Leaving Cuba

View all photos from Cuba: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AcNmzVq5YsWLDbg

For more beautiful pictures from Cuba (among other countries): http://www.lumika.org/index.htm#Galleries

Many medieval European cities used to be surrounded by walls and only certain people had permission to enter or exit. This analogy is not all that unsuitable for Cuba. To make the comparison better yet one should recall the song “Hotel California” where you can “check out any time you want, but you can never leave.”

With these comments I am referring to my departure from Cuba or lack thereof. Something about my time in Cuba gave me the intuition that I might be wise to confirm my return flight form Habana prior to departure. This turns out easier said than done. After a diligent search I was able to locate a telephone book and in it the telephone number of Mexicana airlines (note that this is a foreign company). The problem with calling an office in Cuba is not the lack of telephones but the fact that no one answers them. After 38 (or so) attempts to call the Mexiana office I finally realized that they were simply not going to answer my call but a Cuban friend reassured me that this was normal and that I would have to go to the office in person. So I walked half way through Habana to the airline building which houses the Mexicana office. After calling out “última persona” and awaiting my turn in line the representative tells me because I bought the ticket on the Internet she would not be able to access my information. After a friendly smile (and a bit of Cuban charm) the information suddenly becomes accessible and she tells me that my flight has been cancelled and gives me a phone number to call to move my reservation to the next day. The telephone keeps ringing in the background as if it was part of the music playing. The 38 failed prior attempts to accomplish something by phone in Cuba are too recent to make the same mistake twice. So I kindly ask her to call on my behalf. Surprisingly on one answers and after a few more unsuccessful attempts she is able to miraculously make the appropriate changes in her computer, the same computer that just 5 minutes ago, or so she had told me, was broken. So my stay in Cuba is involuntarily extended, with is not all that bad of a thing.

The next day I make the journey to the airport (the taxi is only half as expensive as he first taxi trop upon arrival – one learns with experience that in Cuba there are always many ways to get things done). At the airport I join the line of people waiting to check in while one attendant reluctantly works as his co-workers stand around and chat. Eventually it is my turn and I am told that because I have an electronic ticket I have to go to the office around the corner. Another line and finally the validity of my ticket is verified. The clerk phones the check-in counter and tells them to check me in. I return to the counter and without asking me my name, identification or ticket he asks me to which city my ticket is: Cancun, Mexico City or Guadalajara? I pause for a moment, wondering if he would actually issue me a boarding pass to a different city. But then I decide that I really rather go to Cancun. But no so fast, before boarding the plane there is a line to pay the exit tax, one for the passport control and one more for security. In Cuba it is actually necessary to arrive the suggested 2 hours early.

Thank you Cuba for an amazing trip. May the return come soon.