Friday, January 22, 2016

Marina Hemingway in Cuba

Our first taxi!!

We have arrived safely in Cuba.  It was a rocky, rolly, quick ride.  We left with the tide at 1100 hours on Wed. and had to slow down about 0300 on Thur. because we were going to get there too soon.  We sailed slowly in under a triple reefed main and a handkerchief of jib out.  Clearing customs was a breeze, done effieciently and quickly, the only ones who asked for a bribe were the older agriculture officials, who did not consficate any of our food, but got a Coca Cola for their troubles. 
We immideately saw a couple from New Zealand whom we had briefly seen in Key West.  They had crossed on Monday.  They were going in to town with a Swiss couple so I went with them.  I managed to change some money and book a bus to Cinefuegos, on the south side of the island, to meet up with our Canadian buddies who have been here since Jan. 11.

We are now in Cinefuegos and they have e-mailed us a spot where we are too meet.  They just came in, woo hoo. Mission accomplished.  We will spend the next week touring around with them. I am on a hotel computer, not having quite figured out how the internet works here so no pics as yet.  I will say the taxi we took into town yesterday, it is about 10km, was a beaut, old, rusty red, converted from automatic to standard and the gear shift was just up through a hole in the floor. 
Gotta go.
This is the hotel where I booked the bus tour.  Good thing I took a picture because I did not know the name and I just showed the taxi driver the picture and he was able to get get us to the hotel.