travellingbennetts

We left Colombye-bye saying bye-bye to our riding companions that we had laughed, cried, drank and had fun with over the past 100 or so days and headed to the airport for our flight to Panama City.  Our itinerary post Ultimate South America was based on the feeling we had after finishing our epic 80 day Cairo to Cape Town expedition of 2017 – we didn’t want the trip to end and were devastated to travel home.  So, our (actually my) thought was “Hey, let’s have an extra 2 weeks doing tourist stuff in Latin America going to places we were unlikely to travel back to” i.e. Cuba.  I easily got Duncan onboard with the siren song of Cuban cigars…..

However, at the end of the riding trip we were, like Austin Powers, quite literally spent.  I would have happily climbed onto the plane to travel home to Brisbane to bunker down and recharge.  But onwards and northwards we went!

The longing for 2 weeks of low pressure tourist activity didn’t last the entry to Panama!  The exit from Colombia was mostly easy but upon check-in learned that an online entry permit was required for Panama.  OK, it is in Spanish of course – English version not able to load.  OK, now we are getting totally stressed. Finger pointing was imminent. Fortunately the check-in area was fairly quiet and a very helpful check-in supervisor who spoke quite good English assisted us to complete the permit and phew.  We were out of Colombia and onto the short and quite scenic flight to Panama – the landing skirted the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal and the sight of all those ships lined up was amazing.

However, the entry to Panama would prove to be the most confusing airport arrival in both our extensive travelling histories (so far).  Of course there were instructions in Spanish given and of course there were signs also in Spanish – however these eluded us.  A very deserted entry point where our passports were stamped and online entry permit shown, hmmm where are all the other passengers?  Then entry to an equally deserted baggage claim and the red flags had been hoisted.  Duncan heroically returned through the “other side” to seek assistance, to find we had exited customs at the wrong terminal. Well, maybe not the wrong terminal, just the one our bags had chosen to avoid.

A long walk outside to a bus to travel to a totally different terminal to hopefully be reunited with our luggage was undertaken in typical tropical conditions (ie sweating and cursing).  Upon arrival at the also very quiet terminal we found an office that looked official and someone who sort of spoke English.  We were given a mild telling off and then Duncan went with an immigration officer (and my passport) back through to the “other side” again to (hopefully) retrieve our luggage.  I sat on the floor (no nice waiting lounges here), with our substantial carry on, think helmets backpacks etc.

I struck up a conversation with an American fellow who was also sitting on the floor with the same scenario as us, but for some reason we were being assisted before him.  He had been waiting a long time and wasn’t in the best humour.  He had already missed a connecting flight – welcome to Latin America people!

Eventually, probably 45 minutes later, Duncan returned triumphant dragging our checked luggage.  Slightly amazed and deflated – amflated now accepted as a word – we found a cab and hi-tailed it to our hotel right beside the Canal. Our first impression of Panama City in the cab was an affluent modern city. It was a lovely hotel, but location was a bit “wilderness”, with some compensation from being able to stroll down to the shipping life-line. The only lunch venue discovered was TGI Fridays at the hotel, the USA influence is strong in Panama. We would later find out Panama City is known as the “Dubai of Latin America” due to the amount of money they receive from shipping through the canal.

Dinner again at the TGI Fridays eatery after somehow getting involved in a work function at the hotel bar, providing some hilarious stories about Juan in Accounts Payable to avoid blowing our cover, and it was an early night for us.  A big day was following with the Panama Canal tour.

Up early, of course, and our driver was waiting to take us to the rest of the group that would be undertaking the “Ocean to Ocean Panama Canal and Jungle Tour”.  After picking up the other passengers; two young ladies from Austria, we hopped on the larger mini bus with the rest of the crowd for the first stop getting in early on a boat to the Gatun Lake which is in the middle of the Panama Canal at 26m above sea level.  When the lake was created in 1913 it was the largest dam ever built. A few stops to see monkeys and birdlife on the lake islands was nice, but the more magnificent sight was the huge ships transiting the lake.

Back on the bus and we headed to the Atlantic Ocean side of Panama. The Agua Clara Locks, or new locks are an engineering miracle, opened in 2016 to allow modern Neopanamax sized mega-ships.  We watched one of the ships we’d seen in the lake earlier transit the locks, just incredible and well worth the visit to Panama just for this alone.  Lunch followed at San Lorenzo Fort which protected the coast from pirates back in the day.  The ruins were interesting, but looking out onto the Atlantic Ocean it was mind-blowing to think that only a couple of hours ago we were on the Pacific Ocean.

Arriving back to our hotel in the late afternoon, Duncan had done some research about craft breweries in the area, so we walked a kilometre or so to a nice establishment for a cooling beverage or 3. The food offerings were limited so we walked a bit further to a beachside dining establishment for a delicious fish dinner, dining outside with several local friendly cats.

The next day was, surprise surprise, another early one.  Up in the dark to catch our flight to Havana, Cuba. Worries about getting into Cuba were unfounded as our paper visas were all in order and a rapid entry transpired. The plan for the next 8 days was an Intrepid Tours “Beautiful Cuba” trip.  We have done a few previous trips with Intrepid and like their style of a more active type of trip that gets into the real country rather than sit in a bus all day and only seeing the tourist hotspots.

Our transfer driver picked us up and even after nearly 4 months in South and Latin America we could tell we were in a totally different world!  The Intrepid info pack was a bit out of date though, when written only Euros were acceptable, but our driver said US dollars were all the rage now. Didn’t matter too much because we had no cash of either currency. Just great. The cars, buildings and people spoke of a different era entirely. The old American cars were not just the shiny colourful tourist brochure ones, but a clear feature of everyday life for Cubans.

Into our very basic lodgings in the heart of old town Havana, and our group tour meeting had only one other attendee – Rhianne from Sydney.  Rainer our tour guide explained that the other 2 members of our group (making just 5 of us total) had been delayed in transit from the UK, they were a Scottish couple who we would meet at breakfast.

The next day the 5 of us – having met Hannah and David from Glasgow at breakfast – plus Rainer and our bus driver Allan (both locals and highly educated as is the Cuban norm) had a walk around old Havana and hit the road heading south-east.  A stop was made on the outskirts of Havana to get casks of filtered water for our week trip.  This was a welcome inclusion and shows Intrepid Travel’s commitment of trying to reduce plastic waste around the world, besides making sure we had enough water in the brutally humid atmosphere.

A couple of initial impressions were the lack of traffic on the roads and the long, long lines for fuel.  The road network is amazing, dual lanes with very little traffic as ordinary people presumably cannot afford a car.  The scenery was of course tropical and agricultural with imposing mountain ranges which we traversed to our first night at Vinales. This area is a big tobacco growing region for the famous Cuban cigars, not many “no smoking” signs around here. The following morning we first went on a hike to a tobacco farm where we learned about the production of this highly sought after commodity – the government take 90% of the tobacco from the farmers who can then privately sell the remainder – 10% in air quotes – and we were keen customers after trying a selection of the best. While not normally a cigar (or any other) smoker, I found these aromatic and chemical free cigars quite the experience.  Maybe it was the locally produced rum that aided that enjoyment!

Back to town and a walk around the area before a delicious “garden to plate” dinner at a local farm.  Of course there were rum cocktails consumed, with Mojitos being the crowd favourite.  Did I mention Cuban rum is another locally produced decadence!

A word on our accommodation in Cuba, it was in local houses and the family provided home cooked breakfasts which consist of a lot of fresh fruit, basic home-made bread and jams as well as eggs. Butter is a luxury and small dollops only are provided.  Juice and coffee however are plentiful and top notch. The locals who host visitors are the lucky ones as life is tough under the regime of sanctions imposed by the USA since 1959. A currency crisis and lack of tourists during Covid hit the nation hard and we were in a currency crisis of our own having run out of USD buying essentials like cigars.  The local peso is highly inflated and getting enough out of ATM’s was an epic struggle for us, we joined the big queues at the Vinales ATM and failed several times. Then we arrived just after a power outage – almost a daily event – and kept trying on one machine that was ignored by everyone else. The process was put the card in, select English, type in PIN, and select amount of cash. The message was always “transaction failed”, but we then discovered this actually meant the opposite of failed – success. Hitting OK to get the card back, the magic door suddenly opened and out spewed cash. The crowd spontaneously burst into a standing ovation. Let’s do that again!

Another sad feature of modern Cuba is that anyone that can leave, must. One of our walking guides spoke of his son, a qualified doctor who earned the equivalent of USD$100 a month in Cuba, and with inflation his earnings were sliding.  He escaped to the USA via Guatemala (where Cubans don’t need a visa to enter) and people smugglers and is working there making very good money.  It is very noticeable that there is a generation “missing”, you only see young kids, teens and older people – the middle layer has mostly had to desert the place.

Back on the road and the much-anticipated Bay of Pigs was the next destination, and after going through the town of Australia, we felt right at home!  A snorkel in the Bay of Pigs was a bit choppy but the clear and refreshing water belied the dark history of this place.  Afternoon rains trapped us at Cienfuegos when we wandered out for a group dinner with our fun young trip companions. 

The town of Trinidad and a couple of cultural events including a salsa dancing lesson (I am not giving up my day job!) and a dinner with local musicians rounded out the stay which unfortunately included nightly blackouts, not great when air-conditioning is an essential element of a good night’s sleep.

The trek back to Havana included a stop at the Che Guevera mausoleum, where his remains were returned to after being gunned down by the CIA in Bolivia.  Che is a feted hero still in Cuba, even though he is Argentinean and everything about his life is in black and white – a bit like our children worshipping JFK or Winston Churchill. A fun final dinner out in Havana with the group and a spot of mild souvenir shopping and we had done Cuba. 

I must admit to having been rather excited at the prospect of being back in an English-speaking country (well the USA is close enough…) after 4 months of language barriers. Our flight plan was Havana via Miami to Houston. Well, Houston we did indeed have a problem!

Upon landing at Miami International Airport, we duly showed our paper US visas (thanks Sudan in 2017) to the immigration agent who seemed bemused by these as he had never seen Australians with them, and therefore sent us (taking our passports first) with most of our flight into a crowded immigration waiting area with the rest of the illegals and people who are having processing issues.  We had nearly 4 hours until our connecting flight, nothing to worry about. Right? Wrong.

We sat, and sat and sat.  We were definitely the anomalies in the room, white Anglo-Saxons. All announcements were made in Spanish, and I am sure we would still be there but I defied the “no cell phone” sign to try and see if we could get another connecting flight.  An immigration officer came to tell me off, and then looked confused and asked what we were doing there when we said we were Australians – so he retrieved our passports, which no-one had looked at, and we were on the long and ultimately fruitless trek to our gate for the flight to Houston.  Missed it, of course.  Lining up to get on another flight we were put on standby for the next two flights and went to our old favourite TGI Fridays for a calming wine and beer!

After Latin America and particularly Cuba the Miami airport was sensory overload with shops packed with bright and shiny trinkets.  I brought a pair of trendy tracksuit pants as a welcome return to mass consumerism.  Flight time for the first option rolled around and we went to the gate, they show a screen with all the standby passengers and what order they are in.  We were near the top, yay.  Yes we were called up, and duly boarded the plane while looking with pity at those standbys who weren’t gunna make it, taxied, and then stopped.  NO.  An announcement (in English, yes of course now) that we were grounded by bad weather that was happening en-route to Houston.  This was now about 10:00pm so we sat and waited, and waited.  Over two hours and a movie later we were told we were good to go, I didn’t quite believe it and imagined that some other disaster would certainly befall us before Houston – but no we made it.  Houston, we no longer had a problem!

A very very late entry into the hotel on the outskirts, one benefit being the post-midnight traffic around Houston was mild for our return to driving again which seemed odd after such a long break from cars.  The next day was a welcome sleep-in before our assigned visit time to the NASA Johnson Space Centre on the Houston outskirts. It was a very interesting place to visit with a space shuttle able to be viewed up close as well as the rocket park and being close to an Apollo space module.  The scale was mind-blowing and we reluctantly dragged ourselves away to continue our journey – San Antonio the destination.

Driving the freeways of the Lone Star State was at first slow going getting out of the Houston rat-race but became fast and easy in the open countryside.  Our hire car was a 6-cylinder Toyota Aurion and had some get up and go but was mostly dwarfed by mega-size pick-up trucks favoured by the locals.  We had breakfasted at one of my favourite diner chains Denny’s and also had lunch at another Denny’s when we stopped at a roadside service centre.  Not sure if Covid was to blame but USA service levels have dropped since our last visit, but not the expectation of tips though.

An easy arrival in San Antonio and our hotel was right next to the Alamo, the target of the next morning‘s plan.  A stroll to the very picturesque and cooler temp riverwalk was welcome and a German pub provided liquid sustenance to continue on.  Did I mention Texas was in a heatwave with temps up around 40°C? 

The sightseeing in San Antonio was top notch and it was welcome to have 2 nights in the one spot.  Kicking off our final leg of our short USA experience, it was back in the car to Dallas or specifically Duncanville on the outskirts.  But first a stop at Natural Bridge Caverns which were a welcome reprieve from the heat of the day as well as a spectacular sight – a fun aspect being the very long conveyor to get us back to the top again – only in America!

Duncanville was reached, and the expectation of it being a salubrious spot were dashed for some although other members of the party were just thrilled to be there.  Our stay at the Hilton was noteworthy only as being our last night in our trip away.  

Dallas beckoned the following day and while the School Book Depository Museum was closed, we did go on a very informative trolley bus tour around all the important JFK landmarks.  It was a factual tour and didn’t go into any of the wild conspiracy theories which was a relief.

Trying to find a post office to send a post card home was thwarted when we discovered it was a public holiday in Dallas.  The downtown area was fairly bereft of people, except the homeless man that raced up to us muttering gibberish and then intently tried to tell us something and started to grab at us.  We hightailed it into an office building foyer that was luckily open, and then he finally gave up and went away.

Enough Dallas excitement, to the airport for us! A return of the hire car and in the bus to the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.  The welcome relief of the Qantas Lounge and the anticipation of the recently upgraded to Business Class flight home prompted a glass or 2 of bubbly and the purchase of the favourite American chocolate bars.

Well that’s a wrap folks, although I did manage to binge the entire second season of White Lotus on the 16 hour Dallas to Sydney flight.