Sat Dec 28

I forgot to mention an interesting guy we met at the hotel in Habana.  He was in the elevator with me and I asked how he was enjoying Cuba.  He said he was here working.  I asked him, doing what, and he responded that he works for the Yankees.  I immediately said, oh, are you scouting?  He quickly responded, emphatically, no, that's illegal, we don't scout here in Cuba.  I'm here coaching a youth league.

Well, this seemed quite odd to me.  Why would the Yankees send a guy to Cuba to coach the youth league?  Fortunately Joan and Carl engaged him in conversation this morning and got a bit more of the scoop.  While he made clear that he couldn't scout, he was definitely checking out the talent.  He put it like this .... let's just say if I see a 16 year old that can throw a 90 mile per hour pitch, I remember his name!! 

Anyway, on to today, which was pretty bleak.  As I mentioned earlier, our flight was terribly delayed.  We ending up waiting over 8 hours in that waiting area at the airport.  There was no leaving - we didn't have our visas any longer so couldn't exit at all.  It is amazing how exhausting it can be, just waiting around. 

We came up with various amusements.  First, I bought a box of dominos (spoiler alert to Bradley ... they're for you!), and we played a bunch of games.  Then, my greatest triumph was creating a bowling game out of empty water bottles.  One of the other travelers in our group had bought 3 balls at the souvenir stand to juggle (another amusement), so we borrowed them from him, and had quite an active bowling match.  An Italian traveler walking by even joined us to throw a frame.  

At one point, we decided to take a photo of the six of us who travelled together, so attempted to pose underneath a very high Havana rum and cigar sign, which necessitated standing on chairs, until a surly Cuban guard came along and broke up that fun.  

Then, Missy, Marina and I decided to do laps, so we set out on a power walk around the waiting area.  We set a goal of 10 laps, which was actually long (it was a pretty big room).  I think Missy and Marina actually did a second set later.  In between these compelling activities, we ate lunch, read books, wrote in the blog, looked at each other's photos, and gabbed with our fellow Backroads travelers.

We finally got to Miami very tired, very hungry, and very cranky.

In the end, I'm very happy we went to Cuba.  It's a fascinating place.  Best is that the people are very welcoming and very anxious to normalize relations with the U.S.  I recall having the word "Cuba" instill fear from my youth, so it's nice to replace that feeling with the warmth and the music of Cuba today.

Donna