Amazing…no cell or internet for more than one week and I am still standing.

Back to devilish behavior.

Cuba was beyond incredible, although I must confess that arrival and departure is harrowing. Put your patient panties on before making the journey. A 42 minute plane ride from Miami takes a minimum of six stressful hours each way.

Rules and procedure as free world travelers do not apply. I do believe things will improve when travel on U.S. airlines from major cities other than Miami kick in.

You are just one of hundreds standing in line. We packed efficiently in our usual regulation size carry on and they would not allow us to board with the luggage. It traveled in the belly of the aircraft with the literally 243 oversized items (car tires, car front seats, bicycles, refrigerators, microwaves, the list is endless)…unexplainable.

Retrieving our luggage in Havana at Jose Marti International Airport took almost 2 hours. Our charter left three hours late, partially because it 2 hours to load the endless stream of cargo. Reminder: the entire flight took 42 minutes.

We arrived and met our phenomenal guide, Ebony. She is ‘grand’ and very accommodating. Group tour traveling has never made my bucket list, but traveling to Cuba entails acquiring a specialized visa and traveling with a group. Our educational activities focused  on art and dance.

We pirouetted out of the airport and into a vintage American Ford sedan…what a hoot. The weather was warm, but not nearly as hot and humid as Miami.

We checked into our deluxe third world hotel, Capri by the ocean. I use the word deluxe loosely. It was clean and had recently reopened, but we suspect that the Cuban School for the Blind participated in the renovations.

We were whisked off to a beautiful Palador (private restaurant…state owned restaurants make McDonald’s appear gourmet). I had my first Cuban lobster…delicious and proceeded to dine on lobster daily.

Our first adventure was touring the intoxicating city of Havana in a vintage American Mercury convertible. What a delight!

On the custom route was Plaza de la Revolucion. We viewed portraits of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro whose portrait bore a striking resemblance to Osama Bin Laden.

Old Havana (Habana Vieja) is mesmerizing. The redevelopment of the area has been done tastefully. It consists of four imposing squares, Plaza Vieja, Plaza de la Catedral, Plaza de Armas and Plaza de San Francisco. Over 60,000 people live within the confines of Old Havana.

Once you wander outside the revitalized area you are in hard core third world surroundings. Many of the old buildings, which must have been magnificent in Havana’s heyday, are filled to the brim with residents living in squalid conditions.

There are so many magical Cuban highlights I simply do not know where to begin.

We journeyed outside the city to lush countryside to take in a tobacco ranch in the Pinar del Rio province. Seeds are provided annually by the government and 90% of the crop is sold back to the government by the farmers  at a decent price.

Many entrepeneurial Cubans are closely watched and heavily taxed. The government wants to keep all citizens on the same socio-economic plane. The average worker earns $15 per month.

It is the Cuban Biennal and we saw a great deal of artwork. The sculpture was very impressive. One artistic revelation is the home and surrounding community of world-renown painter and ceramist, Jose Fuster in Jaimanitas, a suburb of Havana. Jaimanitas borders Miramar, the once opulent suburb of Havana.

Fuster’s art pays homage to Gaudi and Picasso and his work emerges from the road like an artistic phoenix rising.

The food was so much better than expected. The pace is very slow and the Cuban people friendly and welcoming.

I have so much to impart…stick around.