Havana, Cuba, 1 September 2016

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Now resuming my permanent posts from my Cuba and the Caribbean trip three years ago, this one is for our first night in Cuba.

I had expected to pick up the pace here to two posts a week but I have unexpectedly signed up to a brief photographic tour, starting in six weeks. More on that in due course. I don’t expect to finish the posts of Cuba before I leave because I will be spending most of my time preparing for the tour.

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Old car at the airport (Chevrolet).

Arriving in Cuba can be an interesting experience.  We paid extra for VIP Service on arrival, sped through customs, were ushered to a special lounge, our luggage quickly arrived and we were on our way.  The other members of our group arrived on a different flight at the same time.  We had to wait two hours for them as their luggage was inspected for valuable items (that might disappear) and came out on the chute one by one.  People in Cuba are honest and friendly but Airport security is another matter. Americans cannot get VIP Service.

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Plaza de la Catedral

After eventually arriving at our hotel and settling in for a while, we headed off on foot for a restaurant.

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The restaurant was upstairs but on the way in on the ground floor, we passed a bar, with a band playing.

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This is the restaurant.  We ate in the next room.

I thought the food here was fine but my partner Jools was not so impressed, partly because she does not eat fish.  Cuba is not a great culinary destination because they cannot import anything due to the sanctions and the trucks are too old and run down to efficiently bring food from the countryside.

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On the way back, I passed the pub again, with a view from a different door.

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Welcome to Cuba!

(I have to admit though, some of these images were underexposed and so are a bit rough).

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Havana Cathedral, or, if you prefer, La Catedral de la Virgin Maria de la Conceptión Immaculata de la Habana.

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Plaza de la Catedral again.

This image shows that my head was spinning from exposure to this whole new environment.  Either that, or it’s partly corrected fisheye distortion.

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