The Southwest Airline Boeing from Fort Lauderdale to Havana was the same model as the one I had taken from BWI. But in this plane everything felt different. A bit chaotic, many clearly were  not frequent fliers. Though we still sat on US soil the flight attendant spoke exclusively in Spanish, even when she asked if anybody would need the announcements in English. Since almost all passengers were Cuban, only one American raised his hand and caused the safety instructions to be read in two languages. (I later learned he was a Californian and part of our tour group. His Spanish speaking wife had translated the question).

Mural illustrating the name of an artist camp called Korimakao, derived from the aboriginal  term "kori" for man and "macao" for the arthropod living in abandoned sea shells. (Photo: Philipsen)

The seats were not all taken but the luggage bins filled anyway. Folks took full advantage of the airline's slogan, "two bags fly free" to bring home many of the things that were missing on an island barred from US imports. This plane was thus exhibit one for an economy that the French news station France 24 had called a shipwreck just the evening before my departure to Cuba. Havana's international airport became the first in my travel experience, where the luggage had to go through a full check before I could enter the country.