Cuba

What a long first day of our first official holiday in Canada. We woke at 5.30 am and got in the car and drove all the way to Toronto, with a stop for breakfast somewhere. In total the trip took 5 hours to get to the airport park that we used. Finally we got on the plane and headed on the way to Cuba arriving at about 6.45pm.
Arriving in Cuba we got through customs and out the door and found our bus to take the hotel we were staying in.

We arrived at the Sol Palmeras and checked in and found our room and decided to have a walk around and have a drink with some other people that we met on the bus that were also staying at the hotel, Robert and Pat from Beamsville and Lisa from St Catherine’s and also Xeumia from china.
We all met at the bar and talked and drunk until midnight before heading off to bed, the only thing that we did not really like was everyone smokes inside here.

The next day we all headed down to the pool and lay in the sun an read our books and drunk Mojito’s most of the day, in the afternoon we met up with the sunwing rep and found out about the tours we could do and also some info about Cuba and things to look out for, we booked a trip to Havana, with a look at a rum factory and also cigar factory. We then headed back out to the beach for the rest of the day.

We all decided to head onto veradero the next day to check out the markets and look around, the area around veradero was interesting, from the old cars to the houses that the people lived in. We looked in the markets before getting the bus back to the resort.
Sarah and I then headed out and went and looked at a cave and then decided to walk back down the beach, it was a bit further then we thought.

Havana

The next day we all met at the front of the resort for the tour of Havana, the drive on the bus took about 2 hours but the tour guide talked about the things that we went passed and explained about the Cuban and very day life. Everything from the hitching men to the two different currentices that the country uses.

We arrived in Havana and drove through the tunnel under the harbor and then along the harbor to the rum museum and did a tour. Was good but did not take very long, we then walked through the old area of the city past different buildings and parks before arriving at the place for lunch.
After lunch we got back on the bus and headed over to the cigar factory to look at how they are made. The building was 4 storeys and there was people doing different things for the making of the cigars. We then went to the shop next door and looked at people buying the cigars.
We then got back on the bus and drove through the new areas of town and looked that some of the bigger older houses that had been divided up so more people could live in them, lots of the houses are starting to look old and need lots of work, we then went to revolution square where Fidel Castro would give his speeches. We then drive along the water front before stopping at the parliament building that looks just like the US parliament building. There was guys there the would take your picture with old black and white cameras. We walked to the top of the stairs and took some pictures of the big brass statues.
The bus then headed back into town and we got free time to walk around and do what ever we wants, so we all headed to the only 5 star hotel that had the best mojito’s and also a bar on the roof so we could take some good pictures of the city, after that we all walked through the markets and got hassled for cheap cigars.
The trip back to the resort was good with a stop at a bar on the side of the road for a pina colada. Then back to the resort for dinner.


Trinidad Tour.

Sarah and I also decided to do another trip over night to Trinidad, the trip was called the Rambo tour, we drove from the resort to Cienfuegos and looked around the town centre before carrying on to Trinidad where we walked around the old area of the city and stopped in a bar and had a drink and listened to some music. The streets were amazing there were rocks for the roads with the bigger rocks being the centre line.
From Trinidad we headed up into the mountains and into fog, before arriving at the hotel for the night.
The next day we all got into big Russian 4x4 trucks and headed off on the Rambo bit of the tour, we drove along dirt tracks and then got off the truck and walked though the bush with a guide that explained things to us as we walked, the day was not the best but we had a good time, the weather meant that we could not walk down the river as there was to much water but it was still a good walk. We stopped for lunch and had chicken and rice, it was really good even with all the rain. We then got back on the bus and headed for Santa Clara and the Che Guevara memorial, we where all a bit wet but dried out and enjoyed things.
It was a good two days but the second day was long, but it was good to see areas of the country other than the resort.