Cuba Tuesday Evening, Home

Hard to believe that 9 hours ago we were in Havana, Cuba and now we are home in Gainesville! It was a great trip.  It was very educational and we met a lot of friendly and resourceful people. 

Dami and Jamil arr married and were part of our group.  They were both born in Cuba.  Dami came to the US by air with her parents when she was 8 years old.  Jamil spent 5 days on a raft with 6 other family members before getting airlifted to Florida when he was 8 years old.  they were both able to visit family during the trip. Seeing Cuba through their eyes added a lot to our trip.

Cuba Monday Evening

Had another busy day today.  After breakfast and good Cuban coffee we headed to meet with the head of the Havana Episcopal church to explain the systems we intalled and drop off some equipment.

We then picked up a married Cuban couple, friends of Rick, who became our local tour guides.  We toured Hemingway's house outside of town in the hills, saw the local government buildings and then walked around the local Spanish garrison built in the 1590's. 

We had lunch on the top floor of a very nice hotel and walked through Havana Vieja, Old Havana.  Very nice part of town with fancy hotels, restaurants and shops. 

We saw lots and.lots of old classic cars and motorcycles from Russia, the USA and Czech Republic.

I have surprised by the number of small private businesses in a "communist" country.  The locals call it "the change" and it has been going on for 10-15 years.  It provides local food and services cheaper than those provided by the government. It's a kind of tolerated black market. 

We also had our picture taken with John Lennon, his statue on a bench in a park.  He was very popular here due to his song Revolution. When a guy in our group put a hat on his head a local woman came over and told him to take it off.  You don't joke around with the former member of the Beatles. 

Hard to believe we fly back to Miami tomorrow morning.

Cuba Sunday Evening

Another full day.  We completed our 3rd and final water filtration system today at a church in a poor area of Havana. We thought we would have to wait until tomorrow because they had a bad infestation of fleas but we were able to work in an area without fleas, which was nice.

We then took a short tour in the bus and along the Malecon at the waterfront.  We saw a informal car show with cars from the 1950s. Gwynn, Ted, Susie and I broke from the group and had dinner by ourselves.

Cuba is very poor and the buildings are in disrepair.  The Cubans keep everything clean but everything is old, worn and poorly maintained.  A doctor earns about $100 per month.

Pictures tell it better than words.

Cuba - Sunday

Where to start. We are in Havana getting ready to have breakfast and then head out to our 3rd water project. Internet is very sporadic and limited. We are staying in a convent and the breakfast bell just rang.

I'm  going to post pictures.

People have been very friendly, appreciative and generous. We have been able see areas that tourists usually don't see.

Cuba!

Sooz and I will soon head to Miami to fly to Cuba beginning a new adventure of service and fun.  We fly out of Miami on Friday, May 25, 2018 and return Tuesday, May 29, 2018.  My brother Ted and his girlfriend Gwynn will be traveling with us.

Rick and Cordella Miessau from West Palm Beach, FL are organizing this trip.  I used to work with both of them at the South Florida Water Management District.  Rick, and some associates, started a nonprofit organization with a mission to provide clean drinking water to people in need.  His organization is Clean Drinking Water Team, Inc.  Details about their organization and our trip can be found at their website: www.cleandrinkingwaterteam.org.

It's a quick trip, without motorcycles and should be a blast.  I will update this blog daily during our trip so come back.

Terry