What happened was that...

We've arrived in Cuba! First impressions of Havana are amazing. We've never been anywhere quite like this before! From the retro airport to the crumbling colonial mansions to the ladas and classic American cars on the streets, this is certainly a place where people make do with what they have and make what they have last.

We arrived at the airport and quickly progressed through immigration. We'd been warned that it may take a couple of hours for our bags to show up, but we were lucky and had both bags within about 20 minutes. 

As we exited the baggage claim into the crowded arrival hall we spotted the sign with our name on it immediately. Alex, our taxi driver, was very friendly and pointed out a few things on the way into Havana, including the Plaza de la Revolución where many government departments are located.

We were supposed to be staying in the Hotel Nacional - the large government hotel on the waterfront. However, we pulled up outside a large house near the hotel - we realised the hotel must have been overbooked and we ended up here. Daya, the worker in the casa particulár (guest house), greeted us warmly and showed us around the casa. She had limited English so we relied on Ed's limited Spanish and quite a lot of gesturing, Daya's excellent ability to speak more slowly using simple words, and her patience to repeat things for us. The house had three rooms and we learned that two others from the tour would be staying there too. After settling into our room and enjoying tea and coffee on the front porch, we set off to explore the neighbourhood of Vedado.

We quickly realised we weren't far from the sea and headed in that direction. We walked along El Malecon to the statue of Antonio Maceo before turning around to head back to our casa. Everyone we met seemed very friendly, asking where we were from and wishing us a happy holiday.

In the evening we joined our Intrepid tour and met our tour leader - Tony - and driver - also Tony. All was explained regarding the change of plans with the hotel. President Obama visited Cuba only a few days earlier so the government had cancelled all bookings to make way for the president's entourage. Unfortunately this had caused all sorts of chaos for our group's bookings and Tony was still trying to locate four members of our group. He explained to is a common expression used in Cuba is 'what happened was that...' as uncertainty and changes in plans are common.

We drove to a small family run restaurant for dinner and to start meeting the other members on our tour. As dinner was to be included by way of apology for the change with the hotel, Tony recommended the chef's special - lobster, prawns and fish; it was delicious and huge. All the dishes included a salad and a rice with black beans dish. Before we knew it the table was covered in food with at least one dish too many to physically fit on the table - this is a theme that was to be repeated throughout the trip.