Houston, Texas USA

Once back at Houston airport we picked up our bags and headed for the car rental shuttle bus. We decided to book a car and Garmin to get to the Space Centre Houston. It is all conveniently located and signed so we had no problems picking up our little Yaris.

We booked into the Holiday Inn not far from the airport. Even though it was close to the airport we did not hear many planes at all.

The next day we got up early and headed south of the city. John had set the Garmin but forgot to set places to avoid and it headed us off on a ring road around the city. However, we arrived about 9.30 wanting to be early in the line when they opened at 10 am to avoid as much of the hot 38C day as we could. There were very few people in the line and we did not need to have a timed ticket to do the tram tour. We got a senior discount and also an extra discount with a promotion pamphlet we picked up at the hotel so it was a reasonable day's outing.

We met two couples from NZ at the Space Centre. One couple lived in Rotorua and had been visiting their family in South Carolina before heading back to NZ. The other couple had parents in our area and had been running in a competition in Chetumal, Mexico. Now that we have direct flights from Houston I am sure it will be more common to catch up with more Kiwis in places like this.

It was fascinating to read how the shuttle and carrier plane were tested as a remote controlled model to see if it would work.

              Mission control as we remember it from the 70's

 Saturn launch rocket

 Orion Mars capsule

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We visited the Russian Space centre in 1975 and that was also amazing.















The next day we worked out how to make the Garmin more efficient for us and headed off to a shopping mall recommended by Cecilia. John Googled our nearest shopping mall but found that it is in a rough area and a deputy sheriff  had been shot there years ago. It is pretty stressful for me being the navigator to make sure I translate the directions early enough for John to react to, when everyone drives so fast.

We got slowed by a two car crash and arrived to see 11 tow trucks lined up along the road shoulder as they raced to deal with the cars. Other than that we had no more incidents.

We shopped for some toys that Kerri and Adam wanted for the children and spent a leisurely time strolling around the store.

On our last day I caught up with our blog entries as we got a late check out from our hotel so we could  return our car by 5 pm and be ready to check into our night flight at 6 pm.

This trip has been a great chance to visit places in South America that we hadn't visited previously. It was an opportunity to practise our Spanish and learn more Portuguese. We loved our chances to use the Couchsurfing hospitality club to make new friends and visit US and catch up with old friends.

Our first Caribbean experience has been very interesting and the only thing we couldn't do was to visit Venezuela because of its economic problem,s so maybe another time.

We look forward to getting our garden ready for summer vegetables and our trees ready for summer fruits and to meet our granddaughter Charlotte for the first time and to reacquaint  ourselves with our grandson Tyler.

Destin, Florida USA

We had a smooth flight to Houston, the Unites airline southern hub, where we needed to catch our next flight to Destin. Houston is a huge new modern airport but it took us over an hour and a half to get through all the immigration and clearance procedures and be ready for our next flight. Before 9/11 we would have applied for a US visa and be given a five year multiple entry visa. Now you have to go online before your travels and make an electronic visa application and after they have all your information it is up to the immigration officer at the booth to decide if you can enter and for how long. We were asked why we were here and when we said we were going to visit friends at Destin on the coast he got very excited and told us all about the place. We had photographs taken and fingerprint scans of both hands.

After a couple of xray checks our bags were handed over to an officer, beside what looked like another xray machine. The bags disappeared and when we went behind the machine we realised they had been sent down a chute and automatically checked onto our next internal flight. We were most impressed and found somewhere to sit and wait for our next flight.

When John worked for the Association of Wall and Ceiling Association of NZ we met Art and Cecelia who used to come and represent a computer estimating software company at the conferences. Once they knew we were coming to the US they invited us to visit them at their condo in Destin.

They have a gorgeous place overlooking  Henderson Beach. We made a few walks along the beach and its squeaky white sand. The sunsets were gorgeous and the water very warm and clear. Just before sunrise the beach was set out with its loungers and umbrellas.

 One day we saw dolphins andlater had  little fish nibbled on our ankles like they do in the fashionable fish spas. One liked John so much he kept bumping his back.

John enjoyed a spin in Art's new F-type Jaguar-540hp with 9000 miles on the clock.

The famous city  was settled by the British Spanish and French

Some of the Pensacola shops

Pensacola

We enjoyed a coastal drive to Pensacola where we visited Joe Patti's seafood store. What a place! It was full of locals stocking up. There were displays of all kinds of fresh and frozen fish as well different shrimps, craw fish and lobsters. They spiced and steamed some of the shrimps for us, which we took home to have with our seafood chowder.

The store has all sorts of homemade dishes as well as all kinds of imported and local ingredients that could ever accompany a seafood dish. In the background were lines of skilled filleters preparing the fresh fish for display. The store has a long history of being in the same location for several generations.

This brought back my memories of working in the fish factory in Iceland!

Another day we drove along the coastal housing strip to Panama City, Florida. There are lots of developments along this stretch of the 30A highway. With so many condos and resorts it is important to have entertainment for those wet days and we spotted these two places.

We even had time to do some more shopping at the outlet stores where we got some toys for the grandchildren. It was a wonderful time with Art and Cecelia and hopefully we will get to join them at their winter home in Canmore, Canada before too long.

Next stop Houston and the story of space adventure.

Cancun, Mexico

We left Cuba with lighter bags and heavier hearts. We had a great time with Rafael and his family in Havana and were very surprised when he gave us a gift of local coffee and souvenir cups when we left. We left him all the things we no longer needed and he appreciated it very much.

Checking out of Havana airport was a lot smoother than checking into it. On the flight to Cancun we sat next to a Swedish woman. She told us she had befriended a couple of local lads. One of the guys told her he was going to marry a French girl on December 21st and the girl had sent him US$100 to buy a Cuban passport. He told her that the passport had been stolen from their gear when they were on the beach. The Swedish woman felt sorry for him and gave him US$50 towards another one. She then asked me if I felt she had been scammed. I told her I had asked Rafael what it was like to get a Cuban passport and he said it was very difficult, and I left her to make her own decision. These kinds of situations must happen often to the young travellers who hook up with the friendly locals.

We visited Cancun for  the first time in 1981, on our way to Tierra del Fuego through Central America. Back then, it was a swampy place with lots of prawn factories. It was here we met our German friends Roland and Karin, whom we still keep in touch with. Together we camped along the lagoon  and travelled together around the Yucatan. Today it is high-rise wall to wall hotels and resorts. We chose Cancun as when we had originally booked our ticket back in March 2016 it was not legal to fly directly to the USA from Cuba.

There was a long orderly queue here to photograph the sign

As we had given away all our old and unwanted clothes Cancun was a suitable place to restock. We booked into a wonderful bed and breakfast place in downtown, a couple of blocks from the All Americas shopping mall. The shopping centre did not open until 11am and stayed open until 11pm. We both managed to get more than one set of clothes at reasonable prices. I now also have 6 bottles of chilli sauce in my bag.

One day we took a bus ride out to the Hotel zone along the 20 kilometre stretch. We managed to see the hotel resort where Sarsha and Jose Luis were married and where Kerri and Adam flew with wee Tyler to the wedding. There is a lot of money in this area of Mexico. In the middle of the resorts was a Harley Davidson motorbike shop and made me think 'Do people really go on holiday, wake up and say I think I'll go shopping for a Harley today?' There was also a luxury mall for the Gucci and Prado shoppers.

The bed and breakfast place

Our host Ana was really lovely. She had just turned 70 and was looking forward to meeting one of her sons in New York for celebrations. He lives in Hamburg so it was a good place to meet up. Unfortunately, Ana's husband had been unwell with a fever and had to be hospitalised and re-hydrated. She managed to organise an early morning breakfast for us which we picked up from the fridge as we had a 3.30 am shuttle booked to get us to our 6 am flight to Houston, so we never heard if he recovered enough for her to .go on her trip.

The day we were here it was Mexico's Independence Day, our calculations make it the 206th anniversary. Shops were selling flags, red, white and green dresses, and shops had their mannequins dressed in the national colours. We saw the streets being decorated for a public festival and the roads shut to traffic. The party was due to start later in the evening but we needed to be in bed early for our early flight.

We had an early meal at a restaurant that had local dishes. John brought just enough money with us for the meal but when we came to pay the bill the price of the beers put us over our limit. We promised to return with the shortfall and left the restaurant. John went back and paid the full bill which included the service fee and still the waiter wanted more.

The streets were lined with these beautiful trees in full bloom

Trinidad, Cuba

We left Cienfuegos and its thunder and lightning for Trinidad. We passed a few sugar cane plantations and drier fields of grazing cattle.

We had booked with Luis, Rafael in Havana had rung him to make sure he would be meeting us at the bus terminal. As the bus arrived up the cobbled streets of Trinidad I was able to spot Luis's casa and spotted him with a sign behind the chain fence at the bus terminal.

Luis lived on the ground floor with his wife, a doctor for the elderly, and his young children and parents. He took us up spiral stairs to a terrace and our room. It was a long room with three beds, TV and its own bathroom. At a separate entrance there was a second room but we were the only guests once again.

Our first trip was to change more Euros to see us through our final days in Cuba. It is preferable to wait in the smaller queues, in the towns  outside of Havana to do such necessary tasks. This bank was air conditioned and modern with a display of currency exchange rates that would not be out of place in Europe, and not a queue in sight.

We passed a modern French styled bakery that had an internet area to one side, a real internet cafe. We passed on the pastries as we are putting on weight but managed to send an email to our daughter which we had not been able to do elsewhere in Cuba.We checked our emails and found that life had carried on regardless without any emergencies.

The upper terrace where we had breakfast

Luis has a second terrace above our room and served us breakfast up there. By looking around we could tell he had skills in electrical work. He had infrared security cameras on the terrace and had adapted halogen light covers to take curly cfl lightbulbs and even had a street lamp pole on the upper terrace. When we finally got to chat to him he admitted to being an electrician. He said he had trained with 15 women and 5 men as the work in the factory was repetitive and light enough for women to do. He was happier to be running a casa while his wife worked as a doctor for geriatrics. He also had a taxi business so we did not see him that often.

Our long room

the terrace outside our room

In the city plaza dominated by the Santisina church we bumped into a large group of American tourists. They were a part of the first group of Americans to fly into Cienfuegos under the special tour groups negotiated with Obama. We chatted to some of the couples from Boston. They had flown in with American Airlines.

It was so nice to be in the plaza where there were no vehicles. There are many bars, cafes, and restaurants as well as several tourist shops. It is popular here to sell embroidered fabric and lace work.

It didn't take long to find the favoured spot in the shade of the arbour where the locals and tourists could get an internet connection.

The local retired men came out to smoke their cigars and ogle the young girls in skimpy gear until they had to head home for lunch.

Street food

Rafael has a few casa owners that he has never met but puts them in touch with people looking for guests outside Havana. He gave us the address of his friend Margarita as a back up if Luis did not show for us. We decided that we would visit her and say hello. She was very chuffed that we had called in. She was busy cleaning up the dust left by the tradesmen who were renovating her place so she could host more people. We had a lovely mango juice and a nice chat. She recommended a friend's place to eat and we went with her suggestion and met a lovely young student. She was interested in languages and decided against going to university as she wanted to do some hospitality courses so she could work as a licensed tourist guide in the future. Such occupations mean that you can earn 25 times more than any job that pays Moneda Nacional.

Trinidad is quite hilly and all the streets are cobbled which is quite unlike any other places we have visited so far. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. There was a bit of lightning and thunder and the drains overflowed into the streets. Being a bit higher than Cienfuegos it was also a bit cooler and quite pleasant.

Tourists listening to the musicians in the outdoor restaurants

Cienfuegos, Cuba

Once again we were back at the Viazul bus terminal to take a bus to Cienfuegos. This was the only town where no one responded to our requests for a casa and Rafael had a friend he phoned who would meet us at the bus station and put us up. It seems that many people in Cuba now use Airbnb. One person told us that she had instant bookings on the website and although she had accepted us, she could not host us because she was too slow updating her online bookings and Airbnb charges hefty fees if a booking is cancelled.

The landscape on the way to Cienfuegos was flat with lots of fields flooded for rice in different stages of growth. In areas unsuited to rice there were sugar cane plantations. Rafael told us that the government closed 10 sugar refineries because the machinery was too old and inefficient. A lot of the land we passed was government owned. There were several dams holding water for irrigation.

Cienfuegos was a city settled by the French and has a population of about 18,000. It is an industrial city with petroleum, chemical and cement industries. We could see the smokey chimney as we arrived.

The front of the casa with the terrace above

Our host Yhanes met us at the bus station. As we left he gave the security guard a tip for letting him into the station. He and his wife looked like they were in their late 70's. They employed a couple of maids. He had been an electrician for a government factory before his retirement. All retirees get a government pension.

The ridge is where the house ended. The red rails come up from the house to the terrace where we had breakfast. The tall building is an abandoned school.

The house was very narrow with a long corridor and windows on one side. It was joined to another house with an opposite layout. The living area of the house looked onto the busy noisy street and Yhanes and his wife would sit here rocking in their chairs and chatting to the locals who walked by.

Yhanes and Teresita

We were not offered meals but Yhanes took us to a couple of restaurants a short walk away. One had all its pork, chicken and beef covered in breadcrumbs and deep fried, in a cordon bleu style. Unfortunately mine was not quite cooked through and I had to complain to the owner -  the restaurant was in her front room. Yhanes was sorry to hear about it as it is his favourite restaurant. Another time we ate at a farm themed place that had stewed country food more to my liking as it was well stewed. My dish was called 'vieja ropa' or old clothes!

Breakfast on the terrace

We walked about the old city and it has a nice pedestrian street running through the middle. Every second shop in the walking street was a government Panamerica store. There is no advertising like we know other than the name of the place. The city was made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2005. It was founded in 1819 by the French. A lot of the French influenced buildings have been renovated. We saw 21 buses lined up by the cruise ship anchored in the port and the buses ferried visitors to various parts of the city.

Yhanes told us not to swim near the Malecon, beach promenade, as it is polluted. He was not wrong. In the 33 degree temperatures the fumes from the sewerage that flows into the harbour were so potent we could smell them from the other side of the street. These are the kinds of infrastructure problems that Cuba has got to solve and of course they will cost a lot of money and be complicated to manage.

A well shaded fruit and vegetable mobile trader on the malecon

I think of central Cienfuegos as the painted human statues city because there were lots of them in various parts of the city hoping to get tourists to leave them money when they were photographed.

Check out the silver cowboy

Yhanes suggested we take the ferry to the Castilla de Jagua. It is a fort that was built in 1745 to protect the bay from invaders. The ferry was absolutely crowded and it was stinking hot. The area near the fort was inhabited by residents that used to work at the nuclear plant but the plant has now closed down and the residents have to commute to other parts of the bay for employment. The inside of the ferry was covered and crowded so we ended up outside where we and the locals opened up umbrellas to protect ourselves from the burning sun. Luckily we had a seat in the shade on the journey home.

Castilla de Jagua

The fort has been renovated and the signs were mostly in Spanish and not many of the exhibits were original. The guide only spoke Spanish it was quite expensive to look around. However, it was interesting to see that as well as the British, French and Spanish they had also been visited by the Dutch and Danish.

This is one of the people transporters with no air conditioning and lots of people sitting on the floor or standing holding onto a rail in the aisle.

As soon as the sun starts to rise the streets rattle with the clip clop of the horses and carts. Here are three forms of transport we spotted while having breakfast on the terrace.