Encounter in Customs

The chartered flight to Cuba was brief, around 60 minutes. I had the privilage of sitting in the same row as Dr. Bob Sabol, the president of NAEA. He entertained myself and another delegate with humorous Elliot Eisner stories. Eisner is one of my favorite authors (art education) so this was a real treat. Another research team of USA Lawyers were also aboard (more about them later). The Jose Marti airport was small with only one additional plane in view. 

Once inside the airport, we entered a small booth where our passports were inspected as well as our pictures taken. Two members of our team were delayed during this process due to questions regarding previous travels. They were a little shaken up by this. At the end of the booth a locked door buzzed and I was allowed to enter customs. My bags were scanned without incident. I did not have checked luggage so I had opportunity to stand and observe my surroundings as others from my team retrieved their bags. 

It was a large room with two baggage turntables. About 20 policia (police) were watching us from every direction. One thing that amazed me was the lack of noise. There were more than 500 people in the room, yet the only noise heard, came from the two American groups. That is until one of our delegates was approached and signaled not to take photos of the policia’s dogs, which just happened to be cute cocker spaniels. The policia approach another teacher. She did not understand Spanish and therefore did not comprehend what he repeatedly asked of her. He kept pointing to her bag. Minutes later, another policia and then another, each one firing rapid Spanish words at her. They started to lead her away. One of our group members who was bilingual noticed and jumped in to translate. They all disappeared in an office. In complete quietness we held our breath waiting to see what would happen. What seemed to be a very long time (most likely around 15 minutes or less) the door opened. Both teachers were smiling and joined our group again. Apparently the one teacher had brought decorative pins to hand out to the children at the schools we were to visit. The policia thought they were embedded with computer chips. Needless to say, after this second encounter with the policia, only soft whispers could be heard within our group. 

Moments later we were greeted with our smiling tour guide. Side note - Cubans have beautiful smiles with very straight white teeth. Good hygiene as well as free dental care must be the reason. We were loaded into a comfy, large bus. From this point on we were treated like royalty. I have included a few photos looking out of the bus windows. Amazing architecture as well as painted political graffiti seemed to be a common theme.

Tomorrow: Evening in Old Havana