What do you mean there is no parachute under the seat?

We left Cuba on a four engine (propeller) airplane. It had the tail with three fins all lined up. We were going from Miami to Spain, stay there for three months and then go to New York and the to Miami. If now sounds kind of ridiculous but that was one of the few ways to go. This is just the trip from La Habana to Spain. I remember certain things about the trip. Some I actually witnessed, others I heard about while on the plane. Carlos was my main source of information.

Only a few family members were left in Cuba when we left. They were Antonica, Alicia, Anita and Cheo on mom’s side. On my dad’s side there was no one left that I can think of. Abuela Julia left with Alberto’s family the day before we did. We left on the 25th of June 1965, they left the day before. They went to Monterey, Mexico. I thought they would join us in Miami, but they never did. Our families were very close. I really enjoyed going to their house. The last time I saw them was around a week prior to the flight. I only realized we were going to different places when we left for Spain and they left for Mexico. That was the one drawback to leaving. I always thought the families would get together again at some point. That was the last time I saw them. Later on in Miami Alberto visited, so did Carlos, Alberto Jr., Miriam and Chani, but we never really enjoyed the family atmosphere we had in Cuba. One thing I am planning to do once I have a little more time is re-establish communications with them. I would like to talk to them and see what life has been like for them and see what they remember.

Once you applied for a Visa to leave Cuba you became persona non grata. The authorities wanted to make sure that you left all your possessions behind. You literally came only with what you were wearing (shirt on your back). For this reason, some time before we left, it could have been as much as a year, we had to go through a process called el inventario. Everything was counted. We had to count the plates, the glasses, the number of sofas, jewelry, silverware etc…The trick was to hide everything before the first inventario. Once they counted the stuff, you had to hand it in before you left. If you broke a plate, you had to pick up the pieces and store them for the milicianos. Whatever you could hide or they did not count could be given away to neighbors etc… When the day of the inventario came el miliciano saw a picture of my dad with Fidel Castro in a baseball uniform. My father and Castro had been teammates in Belen. My father was a pitcher, Castro was a catcher. Castro knew dad but I do not think dad wanted him to remember. Every once in a while there was a military parade around my neighborhood. One time Castro himself was part of the parade. Dad kept looking away, hoping Castro would not recognize him and say hello or who knows what else. The problem was that once his neighbors saw this exchange they would wonder whether dad was gusano or nangara. He was very nervous. For a while dad thought Castro recognized him. He did not acknowledge dad. Dad was happy about this.

The miliciano wanted the picture of Castro and Dad. He either admired Castro very much or wanted to display it promptly signifying that he was more nangara than anyone else. He said that he could arrange it for us to leave earlier if he could keep the picture. Dad and mom were more than happy to agree. They also somehow hid some of the furniture and moved it back when the comunistas left. The neighbors were of course very helpful. Everyone knew what was going on. I think Isaac and Anita hid some stuff. You had look out for el nangara (Castro informant), but we all knew who they were. Then before we actually left country we moved that furniture to Lydia’s apartment. I do not know what she did with it. She may have just been keeping it for another family member. I hope she was able to keep it. She was a very nice lady.

The day we left we were all worried because we thought they were going to search us. I kept thinking about how that would take place. We were all in the terminal and they separated the children from the adults. Mom used to buy us una medallita at a certain age in Cuba. I had just gotten mine. I do not know what happened to it. I imagine we left it with family members. We did not want to be searched and then they find something and bad things could happen. Then the adults came back. Abuelo Arturo, Abuela, Maximina, Mom and Dad were stripped searched, I found out later. They even had to remove their wedding rings. The children were not searched at all. They just asked us questions. Soon after we embarked on the plane. We could have brought anything we wanted if we had just kept it on the children. We did not know that then. It is just as well. Who is willing to take such a gamble?

I remember walking over to the airplane. It was an Iberia airlines McDonnel Douglas super constellation similar to the one pictured at left. It did not have the fuel tanks at the end of the wings. . It was not like airports are now where you can go straight from the terminal to the airplane itself and not have to touch the tarmac. We had to walk to the big stairs to the airplane. It was very impressive since the airplane kept geting bigger as we approoached it. I heard Rosa started crying and started "pataleando" on the tarmac. Perhaps this is where she threw her back out ( more about that, later). Turi was very concerned. He had lent 2 pesos to Hans, one of Dad’s domino buddies. He asked Dad when he could get his two pesos back. I think Dad started laughing. Everyone was joking about that on the plane. I did not hear this conversation. Most of the time Carlos would tell me what was going on. I was kind of oblivious about what was going on. I also notice the airline crew which all spoke spanish in a funny way. They all had a spanish accent. I was also worried about other stuff.

That trip was horrible. 24 hours on a plane. I can only imagine what mom and dad went through. Traveling with 5 children and the two grandparents on a four engine propeller plane for 24 hours must have been a challenge. Just to get an idea our ages were Carlos (8), Ramon (7), Turi (5), Rosa (3) and Juanpi (1). Mom and Dad were 37 and 39, respectively. Can you imaging having to do that when we were that age? The plane had seating for 80 (or possibly 63) passengers, depending on the model we rode in. The pictures that are posted are from the one I think it was. There may have been a larger model however which had to stop more often. You literally had to wait in line to go to the bathroom. I did not want to go to the bathroom. But I found out that 24 hours was way too much. I then started looking at the bathroom and waiting until there was no line and then quickly pounce. Abuelo and Abuela seemed very sad. Mom and Dad I do not think had time to think. I think they were also nervous about seeing Teresa and Robert for the first time in four years. I know they were very worried about Robert, since he had Pertes disease. They did not know if he could walk or run properly.

I sat on the right side of the plane right next to the wing. Carlos and I would alternate to get the window seat. I kept looking at the engines. I wanted to make sure none of them would stop working. I do not know what I would have done if I had seen one of them stop. One thing I was wondering before I took the trip was what clouds would feel like. Do they get out of the way? Would there be turbulence as the clouds were disturbed. (This kind of reminds me of Robbie). As the plane would get closer the cloud seemed to disappear. You could still see it but it just seemed like it was a smoke of some type. I was amazed as we went under a cloud and emerged on the other side. At the same time I kept looking at the engine. They had little red flames or light coming out the side. If you look at a picture of the engine carefully you can see a small hole right next to the wing from where the flames would come out. I kept looking at the two engines on my side and they seemed to be working fine. Night came. It was interesting to watch the daylight decrease and slowly become night. Soon it was pitch black. I knew we were over the ocean but I could not see the water. I asked Carlos: What do you mean there was no parachute under the seat? They kept saying that if the plane went down to grab the cushion of the seat and use if for floatation. WHAT ABOUT ON THE WAY DOWN???

Unexpectedly to me we began descent as if we were landing. Carlos informed me that we were stopping at Bermuda, a very small island. Would the plane miss the island altogether? Thankfully it did not miss. I think we got off the plane but I am not sure. This was a re fueling stop. We were back on the plane and the plane took off again. I tried to go to sleep and kept looking at the engine. Would the little flame turn off in the middle of the night? Carlos and I kept saying what if one of the engines would fail? Dad would tell us that that was the reason we went on a four engine plane. If one engine fails then we have three left. I just kept looking at my seat cushion. There has got to be a parachute around here somewhere. I wondered if the plane could fly on three engines alone. Dad would say, no problem. Inevitably one of us would ask, what if another engine would fail? Then of course the plane could run on two engines. It would fly somewhat slower. Dad pretended to be very confident. I was not too sure. The next question would then be what about if the third engine would fail. Dad was confident as ever. I was the quiet one in those days. ( I do not know what happened). I did not dare ask that last question…..

I must have fallen asleep. I felt the plane descending again. I saw a toy runway with some toy houses lining the streets next to the runway. I must have been half asleep and needed more sleep. I was not a happy camper. I think I started having a meltdown myself. That is one of the few times I remember crying as a child. We got off the plane and went to the terminal. I knew we were not in Spain. Carlos told me we were at Las Azores, an island chain near Portugal. (Actually Carlos just told me Las Azores). We saw two nuns there. They looked like they were dressed the same as Tia Maria. I figured that Tia Maria had sent two of her colleagues to greet us. I did not understand a word they said. Mom and Dad seemed to. The nuns seemed to understand Mom and Dad. I was very sleepy. I thought I was having a nightmare. How come I cannot understand them? It turns out they were speaking Portuguese. To this day every time I hear someone speaking Portuguese I remember the sensation of being sleepy. Lord knows what would happen if two nuns started speaking Portuguese in front of me. I might just fall asleep altogether.

We left Las Azores shortly afterwards. I was kind of happy to be back on the plane. It started to feel like home.

The rest of the trip I do not remember. I remember getting off the plane and having a hard time walking. We were met at the airport by a friend of Abuelo Arturo. We all went in separate small cars and drove through the streets of Madrid. I was impressed by how small the cars are and how many cars there were on the street.

I think this guy who met us at the airport thought that we were loaded with money. He rented us two hotel rooms, one of them Abuelo and Abuela took, the other was shared by the rest of the family. At that time I understood since it was such a large change for them. Now I keep wondering if different arrangement could have been made. Maybe mom and dad thought that Carlos and I would not like to sleep in abuelo and abuela’s room (we were the oldest)

Abuelo kept saying we had to move by the next day. Dad slept on a convertible bed. He lay on it and in the middle of the night it collapsed and Dad was on the floor. I kept wondering what the hotel people would do to us. Would they call the authorities? We fixed it somehow and went back to sleep. We all slept on large bed. Mom was next to Juanpi, sort of protecting him from the others not rolling over and hurting him. Turi, Rosa, Carlos and I all shared the bed with Juanpi and Mom. In the middle of the night Mom started screaming. She had dreamt that everyone had squished Juanpi. I did not see this. I was exhausted. The last thing I remember was Dad falling off the pin-pan-pun.

The next day we all had breakfast at the hotel. They served a very rich hot chocolate and these funny cubes of sugar. I inspected the cubes of sugar and wondered why they were that shape. I remember seeing that once before when Carlos and I were doing our first communion. That was a special day and we had breakfast the day before as a group. I did not want to stain my white coat with the chocolate. I wondered if we were going to have that every day from now on. The next day our accommodations changed for the better.