Hola from Cuba

I arrived in Cuba without incident.  My small group included four other women roughly my age and our guide, Colin, who is 30.  So it seems like Colin and his five grandmothers walking around.  Colin has studied here,  led hundreds of group, and has lots of Cuban friends, and since we are a small group, we can get into a single taxi and go to out of the way places.  Our first taxi (driven by a friend of Colin's) was a '52 Chevy with air conditioning.  Last night seven of us (Colin's Cuban girlfriend, Marla comes with us sometimes) squeezed into another '50s car.  Most of the cabs are old cars, and some have been restored beautifully.  Two days ago I saw a mint condition Edsel.
Yesterday we met and talked with a political scientist at lunch and an economist at dinner.  Very interesting.  Both the political and economic situations here are far more nuanced than we Americans are led to believe.  I have yet to get a straight answer to the question:  is Cuba a communist country?  a socialist country?  Or rather, I have gotten five contradictory straight answers.
We have eaten surprisingly well.  They have these small restaurants, sometimes in people's homes, called paladars.  Again, as a small group we can go to them.  The menus are limited but the food as been quite good.  Last night's served tapas and they had something called felafe (with an accent over the last e).  I asked if it was felafel and no one knew what they was.  We tried it and it was very mediocre felafel.  I'll stick to Cuban food.
Off today to meet with some hip hop artists and then an arts and crafts market.  I like that.  We may get to the beach but we run on Cuban time which is much later than Jewish or Mexican time, so I doubt if we will get there before dark, if at all.
I'm staying in a private house which is like a b & b.  It is a few blocks from Central Park, so I'm using wifi this morning at Hotel Parque Central.  We usually meet in the morning around 9:30, but today we are being picked up at 10:30.  Nothing gets going very early.  But I have to get back now.