Festival Del Habano XXIII: Getting Home & Final Thoughts
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Loading... - Magda Balsam
- 08 Mar 2023
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And so another trip to Cuba is in the books.
I am writing this section of the post while sitting in the José Martí International Airport in Havana after what has totaled five different delays for my flight to Miami, meaning I have spent more than six extra hours in the (admittedly large) one-room airport where six different gates are located. Some of that time was spent sleeping, some of that time was spent eating and some of that time was spent frantically talking to my wife in the hope she could get me booked on another flight off the island.
Thankfully, there was another flight, and while I had to wait while my ticket was changed at the actual airport and my luggage was found, I eventually did get on the plane and flew to Miami. Three hours after that I was on a plane back to Dallas, where I could finally go to bed around 1 in the morning on Sunday, about eight hours after I was originally supposed to be there.
But enough about my trials and tribulations actually getting back to the states, here are some of my final thoughts that I wrote down and discussed with various people throughout the week:
Yes, Things Seem Better For the Cuban People Than Last Year, But Not By Much — Unlike late last year, there is plenty of bottled water and gas, and the general outlook of most of the Cuban people I talked to specifically about their situation had improved noticeably since I was last in Cuba in September 2022. Having said that, there are still major shortages of quite a few essential goods like cooking oil, medicine, meat, eggs and various condiments like butter, a situation that does not seem to be getting better anytime soon. While it might be slightly improved, the conditions are clearly worse than pre-COVID times. Read More…
