Our stay in Cuba was highlighted by the incredible warmth of the people. Everyplace we went the people we met were all the same. Three of us were from the USA and two from Canada. Sometimes a person would comment that they have not seen many from the USA and seemed a little more interested in us but overall we could see that we were all treated with much kindness. We cannot overstate this. We had Bonnie along to help us with the language but at the marina there was enough English spoken to get by easily. After we left the marina was another story. Bonnie was immensely helpful as our interpreter everywhere we went. As a young child she grew up spending part of her time in Mexico where she learned Spanish and she was so helpful.

On our first day we took a taxi to the closest town Santa Lucia, to exchange currency. Yani, who is the marina manager, called us a taxi and Jorge pulled up in a sky blue 56 Ford. Like most of their old cars it no longer had it's original 6 or 8 cylinder engine, but a 4 cylinder. None of the gauges worked including the speedometer. It seemed to handle the bumps pretty well, but he seemed to know where all the potholes were on the roads. He became our taxi driver on many occasions. He was a young man in his early 30's with three young sons, each a few inches taller than the last!

There is one currency for the locals and one for us tourists. The banks take 13% when converting US dollars. You get CUC's which you can think of like a dollar but it costs you 1.13. We also purchased some cards for one CUC each with numbers on them so you have use of the internet if and when you can find a WiFi hot spot.