A legal trip to Cuba

Chris and I left SEA on a red eye for Miami Thurs night.  I’m too old for these flights.  A little rest and off to explore Miami.  Jim Lewis, RN left ICU nursing and now lead trips to Cuba to research the Cuban health care system.  Ok, what does that mean?  Don’t quite know but Chris and I have two bags of supplies from our work, like latex gloves, scissors, hemostats, tourniquets, and lots of other stuff that we throw out.  Also both of us made trips to the Dollar Store for crayons, colored pencils, pencil sharpeners,  aspirin, ibuprofen, band aids and other gifts to give out.

 

Jim Lewis, our leader was waiting for us in the hotel lobby and had arranged a tour of Miami for the afternoon and dinner at the Versailles, a Cuban restaurant in Little Havana before we could get to bed and some needed sleep!  The bus tour took through neighborhood rich and poor, but mostly rich.  Coral Gables, Coconut Grove and South Beach with its pastel art deco building and sidewalk dining.  Lots of man- made canals and exclusive neighborhood.  Miami is the site of movies, TV shows, celebrity residences, mob haunts and lots of sunshine. It’s also incredibly green, warm and humid.

 

The group, 15 in all is the usual varied assortment of people.  At dinner, I chatted with a mother-daughter duo, neither are nurse, but both are interested in Cuban healthcare.  To be able to legally go to Cuba, one needs a reason and we were given those reason in writing this morning, which are “data collection among Cubans who agree to be interviewed in both urban and rural environments”.  Anyway, back to travel mates.  Mother is a bit younger than I and has lived off the grid for 30 years with her husband, whom she describes as an old hippie.  They built a house by themselves in the Gold Country of California.  She said life got much better after they dug their fourth well that actually supplied enough water to take a shower and run a pot of water at the same time!  All power is provided by solar panels on the roof.  She said 28 of the 30 years has been an exceptional experience.  Two years were spent living somewhere else with 2 small children while her husband finished up the house. 

 

Early Friday morning, we’re off to Miami airport for the 50 mins. flight to Havana on Skyking Airways.  American Airlines also makes scheduled flights to Havana.  For a country with no diplomatic ties and the US has had an embargo against for 50 years, there is lots of travel between the two countries!!