First, apologies for not updating the final two days of our trip; after we left Havana Friday, Dec. 2, we had sparse Internet access.

On Friday afternoon, the team visited the seaside city of Cienfuegos, which was about a two and one-half hour ride southeast of Havana. We toured the city and then took a three-hour bus ride north to a resort in Varadero. That put us close to the Varadero airport for the team’s flight back home Sunday evening. Saturday, Dec. 3, the guys got to relax and enjoy themselves on the beach. We saw multiple pick-up games of volleyball and football. No baseball diamond was available.

We did spot someone doing homework. Hats off to Jackson Parthasarathy for multitasking while at the beach.

The fans and staff on the trip had to wake up bright and early Sunday. We left the hotel at 4:30 a.m. EST Sunday and were back in Houston by 1 p.m. CST. The team departed Cuba later in the day and got back to campus late last night.

We’ve written a Cuba trip wrap-up story that will be posted for Rice News later today. I will cross-post it here too as our final blog post.

It’s good to be home.

John Sullivan and David Ruth