Part 2:Star-studded to Latin America (Brazil to Cuba)

[SQueeze]

Well, guys.
Continuing from Part 1

Here's the 2nd instalment.
This thread will be dedicated to the flights from Sao Paulo to Havana via Panama with Copa as well as some pics of incredible Autentica Cuba.

Route: GRU-PTY
Flight: CM 700
Aircraft: 737-800
Reg-No: HP-1832CMP
STD/ATD: 1315
STA/ATA: 1656
Seat: 4K
Load: 16/16

In the late morning, we took a taxi back to Guarulhos airport to check in for our onward flight to Panama City - a long 6.5 hours trek on a 737 and one of the longest narrow-body route in the world with all the longer ones all belonging to Copa too!

CM flights’ check-in area is in Zone D. It was quiet at the time of the day with CM being the only airline there at the time.







At check-in, they had to verify our visa requirements for Cuba (although that flight was only the day after). As a note to all travellers, Cuba doesn’t issue visas. What a tourist need is to purchase a tourist card. This is not a visa sticker, it’s a loose piece of paper that can be bought at embassies or with the airlines directly, but Copa at GRU does not sell it. Copa at PTY does. We got ours at the consulate at Ho Chi Minh. I didn’t even send my passport there, just a photocopy.



Anyway, back to the check-in process, the agent also noticed we had 2 suitcases that had overnighted and offered us the option of checking them further onwards to Cuba the day after which would save us the hassle of bringing them into downtown Panama. But he turned up again at the gate saying that he couldn’t touch our luggages that had overnighted from SQ due to security reason therefore we had to collect everything upon arrival at Panama.

Immigration was smooth at the time of the day and we shortly found ourselves in the newish TAM lounge. The décor is really nice and light. It does feel a little Scandinavian. I have only seen the wow pictures of TAM’s new F and how cozy it is. This lounge has a similar feel.





Food variety was good. These are just the pastries. There were so many other things I didn’t capture.





Anyway, onto the flight, the flight was full in both J and Y.



We were on Copa’s newest 737. It looks really good, both it J and Y. The business class seats are in leather and the pitch is really good. It’s a really good product.

[SQueeze]

Pre-take off drinks were offered on a serviette bearing MileagePlus brand. Copa shared the same frequent flyer program as United.



Then menus were distributed. There are 4 flights a day between Sao Paulo and Panama and they all use the same menu. So there are pages and pages of it and one has to look for the correct one. They are all quite similar so it can be quite confusing.



We were parked next to a LAN 767



And upon taxiing, we passed by quite a few AA. AA is pretty strong here. I counted at least 5 of them at this time of the day. And yup, I really like their new livery.



Views of super dense Sao Paulo just after take off – always an impressive sight.



Post-take off drinks were offered with nuts. And the nuts were served on little plates. This is a nice gesture. On my last flight from BOM with SQ, nuts were only distributed in packets.



Inflight magazine is called Panorama.



The Copa Airlines network connecting North and South America. In many ways, Panama is like Singapore too. It’s a small country, with a bustling port, and an airline that relies heavily on connecting traffic. In fact, Panama’s president states its aspiration to be the Singapore of the Americas and they call their airport the Hub of the Americas



Copa Airlines Colombia’s network. It’s mainly regional.

[SQueeze]

Even for a dayflight, amenity kits were distributed. I particularly like the design for the socks.



IFE is of course not as elaborate as SQ’s but is good enough for a regional hop. The flight path map was not working though.



Lunch was served an hour into the flight. It started with an appetizer of pita with hummus dip. Hummus was nice, bread was good. But raw carrot sticks were just yucks. Not a fan of cucumber salad either. Overall rating 7/10.



For the main course, I selected the ricotta ravioli. It was not that good. It tasted rather junk food / fast food to me (too greasy and heavy). Overall rating 3/10



My partner chose the fish with rice. This was better but the rice was dry. Overall rating 5/10



Sundaes were served next. While the ice cream was quite good, the chocolate sauce came from the tube. It was gross and tasted artificial. Not good. Overall rating 2/10.



After lunch was wrapped, the lights were then dimmed for passengers to rest. And nothing to do really other than enjoying IFE, which in our case means our own IFE with the iPad.



A couple of hours after that, we were flying over the Amazon. It looks like an ocean of green – featureless with no roads and settlements.



And 5 hours into the flight, I was surprised that another meal was offered. I didn’t notice it in the menu earlier. It was a simple one, just a cold platter. We shared the plate as we were not particularly hungry after the lunch about 3 hours before.

[SQueeze]

Landing approach at Tocumen airport was over a really nice green and lush jungle. But this is just one side of the view, on the other side is a metropolis packed with skyscrapers similar to an Asian skyline.



It was the afternoon bank of arrivals at PTY but it didn’t take us more than 15 minutes to clear. And … surprise, surprise, our luggage arrived intact after the long trek of more than 48 hours from Singapore.



The drive into the city was on a fast expressway. Panama is a fast-developing economy and the infrastructure is very good. Cranes are everywhere. This is a metropolis similar to Asian metropolis.



Traffic jam was everywhere including on the expressway and it took us more than an hour to reach the city.



We stayed at another Leading Hotel, the Bristol. The hotel is a little old (design is late 90s) but the room is huge. It’s just above USD 120 / night which is a pretty good deal considering I am inching ever closer to earning another complimentary voucher. Haha.

[SQueeze]

Route: PTY-HAV
Flight: CM 322
Aircraft: 737-800
Reg-No: -
STD/ATD: 0916
STA/ATA: 1257
Seat: 4K
Load: 16/16


Panama was just a night stop, and early the morning after, we were back on the road to get to PTY by 8am. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 0916 in the morning.

Some scenes of Panama, a central American metropolis, aspirer to be Singapore of the Americas



Very bizarre building. And nope, I don't like it at all.



Tocumen airport in the morning





And check-in at the Premier Access counter.



Immigration was quick on the Saturday morning and we headed to the lounge. It was not easy to find as there is some renovation work going on and the main entrance is blocked. The lounge is very typical North American lounge, both in terms of furnishing style as well as food offerings.



Looking onto the tarmac from the lounge – home of Copa



Along the way to the gate, we passed by a chapel, never saw this at any airport before.



And our departure was from Tocumen’s airport new wing, which is still shiny and well-lit.



Our boarding gate that day was really crowded and chaotic. It was another full flight in J and Y. Copa is doing very well (4x daily to Sao Paulo, 5x daily to Havana). Y pax were already boarding but we got priority access to cut the queue.



View towards the new wing from the aerobridge

[SQueeze]

The plane flying us to Cuba was also a 737-800 but this was an older version. There was no IFE either.

Can’t remember if this was pre-take off or post-take off. Anyway, they were the same nuts mixed with pretzels again. And for both of us, a glass of diet coke as well. This would be the last chance for coca cola before Cuba!



Breakfast/Brunch was a choice of either a sandwich or salmon on toasted bagel. I don’t recall there was any menu card on the flight. I think we were simply asked what we would like to have.

Both of us picked the bagel with salmon, which was not bad. Bagel was nicely crispy and toasty. And can’t go wrong with smoked salmon anyway. Quite a safe choice. The side salad was pedestrian though. Overall rating 7/10



I was hoping to see more jungle or catch a glimpse of the famous canal as we crossed from the Pacific side to the Atlantic side but it was 100% cloudy. But fortunately the weather began to clear as we traversed the Carribean – and lo and behold, what a magnificent sight!

Here are some islands which I initially believed belong to the Cayman Islands but upon closer study of google earth appear to be the chain of islands flanking Cuba’s Nueva Gerona island.





Not long after, mainland Cuba itself was sighted



We traversed across the island over agricultural regions. I like the geometric patterns



Cuba is a pretty narrow island and in about 15 minutes, we would be landing at Jose Marti Airport at the northern coast. Landing was smooth. Half way across the world, and after 3 days, we were finally there. CGK-SIN-GRU-PTY-HAV. Phew!

Palm trees greeted us.



Was hoping to spot some Russian airliners but there was none. Only an Air France in the distance at its long layover (AF is pretty strong here btw, they have 2 daily flights back to back every night with a 744 and a 77W).



And a mysterious all-white 4-engined beast docked at the terminal building. Upon closer approach, I noted a 9M registration code, which upon googling seems to belong to Air Malta. I believe this must be a charter flight or a wet-leased aircraft (possibly Cubana) but am not sure.

[SQueeze]

Immigration process was dreadful. The hall was dark. Officer was not friendly. Not a good first impression. But at least there was no queue. I dared not take photos either because there were so many security personnel at every corner.

Luggage was another dreadful process. There was only one carousel. We waited … and waited … and waited … and waited for 20 minutes, then one bag dropped. Then another. Then wait … and wait …. No bag came out for a long while before another dropped. Very painful and slow. Not too sure what happened at the background but I suspect they check every single piece of luggage. A TACA flight soon arrived and while the Copa bags were still being unloaded slowly and intermittently, some of those TACA ones got into the mixture too. An hour later. Yes! An hour later … our bag still had not come out (tagged *A priority). More and more TACA bags were coming out and we were resigned to the fact that our luggages might have survived up to PTY but not the last short sector. My partner was already making his way to lost-and-found before finally both luggages came out, nicely tagged as priority but what’s the point. They came out last or almost last.

The arrival experience past customs was actually unexpectedly smooth. Unlike what I expected, no pestering taxi drivers, no touts. Nobody pestered us and we peacefully went out after changing some money. Soon we were greeted by a taxi autorizado staff, and were shortly in the taxi heading out of the airport with a confirmed CUC 25 fixed fare to the city. This is Cuba. The government sets prices. No haggling required.

First glimpse of Havana. Pretty impressive with its wide clean expressway and well-kept green and clean landscaping.



Of course, in Cuba, your fellow motorists drive all sorts of sexy curvy things.









It was a surreal thing for me, driving down wide boulevards with not many cars on them. Probably how it was like in the 1950s. No traffic jam.



And yup, there is a Chinatown there. Used to be one of the largest in the Americas until the Revolution kicked most out



We stayed on the Prado just outside Old Havana at the Mercure Sevilla. The hotel exuded vintage so typically of Cuba and had a long history of celebrities visiting and is also a setting to a novel.

The lobby areas with rocking chairs



View towards the restaurant where we had breakfast every morning to the tune of 1920s live jazz music every morning



The exterior of the hotel was not too impressive.

[SQueeze]

Went to the swimming pool’s changing room and found such a vintage charm. I wonder who would sit there at the corner …



The atrium around which all the rooms are oriented



The bedroom also exuded vintage feel. We were upgraded to a mini suite with a separate living area. The TV is ancient tube. One can get American channels here. We are just 100 miles away from the United States. 100 miles in distance but well, 60 years behind.





Fantastic view from the room



Every afternoon, the sweet housekeepers made different animals to keep our friends company.





Just outside the hotel is a ballet school. The hotel has openable windows, and with such nice cool weather in the morning (16 degrees), I always opened my bedroom windows for fresh air and listened to the nutcracker suite, the swan lake etc being practiced. Cuba exudes so much art and music all around.



Salsa on the street at night time. Entertainment options are really limited for Cubans.



... to be continued to Part 3 (more of Cuba and then Bogota)

[CarbonMan]

Beautiful pics of Havana, SQueeze! Can't wait to see the rest!

[kpc]

Nice report....we also head to Cuba early May flying Copa in J from SJU: SJU-Pty-Hav....so your report is a nice prelude

At check-in, they had to verify our visa requirements for Cuba (although that flight was only the day after). As a note to all travellers, Cuba doesn’t issue visas. What a tourist need is to purchase a tourist card. This is not a visa sticker, it’s a loose piece of paper that can be bought at embassies or with the airlines directly, but Copa at GRU does not sell it. Copa at PTY does. We got ours at the consulate at Ho Chi Minh. I didn’t even send my passport there, just a photocopy.

PS I bought the cuba Visa online for £15 (plus £5 handling and postage to anywhere in the world) from this travel agency:http://www.cubavisas.com/index.php

Much cheaper than the AUD$110 the Cuban embassy in Australia wanted to charge and only a small premium compared to the USD$25 if bought at Panama airport (only have 1 hour transit at PTY so didn't want to worry about buying it then)

[yflyer]

Enjoying this TR! The pictures of Cuba are especially eye-opening. Ironically those old cars must be worth a lot now if they could be exported and sold in other countries.

[SQueeze]

Enjoying this TR! The pictures of Cuba are especially eye-opening. Ironically those old cars must be worth a lot now if they could be exported and sold in other countries.

Thanks, yflyer.

Some of those cars are indeed really polished they would be worthy to belong into an expensive vintage collection elsewhere. These are used as taxis generally and only tourists ride them.

Most, though, are pretty dilapidated and burst out lots of fumes. They are mostly shared taxis.