TUESDAY (AND A BIT OF MONDAY)
So to continue our Cuban adventure....What else happened? Yesterday and today (Monday
and Tuesday) have been lovely days – Bright sunshine, swimming in the pool and
lunch in a lovely restaurant overlooking the sea. Lots of cocktails (Far too
many cocktails for me actually last night. I lost count somewhere around a
dozen – can’t remember getting to bed and didn’t sober up till after lunch.
Luckily, the pool isn’t far away and I spent a lovely morning snoozing in some
shade.)
We have met and chatted with a whole host of lovely people (and the odd
weirdo as well...what is it about ‘middle children’??) from as far away as
Finland, Bristol and Ottawa as well as finding a random bunch of singers having a god singalog at a local apartments pool!
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Wandering about |
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Singing by the pool |
In about half an hour we are going to our first
booked meal – You have to book the posh restaurants in advance – It’s the first
of three meals we have booked for the week. Then we shall probably have a few
more cocktails before bed. I like the All Inclusive style – Food and drinks all
free and lots of both. Maybe I should have a few less cocktails tonight
though!! My head has only just stopped banging – I’m glad Buffy apparently made
me drink water before bed last night or it could have been a lot worse.
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Recovering with some ketchup |
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Obligatory pool/legs photo |
WEDNESDAY
So the meal last night was awesome. It consisted of 5
separate taster plates starting with Sushi then soup, a variety of fish in
sauces was followed by beef, chicken and pork all cooked deliciously before a
final plate with three small fancy cakes. Top the lot off with a bottle of wine
and it was a lovely evening. Probably the poshest meal I have had in a few
years and absolutely delicious without being too much! We have another restaurant booked for tonight
to recover from our arduous day. Did I say arduous day? I meant relaxing and
awesome. We had a lie in this morning as it was a little cloudy outside, but
when we left the room at about 11.30 am the clouds cleared away and the wind
dropped to a light breeze. We headed to the beach and spent the next six hours in
the most relaxed mood we have had in ages. No worrying about PR cards (More
about that in a minute) work, weddings or anything else – just a lovely warm
day, a spot of lunch overlooking the deep blue ocean and a few dips in the warm
water just to break up the afternoon. We loved the entire day! (Funny note – as
I type this Buffy has locked herself out on the balcony so I am just sitting
laughing at her!)
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Ffub at the beach |
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Us |
A side note.....
We are wondering what stipulates a 5 star hotel. This one is
nice and has a few lovely touches like a big bath with windows you can open to
look through the room to the ocean. It has aircon, a walk in rain shower (That
doesn’t drain quickly enough so we have to sandbag the step with a towel to
prevent flooding) It also randomly comes complete with a set of scales and an
umbrella. We are wondering if there is a list of items that hotels use and if
you have enough items off the list you can improve your star rating. We will
endeavour t find out!
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To stop the flood! |
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Good view from the bath |
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Weight |
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Rain |
As for PR cards we have been waiting for mine to arrive
since May last year. It should take 2-3 months maximum but we never received
it. We were so looking forward to the holiday that we ignored that fact that
you aren’t allowed to leave Canada without your PR card and it’s possible that
they won’t let me back in when we get back. Oh well. Then today, an email arrived
from Buffy’s mum, Susan. The heading
‘Good News’ and an attachment. The only thought was that it could be the PR
card.
So we started to download the small file – the internet here
is terrible and very intermittent – so after a frustrating 15 minutes or so the
file was finally complete and we opened it hoping to see a crisp clear photo of
the PR card, so that we can show it on our arrival back in Canada........ But when
we saw the attachment it was just a photo of the envelope containing the
card. Ha-ha we both laughed at our
situation. We had to email Susan back and ask her to open the envelope and take
a photo of the card – but that was also frustratingly slow and took about 10
minutes to send the email. Finally the internet died and we gave up for the day
hoping Susan got the message. We will try the net again on Friday.
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Not what ewe thought we would see!! haahaa |
THURSDAY
Today was our day out to Havana, the Cuban capital and
UNESCO heritage site. It started with a rush around the Buffet at 0740 to grab
croissants, cheese, bread and whatever other delicacies we could shovel into
our gobs before running out and jumping on the tour bus which left at 0745. 20
minutes later and after picking up 5 or 6 other passengers from the final hotel
along the peninsula and a random excursion around the harbour we drove back
past our own bloody hotel and were finally on our way to Havana – albeit with a
stop at 7 other hotels in the first hour to pick up some very random
passengers. Including ‘Noisy repeat everything the guide says’ woman’, ‘Laugh
like a hyena’ woman and ‘I think I know everything about Cuba but actually look
like a fool’ woman. Ha-ha, I love meeting new and interesting people!
The guide ‘Jorge’ was great – explaining a whole lot about
Cuba, its history, the people and The embargo from USA and its effects on the
country – this is the reason that Cubans have all the old 50’s style cars – it’s
too expensive to get most modern cars here. Another interesting fact is because
most Cuban families immigrated here there is a mix of Caucasian, Hispanic,
African and all kinds of other people here. No one race takes priority and all
get on - There is no racism in Cuba (apart from against America!)
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Toilet stop |
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The Capitol building |
So after a good and interesting 3 hour journey (During which
the bus doors window fell out) we arrived in Havana and started our whistle
stop tour. We saw the Capitol Building, Central Park with all the old cars
parked up, a part of the decrepit side of the city with its crumbling buildings
and potholed streets. A quick stop at Plaza de Revolution to see the huge steel
memorials to Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos. Then another drive across town took us to our
lunch stop.
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Fixing the bus window - with packing tape. |
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Plaza de Revolucion |
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A local |
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Time fr a jump shot! |
We met another travelling couple (Actually the youngest
couple of the bus). They told us all about their plans to travel Europe and so
we spent the next hour or so throwing ideas their way of places to go and
things to see. They were really nice and we hope they have a good trip when they
go.
Our final couple of hours was spent wandering the streets of
the old town – Wonderful alleys and squares filled with lovely little cafes and
strange statues. Some of the buildings here have been restored to their former
glory – but I actually liked seeing the real old building that look a little
worn in instead of the updated ones.
We had a huge cloudburst of rain at one point and the only
crazy bugar who stayed out in it was a certain Ms Cowtan who sent her time
taking photos of the foot of a statue (Admittedly it was an interesting statue
of a naked bald woman riding a chicken whilst holding a huge fork)
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A dead dog (sleepng really) |
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The rain |
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She be loco |
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Nice pic though. |
Finally, we found some of the old cars parked up (They are
surprisingly hard to find in the old town) and took a few photos of them before
meeting up with our new friends in a bar and enjoying the best frigging mojitos
we have ever had. A long and tiring day ended with a 3 hour return journey and
a couple of cocktails before bed. Only two more days to go on the holiday from
here –
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No idea. |
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Waiting for Mojitos |
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Minging! |
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With new friends! |
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Rocky... |
I’ll tell you about them and coming home......... next
time............on ‘This Canadian Life’
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