Viva Cuba!! Papa S's Birthday Surprise

About six months ago, sitting in the kitchen in our home in Ecuador with my mom who was visiting for the weekend, we got the idea for a surprise party for my dad’s 70th birthday. After some discussion as to what sort of surprise he would like best, we settled on the idea of a cruise to Cuba. Knowing how much my dad has always wanted to visit, and how close we came to taking a family trip last year this seemed like the ideal birthday celebration. When we happened upon the coincidence that my dad’s birthday just so happened to align with our November school break, and the only 4-day cruise with Havana as a destination even sailing within that time frame, it was as if the stars had aligned. After a quick call to the sisters for affirmation, we booked it.

My mom did an excellent job of keeping this a secret from my dad. The most he knew was that he need to take a week off from work because he was going somewhere. So, last Thursday after wrapping up a full school day of parent-teacher conferences, Justin and I packed our suitcases and boarded a late night flight Orlando-bound. Some 26 hours later, we were picked up at the airport by a friend and quite literally crashed into her guest room for the night. We were treated to a generous breakfast of eggs, sausage and bagels and had at least a little time to catch up with our friends before my mom picked us up.

We drove to the airport to pick up the sisters who had just arrived on a morning flight. All vestiges of fatigue and jetlag faded away as we drew nearer to the house and excitedly planned out exactly how the surprise would be revealed. My mom dropped us on the street two houses down while she went into the house, just returned from “running errands”. Next, Caitlin phoned my dad to wish him a happy birthday and to tell him to check the front door for a package that had just been delivered. With Justin filming the moment, we whispered, giggled and leaped over bushes to be standing on the doorstep when dad opened the door. SURPRISE!! We yelled as dad stared back at us, shocked and smiling, cell phone still held up to his ear. Meagan had cued up a Cuban music playlist which she played from her phone as we came inside and started dancing around. When we informed dad that we had all come into town to take him on a cruise to Cuba, he could not believe it. The surprise was executed perfectly, dad was thrilled, and so we unpacked our Panama hats and prepared for the adventure.

Because we had booked our trip at the end of May, we were thankfully exempt from the changes in visa regulations that had been made a mere four days before our departure. However, this caused an extreme backup to the paperwork and check-in process at the port and so it took us a grueling three hours of standing in line before being finally checked in and able to board the ship in Miami. My parents, who had booked a suite, were able to check in in 10 minutes and board the ship far ahead of the rest of us plebeian standard state room passengers.

Once onboard I realized how long it had been since I’d taken a cruise and how different everything seemed from what I remembered as a teenager. Primarily obvious was the stark contrast in demographics aboard the ship. Being in the under-40 age group definitely put us in the minority. This was Justin’s first ever cruise so it was a novelty to show him the theatre, dance club, late night buffet, casino, and the much revered soft serve ice cream machine on the pool deck.

The six of us enjoyed our first of four sprawling dinners for the week, complete with multiple desserts, teas and coffees. And despite the grand plans we had made earlier in the day of dancing and blackjack and karaoke, we all turned in soon after dinner, exhausted from the travel and releived at finally having a few days off to relax.

Our first stop was in Key West and after wandering into a few shops and bars along Duval Street, we went to the Mel Fischer museum where we learned all about his lifelong family quest and eventual success of finding the shipwreck of the Atocha. I had never known about this story before our visit and found it immensely interesting. Not only was the shipwreck discovered in recent times (1985), but it became the subject of a long, drawn out legal battle between Mel Fischer’s family and the State of Florida, both claiming to hold lawful possession of the treasure. Both parties finally reached some sort of settlement, and I have a feeling that Mel’s wife and treasure hunting partner, Deo has a pretty amazing private jewelry collection. Gold, silver, emeralds and other gem stones were among some of the fantastic treasures brought up from the sea floor of the Florida Straights. We also stopped by Ernest Hemingway’s famous house and rounded out our Key West visit with a delicious slice of key lime pie before sailing overnight to our next destination.
We pulled into the port of Havana just after 7:00 on an overcast and drizzly morning. From the pool deck where Justin and I stood in the gradually brightening sky, we could already make out the bubblegum-colored classic cars rolling up and down the Malecon. We started our adventure with a pretty tame walking tour organized by the cruise line and managed by one of the government-approved tour companies on the island. And while it was a bit embarrassing to be given a number 8 sticker to wear and to follow a guy around with a number 8 paddle like the bumblingist of tourists, I was appreciative of the history we were presented with and the amount of ground and squares we were able to cover in four hours.

As an interesting caveat, there was a government official assigned to our group that just followed us around for the whole morning. We imagined that he was there to supervise the operations of the tour, but may have even gone as far as monitoring the questions that were asked and the answers that were supplied by the tour guide. It just seemed that parts of his script were just a little too “on-message” to be natural. For instance, when he brought us to a public food pantry where citizens present their ration cards for their allotted shares of meat, cheese, and butter, “something the government of Cuba does to help it’s people - all of it’s people who need this help receive this help.” Or when he pointed to the library and told us that inside we could find “many young people, reading books to further their knowledge and conduct research on important matters.” Even the cigar and rum shop he took us too was circumspect, it being owned and operated by the government, hence they charged higher prices and the government takes a portion of those earnings. But the tour operator insisted that we should purchase our cigars and rum here only (as opposed to the store next door with lower prices) because the goods in this store were “certified” and “regulated” and “guaranteed” to be of good quality. So while owning and operating a private business in Cuba is possible, it definitely seems that the government-owned operations give themselves every advantage. And my sister bought Cohibas out of a duffel bag from a guy in an alley, so take that for “regulated.”

Our coolest stop on the tour was to an outdoor cafe where we were seated six to a table to sample and learn the basics about Cuban coffee, rum, and of course, cigars. You can rest assured that all six of us took turns posing with a cigar, holding a cigar, lighting and puffing on a cigar and just generally trying to look really cool with a cigar in various photos. I must admit, I do look pretty cool puffing a cigar… Here is where we decided to purchase our cigars, at a significant discount than what the “authorized” shop was offering earlier. We bought Romeo y Julietta’s and a few loose Cohibas to share with friends.

On our second-to-last tour stop, our guide brought us to a square that contained a rather large and appealing bar and brewery. He foolishly pointed this out to our group, who by now had been walking in and out of brief little bouts of rain for the last three hours. He must have known that the 15 minutes he gave us to explore would not be sufficient for us all to sample what he himself called the “best beer in the country.” The whole group made their way inside and we were able to find a large table but by now tensions were getting high (i.e. we were all getting hangry) and my dad had a brief moment where he thought the Cuban police might come get us out of the bar if we didn’t return to the guide in time. Needless to say, this didn’t happen, and we reunited with the tour guide just in time.

Having completed our guided tour we finally broke off from the group, and tore off our number 8 stickers. Meagan had secured us dinner reservations at a very famous and notoriously hard to get into restaurant in another part of the city. So the six of us split up into two classic cars, a ‘53 Chevy and a ‘55 Ford, both hot pint and white, for our obligatory cruise down the Malecon to the restaurant. Waves crashed over the side of the sea wall and spilled onto the shoulder of the road as our drivers whipped in and out of traffic. The brief rain that had rolled in made the convertible experience even more unique as we clutched our hats to our heads and let the rain drops roll down our laughing, smiling faces. The restaurant, La Guarida, was once the set of a film called “Strawberries and Chocolate” and as a small private residence, can only hold a dozen patrons at a time - hence the necessity for a reservation. The lunch was beautiful and delicious, and the beverages were sweet and refreshing.

In the afternoon we lazily walked up and down the city streets, sampling a bit more of the local fare and listening to live music played in the street along our way. As it got dark we finally headed back to the cruise ship, wet and windblown and smiling ear to ear.

The following day was spent at sea on our slow sail back to Miami and while one sister spent her time catching up on much needed sleep, and another spent some time wandering the ship with my mom, Justin and I spent hours up on the pool deck reading. It was our first time in a very long time being able to dedicate a whole day to doing nothing but pleasure reading all day and it was fantastic. Tragically, I left my Kindle beind on the airplane on our trip in, but my friend was able to lend me a couple books for the week and these kept me entertained.

And now, as I sit on the plane flying back to Paris before making our back down to Riyadh and knowing that we have a rough few days ahead as we readjust to the time change and the jet lag, I am so happy that we were able to make the trip back for my dad - to spend time with the family, and even get to see our friends for a couple hours. I know it made my dad and my mom happy to take such a cool little vacation with the whole family together again and I’m so grateful that we had the opportunity and the good fortune to make it work. Viva Cuba!