I’m catching up with posting things I wrote on our recent trip to Havana, Cuba. Internet there is minimal so it was easier to just wait until we got home.
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Today, our third full day, we decided to take the hop on, hop off bus around town. The pictures should be self explanatory. It was a nice day with rain predicted in the afternoon but thankfully we only got some sprinkles, and we got to see a lot of the city while giving our feet a bit of a break.
Little did we know this night would be rather eventful. We walked home, stopping to wait in the bread line on the way, and spent the evening relaxing and snacking. The guys had gone to the bedrooms, and Haydeé and I were watching TV. It had started to storm outside and we could hear it getting more intense, and then the TV signal went out. I was just wondering about the power when the lights went out. With nothing else to do, we all went to bed.
I spent a restless night listening to the din of tin roofs rattling like pieces of fabric as the storm raged outside. I knew it was better later in the night when the storm settled down and you could hear voices in the street again. We didn’t realize what happened though until the next morning when Diana came down and reported a tornado, the likes of which hadn’t been seen since 1940. 3 people were killed and hundreds injured.
Rare tornado strikes in Havana, killing at least 3 and injuring more than 100
The power came back on in the mid morning along with the TV signal so then we were able to see the news reports of buildings destroyed, cars and even large trucks tossed around like toys, and injured people being interviewed in hospitals. The destruction was quite impressive! The news reported that every effort was being made to support the people affected and clean up the affected areas.
I was hoping the news didn’t get outside the country and worry family, especially since the internet was knocked out and we couldn’t connect. Thankfully on Tuesday we were able to get connected and reassure everyone who had indeed heard the news and were very concerned. We were fine but really felt for the people who had suffered the worst of the storm.
The Panama Adventure 
Reblogged this on Blue Dragon Journal.
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I love your Cuba posts. Thank you! What a great eye into normal life there, food lines, storms. More than old cars and architecture what daily life is like is most interesting to me. I enjoy my poor friends in Mexico City much more than the rich ones, taking the bus with them and navigating neighborhood markets to find one particular item – no big box stores. How normal people live in different places fascinates me.
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Yes! Me too, learning about real life in another country and culture, and learning about the people, what they do, how they think, what is important to them. It’s endlessly interesting.
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I love your posts, Kris. We live in Los Santos. When you have time, can you give us some specific information on how you booked your trip( travel agent or self) and costs? Cuba is on my bucket list. I hope to get there soon. Enjoy your day,
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We bought our tickets at the Copa office in David. We qualify for the jubilado discount so must go to the airline office or a travel agent (search the blog for people to know if you need one). I think off the top of my head they were about $450, or $385 after the discount. We found our place to stay on Airbnb. Cuba is a unique experience and I hope you can go.
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Hi Kris, welcome home from Cuba, wow what an adventure. I was supposed to be in David last week but without getting into politics, my passport was delayed because of the government shut down here. Fortunately the airline was wonderful and didn’t charge me a cancellation fee and will honor my ticket for the next year. Also they allowed me to cancel my hotel reservations there without charging so I got lucky. Now I am waiting until the first week in March to head down there. I have a question though, how much does it usually cost for a taxi from the airport to Albrook? I just reread your post about Albrook, thank you again for being so awesome and posting such great info.
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Well bummer, sorry your trip didn’t work out but how nice the airline and hotel were good to you. I think a taxi from a Tocumen would be $30-40 because of the distance and tolls. Or, hire Luis for the same price. https://blog.thepanamaadventure.com/2017/06/05/good-people-to-know-in-panama/ It’s nice to have a friendly face waiting for you. Good luck, hope your upcoming travel plans go smoothly!
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