That kind of comment is par for the course with Joe. With such a tantalizing and forbidden destination so close to the United States, Joe and his boyfriend Scott had planned an illegal excursion to Cuba by flying through Canada. Of course, President Trump has made it more difficult to travel to Cuba , part of his attempt to undo everything Obama accomplished.
He says that four days in Havana should suffice. Instead, there are shed-like structures where people line up every morning to get their rations. Sounds like something out of Animal Farm. He insists, though, that this was some of the best advice he got during his research, perusing blogs and travel guides about Cuba.
Just be careful, Joe warns. There could be loose wires hanging down, and the stairwell might be so dilapidated your foot could fall through a step. The two of them converted their money into Canadian dollars and then into CUC, the Cuban convertible peso.
The one exception: Cuban cigars are still expensive. A swindler on the street insisted he could take them to state banks that would let them convert money, but it ended up being a wild goose chase.
The man of course still wanted to be paid for his time and effort. When Joe was looking into accommodations, he wanted to find something akin to Airbnb. One of the family members gave Joe and Scott a key and pointed to a door in the corner of the room. No such luck. Turns out they were just renting a room, and the family remained during their stay. It ended up being all right; the mother cooked them and the children breakfast every morning, and they made their best attempts to communicate or just kept to themselves.
