Day one, and what a long day it is… part 2
The ten hour flight took forever at some points, yet was almost over before we knew it. I checked the overhead TV screens once an hour, every hour. Not by keeping time, oh no. It's just that every time I wondered how much time had past and how long before we would reach our destination, I looked up to the screen only to notice an hour had passed since the last time I looked. So, there we were, just ten minutes or so from landing. From our position in the middle row of the plane, landing felt like crashing into the jungle. The nearest windows were an aisle and two seats away so upon landing all we saw was trees, trees and more trees coming rapidly towards us, closing in ever faster until they engulfed us completely. Fortunately we landed safely on the runway. When we stepped out of the plane and on to the tarmac, Cuba embraced us with a warm blanket of humid air.
Security clearance at Holguin's airport 'Frank Pais' went smooth. We didn't experience any of the horrible things we had read about on internet forums. The boarder security lady did ask me about my laptop, but after I told her in which hotel I would be staying, she had no problem with me taking it in to the country. Pretty soon after we had cleared customs our luggage gently rolled by on the conveyer belt. The whole thing, from landing to collecting our luggage, had taken less time then checking in at Schiphol. Go figure! Outside the airport our local tour operator's representative stood waiting. Eider was his name, Cuban born, but he had been to The Netherlands on four occasions and spoke perfectly good Dutch. He handed all the incoming tourists their envelope and directed us to the busses. The train ride to the airport back home had taken about an hour, which was followed by the three hour check in-security-boarding procedure. Then the ten hour flight had followed of course, and now we were in for a bus ride of yet another hour or so for the transit to the hotel.
In the bus tour operator intern Lisa had what seemed like one of her very first guidance trips. Nervously and un-habituated she held the microphone, not close enough to her mouth. She was eager to learn though, because after we had told her no-one could hear her, she made sure it never left her lips again. She told us everything she knew about the country and the region.
Along the route we saw some fine examples of those beautiful American classic cars from the fifties Cuba is now famous for. One was a sad sight though; pulled over by a cop for a speeding ticket. We got that explanation after we had noticed the bus slowed down to mere crawling speed. Apparently the bus driver didn't want us to meet local law enforcement :) In general, the roads were scattered with the widest range of transportation. Everything from medieval ox pulled carriages to the latest model of modern automotive.
When finally arriving at the hotel we skipped the welcoming cocktail and the 'seems-to-be-obligatory-at-any-tropical-destination-dance-group', and headed straight for the check-in lady who was there to help us putting on our wristbands. You know: those tags that cry out “look I'm a foreigner, rich and stupid, please come and sell me poor quality clutter for tower high prices”. Well sure…. I'll put it on… but only if you promise me I can go to my room immediately after :D
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