Among the group of 38 people who were part of the the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce's first trip to Cuba last week was City Councilman Harry Cohen, who called the journey an intense experience. (Council members Yolie Capin and Mary Mulhern also went.)
The group left last Wednesday afternoon for Havana and returned on Sunday. Cohen said the short distance between the two nations was never more evident than on the return flight when he looked out his window just 20 minutes after taking off and learned the plane was hovering over Fort Myers.
"Normally when you go someplace that is almost like going to another world, you have a period of time on a long flight to sort of adapt … so that really drove home to me the sort of the drama of the experience," he said.
And what did he think of Havana?
This article appears in May 30 – Jun 5, 2013.