Cuba, part I

On Jan 3rd, we flew to Varadaro, Cuba. I think the flight time was about 5 hours. Enough for two movies in any case... Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and Wimbledon. I watched the first, which was ok despite the crappy sound. I glanced up a few times and noticed some interesting camera techniques and stuff during Wimbledon, so I may have to watch it later, even though it's a zomromcom without zombies and even though it's about tennis. Once we got to Varadaro and through passport control, where they stamp a tourist visa instead of your passport (so you have a change of getting into the U.S.), we got on a tour bus, where I proceeded to drink a beer. It was tasty, a nice lager, which was appropriate considering the climate.

At the hotel, we lined up to check in, and a guy came down the line handing out what they called Brisas del Caribe's (which is the name of the hotel). Apparently, that drink in known here in Canada as an "electric popsicle". I'm not much of a drink connoisseur, so I'm unable to say for certain. Tamara's mom had a good first day at the hotel. She had a rum punch on the bus, a Brisas while waiting in line, and then a pina colada. All this in a fairly short span of time, possibly about an hour. They don't use shot glasses there, oh no, they just free pour. Keep in mind that rum is cheaper than mix; the drinks are strong. So yeah, Sherri got hammered and then proceeded to "lose" her purse in our room. After a minor freak out, Tamara had the presence of mind to go and get it.

We quickly signed up for tours. The 2 week package includes two complimentary tours, a sunset cruise near the end (which was canceled due to bad weather), and a Canamar river tour. I believe the Canamar river tour was in the first or second full day. It consisted of a bus ride to a spot under the bridge shown on the right, and then a ride on a boat up the river to a little ranch. There we were fed lunch, and had our choice of a number of activities. Some of us chose to take some row boats a little farther up the river. We took the boat back down to the bus, and stopped by DuPont's mansion, Xanadu on our way back to the hotel. It was mildly interesting, although we weren't allowed inside. The Xanadu side trip was a little extra something our tour guide did to try and earn more tips.

Tips are big in Cuba. Some went so far as to tip bar staff as much as $20 USD (or Cuban convertible pesos if you prefer) in the first few days. Most people tried to tip $1 for good service. Bigger tips upon arrival helped some gain better service though. People are generally friendly there are will reciprocate. Someone in our party gave a gardener a City of Calgary baseball cap, and the next day the gardener brought him a straw hat, the kind the gardeners would wear.

One of the other tours we did was a "jeep" tour. The "jeeps" were actually poorly maintained Suzuki Grand Vitara's. That's ok, the Vitara is fine enough vehicle in that class, and probably a lot easier for the Cubans to source than actual, good old fashioned, UAW made Jeeps. Tamara and I along with Tamara's grandma Ruth and Sherri's friend Mary ended up in a Vitara together.

Tamara's step-dad, Rod, had been recommended this tour, and had visions of being bussed out to a trail head and heading out into actual, you know, wilderness in these things. Instead, we started out driving these things on what passes for a major highway, through some towns, which were teeming with horses, bikes, pedestrians, and other cars, and finally out onto rural roads. Some of the roads were honest to goodness dirt trails, which is what we were really looking for. The highway and town parts were a bit tense, but not a huge problem.

We ended up back under that same bridge on the Canamar river. This time, we took four man motor boats up the river to the same ranch. Again with the lunch. This time, instead of rowing a boat, I rode a decrepit old sugar cane fed horse around a little loop. It was kind of sad; the horses at that ranch didn't seem like they were in very good shape. I did see other horses in Cuba that looked healthier though. We choose new Jeeps (er, Vitaras) at the ranch, and drove around some oil exploration roads and looked at pump jacks for a while, then it was into town for a quick tour around Matanzas. Matanzas is a city (town?) about 1/2 hr from Varadaro.

We also stopped at Saturno Cave, which is a rather large hole in some limestone that has some water in the bottom. The water was very clear, and one could snorkel and swim in it, if one were so inclined. Due to the large number of tourists there at the time, only one of our group, Alana, went for a dip.

I didn't find the Jeep tour too bad, but then again, I was driving the whole time. Which was fun, even though I was in a convoy and being careful not to make the ride too rough for my passengers. Others found it a little boring.

Another tour that we did was a sailing trip on a catamaran. We sailed to a place where they threw us off the boat to snorkel. This was the first time I had ever seen significant sea life. I had snorkeled in the ocean near the hotel, but there was nothing but white sand there. We took a few pictures, some of which are on this page.

They hauled us out of the water and sailed (or diesel engined?) us over to an island where they fed us lunch. The roast chicken was delicious! We then went to a place where they have dolphins in a sea pen. We swam with the dolphins and had our pictures taken (which I have been too lazy to scan thus far). One the cruise back to the marina, they cut the engines and hoisted the sails, and then had a dance party. I tried to dance a little bit, but found that I an simply to clumsy and uncoordinated to participate in group dancing. Oh well.

The "Jungle Tour" was another one that we did. This consisted of driving "jet skis" (which were actually boats shaped vaguely like seadoo's with an outboard motor) around for a while and then stopping an a little island to visit the world's saddest zoo. Some of us had to switch boats a few times until every one was on one that actually ran. There are mangroves on the island, and the zoo is supposed to show the kinds of animals that live there (I assume). Tiny cages and dead turtles doesn't make for a good zoo. They passed around a little crocodile so people could get their photos taken with it. It was not amused by this procedure at all. We also have photos that I have not yet scanned from that little excursion.

The hotel that we stayed at was "all-inclusive", and had many little things one could do. Bicycles are complimentary, but they looked like department store mountain bikes with very weird frames and I would have rather ridden a single speed of the same style I saw many Cubans riding. There wasn't really any place to go anyway. There was a mini-golf course, but it was pretty crummy and they only had three clubs which were never in when we wanted to play. Tamara and I did take a vaguely kayak shaped thing out onto the ocean one time, which was interesting.

SCUBA lessons were free in the pool on Mondays, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. Tamara's step brother Travis and I were quite keen on this and made it though the very short intro. Tamara's sister Alana gave it a good try, but had difficulty breathing underwater, due to a psychological barrier. Travis and I ended up going to the Bay of Pigs, and did a 14m wreak dive, which was very interesting. I have pictures from that too.

I've left out the Havana trip and a bunch of other stuff, but either Tamara will cover it, or I'll write it up later.