26.3.
What a day! Words cannot describe the emotions and the
friendliness in which we were welcomed here in Cuba!
But let’s start from the beginning of this long and eventful day: Phil and I looked out of the window at 6am and noticed that the trees were still flapping… not a good omen to go ballooning. The other issues were missing keys to a vehicle and no contact with the airport manager. In the end we had to give up the idea of flying in the Bahamas as sad as it was. But Cuba now was more important and we had to get going by 8.30 hitching a second expensive ride with the fierce and only taxi driver in Andros town, Mrs Sabrina.
Arriving at the airfield we were just in time to film Sebastian and his 7 year old son Soren flying in with Flippie Vermuelen! Our private special ‘delivery’! A picnic breakfast in the departure hall followed by a hand-over briefing between John and Flippie and all was set ready to go for Cuba.
By 10.00am local Bahamas time we were airborne over Andros – an island that I certainly am not keen to visit again, unless somebody could guarantee me to fly a balloon there!
The flight of an hour and thirty minutes over the blue waters of the Caribbean was uneventful but both Phil and I were very excited and wondering what would happen next…how would the Cubans react to our arrival with our vintage Beech 18 and our balloon on board? 20 years of dreaming and 4 years of hard planning – will we succeed in flying the balloon?
Our welcome into Matanzas International airport couldn’t have been more welcoming and surprising! We were greeted by various representatives of the aviation authorities and the local Aeroclub of Cuba/ Varadero. Then a nice lady took us in a massive public airport bus to clear immigration which was no hassle at all (but it had been a struggle to get our online visas as no form would allow for the fact that we didn’t arrive by scheduled flight but in a small private plane. In the end our international flight number was BA001 (Bristol Airways of course!) Beech 18 G-BKGM! It seemed to work.
The final step was to allow to lovely cute cocker spaniels on board of Betty sniffing out whether we had anything (other than a balloon!) on board. All cleared we taxied back out for our 10mins flight to the airfield of Kawame/ Varadero.
What now followed was beyond our wildest dreams and imaginations: at least 30-40 members of all divisions of the Aeroclub were waiting for our arrival. As John and Flippie taxied the Beech a group of young 11-12 year old Aeroclub scouts lined up in formation all dressed in their Cuban uniforms. As we stepped out of Betty each one came up with flowers for us and gave us a welcoming kiss.
The President of the Aerolub and the President of the Balloon Club (we didn’t know this even existed!) gave us a overwhelming welcome speech thanking us for coming to Cuba. It was for all of us the most incredible reception to any country that we have ever visited and that included Flippie Vermuelen – a senior flight captain who has flown all around the world.
Many photos and lovely chats with everybody followed and I was seriously impressed by the good English spoken and the sincere excitement and joy of those people to see us!
By 4 o’clock we were dying of thirst – so what better way to celebrate arrival in Cuba than at the nautical club with a good strong Cuba Libre! Salut!
Finally a minibus took us to a cosy private casa run by Mrs Rosa whose father was a fighter pilot but sadly killed during the Revolution. Dead tired most of us crashed to bed but I couldn’t resist a dip into the blue waters of the Cuban Varadero seaside.
Later that evening we were invited to a marvellous fish dinner with friends of the ever so hospitable Iseult and Jorge. Both of them had been absolutely instrumental in our difficult communications and preparations for permissions to come here with the balloon and the aeroplane. Iseult – a Belgian national - has been working for the Belgian Embassy in Havana for over twenty years. Her husband Jorge and her have gone out of their way to find contacts within the aviation industry and managed to get in touch with the Varadero Aeroclub and the other airsports guys who couldn’t be more enthusiastic about seeing our aeroplane and the balloon.
So now all we need is the winds to calm down and drive to Vinales where we hope to finally get airborne!
NOTE: internet is very difficult to obtain here and most places still don't have any wifi. I am now way behind the power curve to upload photos, sort them and write the rest of the story.
There have been serious disappointments and frustrations yesterday, but that's another story for later. keep following us but please be patient with uploads whilst we are here - and most importantly keep fingers crossed for that ever so important balloon flight!
