The saga begins
Amazing sights, and we are still in the airport in Miami.
It seems like many of our fellow passengers on this flight are going home to visit relatives. They all have these huge bundles of things to bring back to the family. All those consumer goods we take for granted only get to Cuba when cousin Alejandro brings them.
To protect them, the enormous bales are all wrapped in multiple layers od plastic wrap by a big wrapping machine right by the airport door. At $9/bag, it’s a profitable little operation.
Check-in is time consuming, with an inspection of papers first followed by baggage check. Even your carry on bags are weighed (although not purses or my camera backpack) and the weight limits are strictly enforced, which makes sense with everything these people are carrying. It was two dollars a pound for everything over the 44 pound limit, so I had to pungle up another $37. The joys of travel.
We got through it, then cleared security. The whole process took just under an hour, putting the lie to the travel agents idiotic insistence that we be here four hours early.
Now we’re on the plane about to take off! Forty minutes from now, Cuba.
