I have managed to come down with a stomach bug (“Castro’s Revenge”) last night so we gave our tickets for the Buena Vista Social Club revue to Lindsay and Marni.

I managed to sleep fairly well, got up at 7AM and finished packing, then sat with Ken in the massive hotel restaurant for another delicious breakfast.

After breakfast Carol and I walked with Rob and DeeAnn along the Malecon, taking last-minute photos – our last in Havana and this magnificent island nation of Cuba.

At 10:45 Bob herded all of us back onto the large, comfortable and cool Havanatur bus for the ride to the Havana International Airport.

Said farewell to my new and dear friend Hermes, who I will miss very much.  I thanked him for all that he did for us during the past week and for the many times he went beyond the call of duty.  I will miss this gentle, quiet, intelligent, kind man (and a terrific dancer,) and I promised myself to make every attempt to be as safe a driver as he is when I return to Tucson.

We passed through Cuban immigration with no problems and spent the next couple of hours schmoozing with Annette, Jan and Doris.  Bought more Cohiba cigars at the duty-free shop and finally boarded our plane at 2:15PM.

The forty-minute flight from Havana to Miami was smooth but we were sad to leave Cuba.  In Miami it took a while to clear US immigration but by 4PM we were on the Fairfield Hotel shuttle for the short drive to the hotel.  Checked into our “American” room and rested.

At 6PM we met Doris, Gary, Charlene, Rob and DeeAnn in the lobby and then walked across the busy Miami boulevard to Catch of the Day restaurant where we enjoyed a delicious seafood dinner, mango mojitos and some rousing music.

Back at the hotel by 7:45PM, we almost immediately fell fast asleep in our king-sized bed, dreaming of the past week’s adventures in magical Cuba.