Our Varadero Vacation

Ola, amigos!  What a great week we had in Cuba!  Bruce, Sarah and I travelled with my parents to Varadero last Sunday.  My Auntie Ruth, who lives in Winnipeg, flew in the next day to join us.

Check out our smiling faces on the bus from the airport to the resort.

We arrived at our resort, the "Breezes Bella Costa", late Sunday afternoon.  The resort has 4 restaurants, 4 bars, a nice big pool and a gorgeous beach.

Lobby bar

Pool and poolside bar

Beach

Our accommodations were in a "villa", meaning we had a small suite away from the main hotel.  There are 12 suites on each floor of these villas.

The rooms were spacious, and air conditioned.  The furniture and decor was dated, but clean and well maintained.  We had two sliding patio doors out onto an L-shaped patio.  The one in the bedroom looked out onto this:

What!

But our other door, the one in the living room, looked out onto this:

Ahh... much better.

We decided to simply draw the curtain in the bedroom and leave it that way!  The nice thing about being right on the edge of the resort was that it was very quiet at night, unlike the rooms closer to the bar and stage show.

The first two days we hung out around the pool and beach, drinking fruity rum drinks and de-stressing.  At the pool bar, they serve your drinks in tiny plastic cups, but the bartender will happily fill up any cup you hand him, no matter how big.  This one is filled half with rum and half with cola. Viva la Cuba Libre!

 Cheers!

Catching some rays, poolside

Building sandcastles

On Monday night, the resort held a dinner for returning guests.   The sun was just setting as we arrived and we got some of my favourite pics of the whole trip.

 

My parents

The dinner was awesome, the best we had at the resort, and there was a show with singing and dancing.

Mom and Auntie Ruth enjoying the show

We won this poster and some ground coffee in a raffle!

By the third day, we were ready for adventure, so we took a day trip into Havana.  Leaving Sarah to spend the day at the resort with the rest of the family, Bruce and I got up early to catch the tour bus for the 2 hour drive from Varadero to Havana.

Our tour started in old Havana at the "Castillo de los Tres Reyes Magos del Morro" fort.  Otherwise known as Morro Castle.

Built by the Spanish in 1589 to guard the mouth of the Havana harbour, there was originally a thick boat-detering chain strung across the water to another fort on the opposite side.  Today, Morro Castle offers a great view of the modern part of Havana while standing in the oldest part.

I learned all about the fort - and everything else about Havana points of interest - on Wikipedia, after we got home.   Unfortunately,  our tour guide, Gabriel,  was less than informative about the historical significance of the places we visited.  Whether that was due to the language block, ignorance on his part or some kind of propaganda spin, I don't know.  He did, however, take us to a lovely rum and cigar shop in the fort (probably owned by his cousin).

There was also a cool band playing outside the gift shop.

Next stop, a walking tour of Old Havana. 

Gabriel explained that a lot of the buildings in this part of the city were once owned by "rich peoples" who "left" after the revolution.  Now many of these old houses have been converted into hotels, apartments and official government buildings.  I wonder what happened to the rich peoples?

This is the second oldest square in Havana, the Plaza de San Francisco.  It is named for the building you see in the next picture, originally a church and monastery dedicated to Francis of Assisi, now one of the best concert venues in Havana.

Fuente de los Leones

(Lions Fountain)

The rest of the plaza is surrounded by hotels, bistros and shops, all renovated from the original homes of the upper class Spanish colonialists.

A short walk later, and we emerged into the Plaza Vieja (Old Square).  In colonial times, this square was a residential neighbourhood for the wealthy Creole families, who could watch the activities of the plaza from their upper windows and balconies.  At one time or another, the square has seen executions, bull fights, markets and fiestas.

Time for a drink!  Next, we headed to a local hotel, the Ambos Mundos.  Here, for a mere 3 pesos, you can get an authentic Cuban Mojito.  (Not available at our resort, strangely...)  This is the same bar where Ernest Hemingway lived for 7 years, and drank many Mojitos, back in the 1930s.

When we left the Ambos Mundos, a little less steady but in better spirits than when we went in, we headed to another hotel to have lunch.  It was a very pleasant venue.  The tables were set up in the inner courtyard, surrounded by lush greenery and art work.

Another band!

But despite the nice appearances, this is what you find in the way of bathrooms.

I had been warned to bring toilet paper with me if we left the resort, because it is generally not supplied in public washrooms.  I didn't know I needed to bring my own seat, though!  I didn't see a single toilet seat during my whole day in Havana.  On the other hand, you do have to tip the attendant for the privilege of copping a squat.

Lunch was good.  They served a kind of pulled beef in a tomato sauce with rice and beans and thick cut potato chips.  Then it was off again to look at more squares.

Honestly, by now we were getting a little tired of looking at plazas, so we probably didn't appreciate the Plaza de la Catedral as much as it deserved.  The cathedral was built in 1727 in the Baroque style.  I wish we could have gone inside.

Then we rushed off to see the Plaza del Armas, the oldest square in the city.  The most park-like of the squares we visited, Plaza del Armas is the home of the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales, a truly palatial limestone building, which is now the Museo de la Ciudad.  We got to spend half an hour in the museum, but we balked at paying extra to take pictures.  So, no pictures.

Outside the Palacio the street is paved with wooden bricks instead of the usual clay ones.  Apparently, this dates back to a time when the clatter of the wheels of passing carriages annoyed the Capitan General so much, he ordered them changed.

At the other end of the Plaza, there is a tree which commemorates the founding of Havana in 1519.  It was a Spanish tradition of the time to plant the ceiba tree in every colony.  This is not the original, but it is planted in the same place.  The Cuban people have a custom of touching, kissing or offering money to the tree in return for good fortune or to make a wish come true.

This statue of Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, stands in the centre of the square.  He was a Cuban landowner who started the Ten Years' War by freeing his slaves and Declaring Cuban independence from Spain in 1868.  He was the first President of the Republic of Cuba, and is hailed as the "Padre de la Patria" (Father of the Country).

Really tired by this point, we got back on the bus to drive to our last square of the day, the Plaza de la Revolution, in the modern part of Havana. 

During the drive, we caught a glimpse of the real Havana. There is a lot of dis-repair; broken windows and shutters on second floor windows, peeling paint, crumbling cement, mildew, etc.

We also drove by the Capitol Building.  It was built by the Americans before the Revolution.  Look familiar?

We drove into the Plaza de la Revolution, to find it is basically a large parking lot surrounded by government buildings and a huge monument to the Revolution.  It was so...  Communist.

A nearby sign informed us that the Revolution is a beautiful and indestructable reality.  Good to know.

It was getting close to sunset by this time, and our next stop was to shower and change in a courtesy hotel room.  We also had time to relax in the hotel bar while other people in our tour group took their turn in the room.  A can of beer only cost 1 peso and 50 cents!

Dinner was in a restaurant,  where we had roast pork, green beans and rice.  And more beer.  Then we were off to the day's final event - to see the famous Tropicana show!

The club is open air.  You can see the stars above you.  There are at least 3 stages, and it feels like the show is going on all around you, even in the audience.  Bruce smoked a Guantanamero cigar, and we got a litre of rum for every 4 people at the table.  They also gave us one can of cola and a glass of champagne each.  I don’t know how we were expected to drink a quarter litre of rum with one can of cola, but we gave it our best effort.

Anticipation...

Bruce smoking a cigar in Havana

Time to go home

The show was fantastic!  Definitely the highlight of the trip!  Dancing, singing, amazing costumes, even acrobats...  Just, wow.

The two hour bus ride home in a bus full of drunken tourists was fun until someone puked, then it got more subdued.  We got back to the resort around 2:30 am.  It was a very long day, and one we will always remember.

The next morning we were on our way again,  this time to the Delfinario, a local attraction where you can swim with dolphins.  Sarah came with us this time.  They don't allow cameras, but they do want to sell you the pictures and video they take.  Of course.  And, of course, I bought them!

We got towed around the lagoon, holding onto the dolphins' dorsal fins.  Bruce got repeatedly knocked in the cajones by their tails during this maneuver!   (Hee hee!)

Next, the dolphins leaped right over our heads.  We were allowed to kiss them, and got kisses from them on our cheeks. 

 Then we had our picture taken patting the dolphins' bellies.

 The highlight of the trip was being pushed through the water by the soles of our feet, and then raised up into the air.  Bruce and I were flipped over onto our backs right away.  Sarah, however, rode the dolphins' noses for a few seconds, and even had time to plug her nose before she jumped off.  It was amazing!  She got a round of applause from everyone watching.

When we got back to our room, we were so tired from our late night in Havana and our early morning with the dolphins,  we took a long nap.  It was the only rainy day of our trip, though, so we didn't feel too bad about wasting the afternoon.

The rest of the week we stayed at the resort, enjoying the sun.  The day after the rain, the waves were bigger than usual, and we had a lot of fun playing in the surf.  We wanted to go out on a catamaran and do some snorkeling,  but the waves were too high.

The boat we didn't go out on.

We did spend lots of time in the pool, though.

All too soon, our time was up, and we had to leave beautiful Varadero.

Feeling wistful, on the last morning.

 We left the resort at 1:30, back to the airport.  We took the bus, but Mom and Dad took a cab, because it is much easier for Mom to get in and out of.  So, we arrived at the airport first.  After a long wait, this cab appeared!   Nice!  Note Sarah photobombing my picture in the background.

 We got home around 11pm to find a foot of snow in our driveway and covering our car.  Welcome back to Toronto, I guess...

Well, that's it for our trip to Cuba.   We had a great time, and we would definitely go again!