I've been trying to make a trip to Cuba with my church since before the pandemic. I finally got to make the visit! My frequent flyer status allowed me to take two suitcases free of charge so I spent most of the week packing and repacking, as I added items that we were told they needed (many over the counter meds) as well as some fun items for the children.
Two of us from Grace Presbyterian traveled down to Santa Clara to visit our sister Presbyterian churches in central Cuba. We were meeting up with Presbyterians from Baltimore and central Florida who were joining us. Not only were we bringing items to share, I had also been asked by another US church if I could carry some cash into the country (none of our financial institutions work there - banks, wire transfers, ATMs, etc). I agreed, and had the cash with me. I decided it was best to fill out a declaration form even though it was below the required amount to declare. I had no idea how this would play out in customs, but I thought better safe than sorry. We actually had to travel over two days because we couldn't get to Miami early enough in the day to catch the one connecting flight from Miami to Santa Clara Cuba. We stayed overnight in Dallas and left very early for Miami.
First glimpse of northern coast of Cuba.
Breakfast of champions...when you leave the hotel before the complimentary breakfast.
Downtown Miami
All the cruise ships in Miami port.
The view was mostly small agricultural plots with small villages here and there.
Approaching Santa Clara
Landing at Santa Clara
It was a very quick flight, about 45 minutes in the air (even shorter than between Wichita and Dallas).
Santa Clara Airport. Total gates = 1
Only 1 shared runway/taxiway
I was one of the first to queue for passport control. I had a xerox copy of my 'visa' that I had been told to present to the authorities upon arrival and they would give me the actual visa. I also had a QR code from my customs declaration. I approached the window and handed over my passport, not knowing what other papers she would want. She took the customs form and the copy of the visa. She spent time with a magnifying glass looking at my photo in my passport, then waved for me to stand in front of the camera. She signaled for me not to smile and took my photo. Then she took a pile of visas and sorted through them to find mine. She passed it over and waved me on my way. Step 1 down.
[I found out later that this actual visa - slip of paper - had to be picked up in Havana by our host church and delivered back to the passport office at the airport in Santa Clara in order for them to give it to me when I arrived. This in itself is an inconvenience, but even more so knowing that Havana is over 4 hours away on poor roads and their vehicles are not reliable and neither is fuel. I was dumbfounded by this inefficient process.]
Step 2 - Clearing customs. I left passport control and was escorted through a security screen (body scanner and x-ray for my carry on bag). I couldn't figure this out since I'd just been on a plane and passed through security to get on it. I went through to baggage claim. I was just watching the bags arrive when an official came up and asked to see my passport. I showed him. He took it and said "come see me when your bags arrive". It's kind of uncomfortable when someone walks away carrying your passport. As the bags came through on the carousel, workers were pulling them off and stacking them in a row. It was a bit of a jam to grab them. I was glad to see both my suitcase with my clothes and the one with gifts arrive. I tried to spot the guy with my passport, but couldn't find him in the crowd, so I waited for him to find me and for the rest of the group to come through passport control.
Then another official lady came up to me and said 'come with me'. I said that other guy has my passport. She said, if you want it back, come with me. It wasn't a threat, but again, I was walking away without my passport in hand. She had me put my bags down on the floor in a taped square and then an adorable springer spaniel approached them and sniffed at them. He was not interested and moved away. His handler brought him back 3x to my bags and he kept sniffing and walking away. 'There is nothing there, move on.' They had me grab my bags and move them to a heavy duty x-ray machine. Then they asked me to take them over to another table and a lady had me open them to search it manually. She asked if I had medicine and I said yes (just like my customs form and your x-ray machine just told you). I had left everything in their original packaging to avoid any problems. She asked a few more questions, gave me my passport back, and then waved me to another line near the exit. When it was my turn to exit, the guy there waved me to another line where most of the other passengers were. After transiting the gauntlet, I was finally allowed to exit. The whole rest of the group had gotten through ahead of me.
Our church host was there on the curb to meet us and lead us to an old school bus that would take us to the church camp where we would be staying for several days. We were greeted with kisses on the cheek and warm hugs and smiles. *sigh of relief after making it through customs.
We saw some signs of Christmas, but not an overwhelming display. This was outside the airport.
It was not feeling Christmasy to me since it was 75+ degrees.
The decorations in the bus were entertaining. We would learn later in the week that the church owned the bus and had recently done a lot of renovation work on it. They hoped to get the right license/permit to be able to use it as a transport for locals (who would pay to ride) as a source of revenue. It was our understanding that there was basically no public transportation. People hitch rides with others, pay for private transport, or simply don't go other places. I'm guessing if you get behind the wheel of a vehicle, you need to know something about auto mechanics because few of the vehicles seemed very reliable.
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