I arrived 5 minutes too late to be allowed to go to the gate, it was a flight from Montreal to Holguin, Cuba, a one way ticket. I was ready to go there for six months. We Canadians are very fortunate, the visa we received on the plane allows you to stay in Cuba for three months and then you need to buy a few stamps at the Banco Financiero International and go to the Immigration Office to extend your visa.

I was so happy to get out of the confinement, I really cried my heart out at the airport when they wouldn't allow me to go to the gate.

I will be going next week but it is not the same, it felt like the magic was gone: I had to cancel my hotel, casa, friends and taxi and spend one more week in the lovely confinement in Montreal alone in front of my computer either writing or watching another Korean series on Netflix.

I am very lucky there is a flight next Tuesday and thanks to the kindness of my children, they book me another flight for next week.

I was so sad, I had to find something on YouTube to comfort me, here is the most beautiful song that expresses what I am missing from Cuba:

Cuba is the only place where I find that kind of love, I had the chance when I was younger to travel overland from London to Delhi but a few years later when I went to Cuba in 1997 more or less, I felt for the first time in my life the feeling of having roots, I had never even knew the meaning of roots in Montreal but when I went to Holguin for the first time just as I landed, I felt I could feel the blood of the Cuban citizens who fought for the Revolution.

Che Guevara was my first idol, when I was a young woman, I used to have a poster of Che Guevara pinned on the ceiling of my bedroom so I could look at him before I fell asleep. This is true and later Fidel was my Hero and he still is. I was on the caratera in Holguin when he passed by in his small coffin wrapped with the Cuban flag and if I remember there was also a garland of flowers.

I have no words to describe the emotion I felt, waiting since 8:30 in the morning for the procession to pass by, feeling the love of the Cubans for him; it is like my heart took a picture of that moment and that picture will remain in my heart forever.