and Juice if you will.

Finally Arrived in Turks...and Caicos Too

Well if you read the last post, it was considerable effort to finally reach the Turks & Caicos. I caught maybe 30 mins of neck breaking sleep enroute from Atlanta, but woke up in time for both biscotti and this view out the window. The water was a nice turquoise blue as you can see. Though, if you look on the horizon, there's a fairly strong thunderstorm cell building up as well. This was to be expected as we are not the brightest and chose to go to the middle of the Caribbean at hurricane season's peak. After landing, the hot and humid weather was a welcome relief to the aircraft's cold cabin. We breezed through customs and immigration and got a "taxi" to our hotel.
Now, I should explain something about transportation on the Turks & Caicos, and that . . . there isn't any. No buses or traditional taxis to speak of - just shared ride vans that charge PER PERSON. Four people in the van all going about 8 miles from the airport? That'll be $80. Uber needs to get in here. After the disheartening "taxi" fare, we received a less than warm welcome at the hotel, where our room was not yet ready.

We got some lunch in the meantime, which was good because I was getting cranky. I just really hate being in 90 degree heat while wearing pants. Nobody likes pants. Finally we got our room and I could take my pants off. Yay! Speculating that we will get rained out for the next four days, we went straight to the beach to take advantage of the sun before it goes away. Soon enough, some storm clouds started rolling in and we were forced to flee the ensuing downpour. After it rained itself out, we walked to a grocery store down the street which is comparable to Whole Foods. You see, everything on this island is quite expensive.

Our hotel is almost like a condo since it came with laundry, a toaster, some dishes, and various utensils, so our dinner tonight consisted of bagels and cream cheese washed down with a local beer called "Turk's Head." It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow because everything is so weather dependent. With any luck, we will find some gaps in the rain and the storms so we can go out and play.

NonRev Adventures to the Caribbean

Recently my parents faced a bit of a challenge trying to get to Santa Fe, New Mexico. You see, it can be a challenge to get to some of the less popular airports due to fewer flight options and one has to change planes somewhere and "Two-Leg It," as I say. Over the course of about 12 hours, I changed my parents' flights three times and had them going to a completely different airport in the end. Needless to say, this was a bit stressful for them. All the flights kept getting oversold at last minute when they had 40 seats open just the day before.

This same airline, which shall remain unnamed (let's just say it rhymes with schmamerican), caused Nicole and I issues just days later. The checkin process was archaic, requiring that we wait in line to speak to an agent who types furiously for a few minutes before issuing a paper ticket straight out of 1992. And despite entering Nicole's TSA-PreCheck number, she was put in the commoners line. Despite boarding a flight with more than 50 open seats, the gate agent issued us tickets that were rows apart from each other. And despite an online listing system that showed 12 seats available for our final leg, the company's own website wouldn't allow tickets to be purchased for said flight -- indicating that in fact that were no seats. In the nonrev world, 12 vs none is a pretty big difference. Why the discrepancy? So as we walked by a lineup of slot machines at McCarran International Airport, we figured that flying Schmamerican was too much of a gamble. How did we end up in Vegas? Well . . .

We were planning to go to Turks & Caicos in the Caribbean, which does not have direct flights. Our first, and most direct option, was to go from LA-Miami-Turks, but then the Miami flight was filling up rapidly because 20 people randomly decided they were going to go to Miami that day. There was a workaround that involved flying from LA-Las Vegas-Miami, so we tried that. Once in Las Vegas, all flights from Miami to Turks looked sketchy at best, so we went Las Vegas-Atlanta on Delta. Now bear in mind that we arrived in Atlanta around 5:45am and hadn't slept, so we wanted a place to rest. We each had some United club passes that we get from our credit card company, but we didn't have a United boarding pass. Ah, but wait! I listed us on a flight from Atlanta to Houston on United, scanned the pass at the desk and immediately canceled the booking once we had our foot in the door.




Now some might say that is cheating, but the boarding pass rule is bollocks as far as I'm concerned. Refueling with hot oatmeal and some Otis Spunkmeyer muffins, we prepared for our third leg, which would (hopefully) take us to Turks & Caicos, and into a tropical depression. Not like emotionally depressed, but the low pressure system kind.

What We Know So Far . . .

Classic cars, Castro, communism, and cigars. I think most Americans still have a healthy dose of skepticism toward this island nation, which is one of the world's few remaining communist regimes. As these political caricatures in the Museo de la Revolución illustrate - our policies of embargos and sloppy diplomacy have only made it easier for those in power in Cuba to point the blame at the United States. So what is it like as an American to visit a country that has been effectively closed off to us for more than 50 years? Brace for one of my longest posts ever...

Cuba the Communist State:
While staying in Havana, one of the other guests at our casa was an economics professor from the United States who was studying the country and its struggles. Communism takes many forms and Greg and I were struggling to determine what form Cuba had adopted. The professor reminded us that throughout time Castro had made modest reforms that allowed private enterprise, only to take all the new businesses away shortly thereafter. This has led to an environment where nobody wants to take a risk. With Raúl now in power, reform is back on the table, but don't expect some fancy new department store to spring up from the smog filled streets.

Why is there a picture of a pizza here? Let's rewind to my trip to Vietnam. While things were certainly run differently over there, internet was everywhere, there was no shortage of food or beverage and long lines were not necessary to acquire these goods. Not so in Cuba. I ordered a Margherita pizza and this is what I got. Where are the tomatoes? Non existent. Elsewhere Greg was denied a chicken sandwich. On average, the sandwiches I ordered were missing about 2 ingredients. And by the way, Cuban sandwiches as we know them don't exist. The lady preparing breakfast at our Havana casa was fascinated by the professor's coconut coffee flavoring as if he had brought a bar of gold into the country.

When we were awaiting our delayed flight from Cancun to Havana, we witnessed some entrepreneurs attempting to import everything from wall fans to pipes to diapers into the country. The much needed gasoline that fuels the thirsty and aging cars is just as hard to acquire. We had to stop at three gas stations on our way out of Havana before we could top off the tank (which is in the trunk due to the original parts rusting out).

Any kind of branding or advertising is almost nonexistent. Thanks in part to the embargo, the only beverages for sale are all owned by the state. Choices just aren't there. It is far from the consumer culture that dominates the United States. That being said, homelessness is nonexistent. Everyone is doing something - albeit mundane. Dozens with machetes clear grass from the median in possibly the least efficient way. Farmers give 90% of their production to the state, though in recent years they are rewarded wages based on their output. But as you can see by this man's sweat-stained shirt, it's not exactly an easy or desirable job.

But what if the embargo gets lifted? Things probably won't change as rapidly as people think. Cuba would no doubt put up tariff protections to avoid the market being flooded. Imagine something as simple as Coca-Cola being put on the shelves as stores. Would people really choose the state's "TuKola" over a long forbidden American icon like Coke? Not a chance. But maybe if the Coke was $5 a can, they would think twice. And those old American cars driving around? If the Cuban government is smart, they won't allow wealthy foreign collectors to sweep in and wrestle them back to the states.

Cuba the Tourist Destination?
I admit that a large part of Cuba's allure was the fact that it was something unavailable to me. Our time there was limited to just two places, a short 90 mile drive apart. Or as the locals would say, "A very long and far drive!" That in itself demonstrates that Cuba has a ways to go as far as infrastructure and tourism services. One could theoretically go to Cuba, stay at a fancy hotel in Havana or a beach resort in Varadero and not have any of the issues that Greg and I experienced. But if one does their travels that way, they never really saw Cuba.

Because if you don't find yourself late, confused, at the side of the road, stranded, waiting in line, or locked in, you could just has easily vacationed in Cancun or any other caribbean destination. It takes a certain kind of tourist to see Cuba that way. Once the floodgates open, I simply don't see the average American getting excited for what will certainly be a very confusing adventure. That being said, I would have liked to visit a beach and relax. The problem was that neither transportation or money could be acquired easily. #communism

So how do Cubans feel about all this? From the interactions we had, everyone seemed legitimately happy to have us. And it didn't come off as a sort of false friendliness like it does in many other countries. People in Cuba were some of the most friendly I have ever encountered and harbored zero animosity toward Americans.

Despite internet being hard to acquire, people are finding a means to get information. Not all sites are blocked. I could easily get on facebook and major foreign news pages like the BBC. These sites were blocked in Vietnam.

It seems that a good portion of the population knows what it is missing and aspires to something more. Our guide in Viñales was quoting American TV shows, House of Cards and Breaking Bad and did an incredibly accurate impersonation of Donald Trump saying, "huuuuuuge." The information is out there if people look for it. Many don't. There is something to be said about a simple life. If you don't know what you are missing, life is easy. My landscaping job at DCA airport? One of the best jobs I've ever had. It was simple and carefree. I got to work outside and never had to worry about deadlines or big wig clients. I realized just how nice being disconnected was once I returned to the United States. A truck had attacked civilians in France, the PM of the UK had stepped down, Turkey was confronting a military uprising, and people in my own country are taking to the streets to either protest racial divisions or chase Pokémon. Maybe there is such a thing as being too connected. Can the U.S. and Cuba resolve our differences? There are many in congress who think the embargo should stand -- citing human rights violations. We don't seem to have that issue with China.

There is clearly no quarrel between the American people and the Cuban people. As our server in Viñales stated, "It's just the governments that have the issues. And they're always idiots." A change is long overdue. Love him or hate him, Obama was the first one to take the first steps toward normalization and I could not have taken this trip (at least legally) without his policies. I hope that our governments have the sense to continue working together for mutual benefit and don't go backward. I am confident that changes are coming, but you probably have to wait in line for them.

Nothing can be Easy

If it wasn't immediately clear from my other posts on here, Cuba has a way of making things unnecessarily complicated. From start to finish, this trip has been a bit of a challenge and a test of one's patience and ability to handle pressure. We got up this morning expecting a car to be ready to take us to the airport. We paced around for a bit with nobody to ask about the car and after beginning to sweat about about the possibility of missing our flight, the car was outside ready to go.

Our driver was driving a Lada from old Soviet days. Every bump we hit in the road caused me to launch out of my seat and almost hit my head on the ceiling. There were no seatbelts . . . or apparently shocks. We made excellent time, getting to the airport in about 2 hours including a stop for gas. Evidently there has not been gas in Viñales for two days, so we waited in line at a service station. We were also stopped by La Policia at a checkpoint. It was not really clear what was happening. I could only pick out a few words as they stared at Greg in the front seat. I heard them say, "Adelante" or go ahead, but both the driver and the police were giving Greg the stare down so I have no idea what was happening. Based on some contextual clues, the best I can figure is that the police were suggesting we take a different road and the driver was confirming if this was ok with Greg of all people. Greg turned around to look at me for help, but was only met with shrugged shoulders. I was afraid we were going to have to pay a bribe or end up in Cuban jail. Luckily neither of these happened.

At the Havana airport, Greg and I made some last minute purchases, the best of which were a series of clearly pirated reggaeton music from Cuba. Against all odds, our Cubana flight departed on time and without incident. We were fairly efficiently processed through customs in Cancun, so clearly something had to go wrong now. It did. We were standby on a United flight that was looking ok for both of us as we were the only standbys and I saw there were two seats still available. At last minute, United held the plane for a couple that wasn't even supposed to be on the plane, but were late coming in and were making a connection. The door closed without us.

There was a Delta flight two hours later, but one cannot just switch gates at the Cancun Airport. We had to get an escort to take us through a jetway, down to the arrivals level and through customs and immigration again. That's correct. There are no exits in Cancun unless you get on a plane. It was a very complicated process that required we go through security again. Fortunately we still had some time, and we had no difficulty in getting on Delta, albeit Greg was a bit jealous of my first class seat. It was basically the perfect ending to a trip that had one road block after another. Somehow, we made it back to the United States and were not harassed about the Republic of Cuba stamp now fresh in our passports. Times they are a changing.

Imprisoned in our own Casa

Our Cuban experience continued last night the moment we returned to the casa. Greg closed the door and was trying to lock it when the bolt clamped down and the key no longer had any functionality from the inside. We were locked in. Without cell phone and internet, we had no way of contacting the owner. Eventually Greg got the attention of a man and woman, whom I assume were relatives, that had just walked out into the courtyard. I quickly tried to explain our issue with the key and that we couldn’t get out. This was quickly met with laughter.

I was glad they found our predicament amusing, but our situation had not improved. Somehow through some kind of voodoo magic, the man was able to pry the door open just enough to get the pin to pop out of place. They came inside with us for a bit to try and figure out why it wasn’t working. Inevitably, the man ended up locking himself in with us while the lady was having the time of her life outside the door in freedom. With the issue sorted out (somewhat) we packed our bags and got ready to go.

Rum and Horses

After just sitting around for a few hours, we ventured back out to find a place for dinner. We settled on a place a couple blocks from our casa. As this was our last meal and we had spent much time and effort acquiring some extra cash, we decided to go all out and get a couple mojitos. Whether or not this is a legitimate Cuban drink or something put on menus for tourists remains to be discerned, but they were quite good. For food, Greg had a sandwich that almost resembled an American cuban sandwich. It even had mustard on it! I myself thought I had ordered a chicken sandwich, but got chicken with rice and pineapple. Close enough. To follow up our mojitos, Greg wanted to try some Cuban rum so I asked our server in my severely fractured spanish which one he would choose if he was out. He brought out two types — an 11 year Santiago de Cuba for me and Havana Club Especial for Greg. Mine was a little bit smoother. It must have been that 11th year. A different server actually came over to talk just about that. There was a 20-year Santiago de Cuba rum that was available, but the consensus was that the 11 year is actually better and that’s why it was served to us. 

After the first server discovered that we were from the United States, he got very excited and kept coming out to talk with us. Evidently he went to law school . . .and is a waiter. He said his dream was to become a U.S. citizen. Clearly he is someone who aspires to much more and is not quite content with the status quo in Cuba. Practically every server in the cafe came over to talk to us at one point or another, either about the U.S./Cuba relationship or about rum. The first guy claims that we were the first Americans to come in. Tip of the spear! Hopefully we have been good ambassadors for our flawed, but admired nation.

It rained during our dinner, the only time it has done so this trip, and already stopped by the time we left. We grabbed our cameras and set out on a long walk to look for a place to watch the sky change color. Without easy access to internet, we didn’t really know what roads led to what, so it was a bit of a crapshoot. 

Speaking of crap, we had to watch our step, as there are many horses in the town that leave their calling card. Eventually we stopped at a field near some horses that had a view of the mountains and a part of the valley. It was relaxing. And that was our final sunset on Cuba . . . though we are flying Cubana Airlines tomorrow. I shouldn’t be too confident.