Day 17

Last day in Cuba, it's time to priorities the last few things that we still have to see. Today we decided to have a wee look around Plaza de Armas. An interesting route on Monday morning; with less than the average number of tourists. We then change area and we visit a small museum just off the Capitolio dedicated to a local religion; Santeria. As usual dedicate a museum to a religion is not easy, in this case there is a representation of the 29 Santeria's Gods. In itself nothing more than 29 brown statues but the thing that really cracked the visit was the guide; a lady in her 60s that also has been practicing Santeria for a long period of time. This religion is a mix between Christianity and African religion, for this reason each Santeria's god matches with one or more Christian’s saint.

A very interesting visit that I recommend to anyone interested in spirituality and religions.

We has just time for the very last minute shopping and its time to go back to our accommodation. We both deserve some rest before begin our return trip, remembering the arrival flight we need to be in perfect shape. In fact we decide to have a shower and some food before going to the airport. At the casa particular there are two new comers; Australians just arrived from a long flight. It was enjoyable to exchange some thought with them giving some tips about what to visit and what to do. The taxi arrives and it’s time for us to go we say goodbye to everyone and board the “fancy” white Lada. The trip to the airport is surreal, is a sort of summary of our holiday: we drive though the typical Cuban smoky traffic we also see several urban farmers, and the sound track is a mix of Cuban artists from the radio : Ricardo Arjona, Silvio Rodriguez and Mana’ (Mexican). Once arrived at the airport we are back to reality, a never ending check-in queue. The Jose’ Marti’ is basic but very coloured, with flags of every countries attached to the ceiling of the only Gate. The duty free on the other hand and everything else is very similar to Havana centre but with higher prices. We get rid of our last Pesos Convertibles buying some food and souvenirs. The boarding procedure takes less than planned and in a question of minutes we take off. This time the flight is going to be two hours shorter than on the way to – Great !