• Submitted by: manso
• Society
• 09 / 17 / 2011

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By Alexandra Zayas and Steve Huettel, Times Staff Writers. Sep 16, 2011 03:21 PM. TAMPA —They loaded airport luggage carts with thousands of pounds of America, zipped up in duffel bags and stacked on more duffel bags and shrink-wrapped for protection from pilfering.

The Thursday flight to Cuba would span only 344 miles, but its 67 passengers were packed for a voyage to another planet.

Because, in many ways, that's where they were headed — an island severed from free commerce for half a century, where basic necessities are scarce, the black market reigns and the only way to experience certain comforts is to get them imported by relatives in the States.

And so, those relatives packed:

Clothes, medicine, diapers, toilet paper. Christmas decorations. A candelabra. A 47-inch LCD TV.

Cafe Bustelo and Goya Sazon.

Cracker Jacks and Chips Ahoy.

A magazine featuring the British royal wedding.

Marshmallows. Cowboy hats.

Apples on a stick, dipped in red candy goo.

Mercy Machin, 65, of Tampa said she wanted to take something with her to give to the relatives she hadn't seen since 1969:

"El sabor de este lugar."

A taste of this place.

Getting it all into the air and safely back on the ground?

That's up to the charter companies and airline.

For the inaugural flight this month, the charter capped sales at two-thirds capacity, intentionally leaving some of the 150 seats empty, said Mercy Casals of Xael Charters, one of two companies that sell tickets for Cuban flights at Tampa International Airport. It's all about weight.

Ticket agents ask passengers for their body weight, said Danny Looney, vice president of Cuba operations for Sky King Airlines. They take vanity into account and add 10 pounds.

The rest of the weight restriction is consumed by luggage. If there's still more stuff, Xael enlists a second plane to fly the cargo, and land first so bags are there when passengers arrive.

That happens a lot in Miami, especially during the holidays. "The crowd here has not picked up on what Miami knows it can take," said Ines Gutierrez of Sky King, who has seen passengers with a house sink, generators and all kinds of auto parts.

Car windshields are breakable, and therefore forbidden. Bumpers, however, may fly.

Before departure from the United States on Xael Charters, passengers pay $2 for every pound of luggage in excess of 44 that they carry onto a Cuba-bound plane, and $20 for every bag starting with the second. Then, when they land, they have to pay at the Cuban airport to bring it in. Gutierrez said that price is about triple the airline fee.

To figure out how much it would cost, Martha and Abilio Sanchez of Davenport unloaded their mountain of bags on a scale the day before their flight — at their neighborhood Publix.

Passers-by at the grocery store stared. Mrs. Sanchez, 64, heard someone say, "Oh, my God."

It may appear excessive to the American trained to travel light. But to those who pack for Cuba, these items are important remedies to the problems they hear about, like the shortage of feminine hygiene products, which forces women to cut up and use sheets and prompts entrepreneurs to steal sanitary items from hospitals.

With theft in mind, Mirta Amaran hoped to plastic-wrap her luggage at the airport, unaware that Tampa, unlike Miami, does not have machines to do that.

"They'll rob everything," she grumbled.

But Cubans are a resourceful people. She would need to MacGyver a solution.

She surveyed her surroundings. She considered using strings from the half-dozen hats on her pile. She fumbled with a tiny lock and key.

Then she took off her belt.

Alexandra Zayas can be reached at or (813) 226-3354. Steve Huettel can be reached at  or (813) 226-3384.

Source: http://www.tampabay.com/news/for-cuba-they-pack-everything----including-...