Nicole and Briana
Slumber Party time at Hotel Neptuno~Triton
The omminous twin towers of Hotel Neptuno~Triton
Adiany skipped school so that she could say goodbye.
"If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town". Matthew 10:14
After a good night sleep, a scrumptious breakfast and sweet time of worship and devotion, the Cuba Mission Team 2009 was ready to dust their feet and move on. The bus was at the hotel before 9:00am. We were surprised to see Adiany and her mom and dad who had come to say goodbye. We met this family last year. Mom and daughter were believers, dad, Alfredo was not. His reason... he liked wine, women and song. This year we saw a transformed man. Painted on his buggy were these words, "Jesus loves you". To God be the glory!
It's a six hour trip from Sancti Spiritus to Havana. Some of us slept, some read, some prayed, but all of us are excited to see what God has in store for us in Havana.
We arrived at Hotel Neptuno/Triton in the early afternoon. We checked in and were surprised to find out we were issued rooms in three different floors of the hotel. As we were waiting for the one working elevator, I felt someone's eyes upon me. I looked up to see a man with lust in his eyes. I felt completely violated. His gaze was disgusting and disturbing. I hadn't been in the room but a few minutes when the telephone rang. It was the reception desk calling. Immigration officials were at the hotel requesting to see me; they asked me to bring me the passports and our airline tickets. When I got to the lobby, the immigration officer and the head of security for the hotel ushered me through darkened hallways into a small office in the bowels of the hotel. The officer was all business, I asked him why they were confiscating our passports; we had followed their instructions and obeyed the law. He didn't answer my questions, instead he handed me a piece of paper. It was an order for us to appear at Immigration the next morning at 10:00am. I asked him if we could leave the hotel, and/or visit family he said it was fine. He reiterated that we were not to perform religious activities. I returned to the room, met with the team and informed them of the latest situation. It was then we realized we would not be able to cash our traveler's cheques. We had no passports (the required form of I.D. to cash the cheques in Cuba). I however had my American passport, they had only confiscated my Cuban passport. I tried to cash some cheques in the hotel exchange, but they wouldn't do it. I went to another exchange house in the area, they also would not cash them. They required the receipts and I left them home. I was so frustrated. I didn't know how we were going to eat that night. Finally, we remembered we had some cash on us, so we changed the greenbacks into CUC's (the tourist currency in Cuba). We went to eat at the restaurant in the hotel, which was completely empty when we first got there, but it soon filled up. We ate, laughed and enjoyed ourselves greatly. After dinner we decided to meet in my room for our nightly devotions. When the elevator opened its door on my floor the first thing I noticed was there was no light in the elevator lobby, it was very dark. The second thing I noticed was that the second elevator was being kept open by an ashtray which was purposefully placed as an obstacle to prevent the elevator doors from closing. I found this suspicious and disturbing. I became even more alarmed when I noticed that someone had been in my room. The furniture had been moved. The other team members noticed the same thing, but things really got ugly when Briana and Nicole came in and asked me if I had noticed the men hiding by the elevators. The girls told me they had been accosted by these men and literally ran into their rooms. I called security to file a report. The head of security and a security officer showed. I was flabbergasted to hear the officer make light of the situation. We decided the best thing to do is to watch out for one another. All of us girls, except for Frances and Tricia slept in my room. It was actually one big slumber party. We covered the floors with mattresses and into the land of zzzz we went. I hardly slept.
My feelings on having to leave Sancti Spiritus
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