Getting the Lay of the Land in Havana -Day 1
“Cuba lifted the embargo on shipping boxes on January 13th, so your bikes should be fine.”
Weezie and I look at each other with both shock and relief at the words coming out of the airport attendant’s mouth. Embargo on boxes? Who knew? We had researched Cuba for months, but had never seen anything referring to this. Nor, did we realize that this was to be the start of so much that we wouldn’t know, because in regards to Cuba, the United States is solidly in the dark. But, with the feeling of luck that comes from avoiding near disaster, we kissed our partners goodbye and skipped unwittingly through security.
Hours later, when we arrived in Cuba and sallied our way to the phone center in the airport to get our SIM cards so that we could communicate with those at home, we were met with a firm “No.” Again we stared at each other big eyed. “Electronic SIM cards don’t work here, sorry.” This means no phone use for the duration of our adventure unless we are connected to WiFi, which here in Havana, you can find in a few tourist restaurants. But, once we start cycling it won’t exist.
Both of us gulped and decided to head for our accommodation to sort this out. However, without a phone or WiFi, this proved very difficult. It took several hours and the help of many kind strangers. The first of many we were to meet in our first 24 hours.
Needless to say, we slept like hot rocks.
This morning the real adventure began. Without technology at our fingertips, we took to the streets, to the people, and through broken, stammering Spanish we asked for help and recommendations from our host, her friends, locals and each other. We poured over paper maps, got the names of other Casa Particulares along our route, built our bikes, changed our money to pesos on the black market and wandered through Havana conjuring up our seldom used natural sense of direction.
Of course the people we met were welcoming if not a bit incredulous. Several asked about our president, and when we told them how we felt we were literally met with hugs. “It is people that matter, we are not politics!”, said one.
“He is evil, just like ours.”, said another. “It isn’t your fault, thank you for coming here.”
The cities vibrancy seems to grow out of ruble and the people’s kindness seems to grow out of struggle. We both feel full of trust for the people here.
Tomorrow we will head out on our month long ride. I will post if and when I can, but don’t worry, we have each other and all the people here. Phones are a recent invention, caring people have been around for a while.