The Trip of a Lifetime: Conclusion

We went to a disco called 'The Pirate Cave' on the Wednesday Night. It was near our hotel and apparently just for tourists, but it was in a real cave - so that made it totally worth it. We went with a couple cool girls from Toronto we met at the resort - Leslie and Michelle. It was THE party night of party nights. The music was great. We found a cave kitty in the bathroom. Good times.








And now for some general thoughts on Cuba...

I can't imagine being a second class citizen in my own country. The tourists ride around in luxury coaches [far nicer than my usual ride to Toronto] and comfortable, newer model rental vehicles while the 'worthy' locals ride around in 1960s American cans, but the majority of locals hitch hike.

It's almost Disney-fied. Tourists use a separate currency than the locals [convertable pesos] and they're worth more than the Canadian dollar.

We saw families who have very little. 'Panhandling' is very common. While I was standing alone in Havana, a little girl touched my shirt and her mother said 'one dollar' and pointed to her daugher. I don't consider myself an overly materialistic person, but it makes me appreciate the things... and the relationships that I do have.

Tourists can be obnoxious. I watched this woman demand a paper towel at the bar. The bartender didn't understand. She continued her demands by speaking louder and slower. I was embarrassed for her. I don't believe Bounty - the quicker picker upper is exactly common in Cuba. Then I tripped her. Just kidding. But it would have been satisfying.

The funny thing about a resort is that you're around the same people all day long... and you begin to develop names for them because you're drunk and catty. So thank you to the following people for adding extra entertainment to the trip:

-The Aberfamily [an entire family of models... we loved to hate them]
-Tristan and his mom [a cute 5-year-old worried about looking cool and mom not embarrassing him in front of us... I was 13 when I hit that stage... what a diva]
-King Cholo, Prince Cholo and the Duke of Cho [upwardly mobile white trash]
-Dirty Hot [lowered expectations]
-Amy Shih-tzu Winehouse [the nicest bartender with the tallest hair ever]
-Caliente

Conquest vacations went under while we were there. People who travelled with them were told they had to pay $55/night to continue their stay at the resort.


This was the best feature of the resort - 'The Unnecessary Bridge'. It was a bridge over land with pathways on either side at grade. We always climbed over the bridge. It was so unnecessary.

Where am I going next?

The Trip of a Lifetime: Jeep Safari

We did a jeep safari on the Tuesday. It was epic. It was the highlight of the trip for me. We signed up knowing very little information about it but quickly learned we would be driving the jeeps ourselves [well not me because I can barely drive automatic, let alone standard] across much of the country - highways, local roads, dirt roads and right through central Matansas. There were ocean views, wild fires and a glipse into rural life. It was nearly a 12 hour day and it was HOT out [on a side note, the weather was consistently 35 degrees and sunny]. We made several stops along the way: snorkeling in 15 metre deep water with coral reefs, many colourful fish and even a jellyfish, swimming in cave full of jagged rocks, a visit to a local farm growing pineapple, mangos, passion fruit, guava and sugar cane, watched a 'native dance' [not clear on how how accurate it was since the colonialists killed all the natives] and finished with a peaceful boat ride with Cristal and cigars.

The Trip of a Lifetime: Havana

Cast of characters: Anna, Jeff, Jason, Paul, Steve, Chris and I.

Once we got settled and learned the ins and outs of the buffet, two lobby bars, pool bar, beach bar and south bar, we started to explore what the resort and the country had to offer.



While we all enjoy a little beach action, spending a week on the beach would quickly become monotonous. We learned the hotel had overbooked and was offering a free overnight trip to Havana for anyone who was willing to vacate their rooms for the night. Remember Cancun? After careful thought and debate, we decided to go for it.

On the way to Havana, the bus made a pit stop at the best road side pina colada stand. The pina was 2.50, but the rum was free... AND you add it yourself. Watch as Anna demonstrates.



In central Havana, the architecture is very Spanish colonial [obviously]. Between the wide boulevards and public spaces were very narrow alleys. It seemed a lot of buildings were underutilized as we could see a lot of vacant spaces. The uses were truly mixed. As we walked down the alleys, sometimes we’d look into small shops, sometimes private dwellings – all on the ground floor. The Floridita Bar was a popular attraction – Hemmingway drank there.




Our hotel in New Havana was much nicer than our resort, but it was in the middle of nowhere. The bus drove through a purely residential neighbourhood to get there – fairly nice houses on small lots with attached garages. It was on the water, but had no decent beach. It also had fortification walls around it. Seriously. The hotel was impenetrable. The electricity in the room was activated by the key card, so it all turned off when you left. The air con was activated by a closed window [I learned this the next day after sleeping in a warm room with an open window].

After dinner, we went to old Havana to party a bit and try to mingle with locals. We found a patio in the Cathedral Square where we sat and had some drinks. It was interesting that the waitress was apologetic when she brought our 60 peso bill – not a lot of money for 7 people drinking.



When the bar closed down we went to the seawall. The seawall stretches the length of the city. At night, locals go there to drink. There are some bars set up along the wall, but mostly it's BYOB. We sat there for a while and tried to blend in - a difficult task. I like to get a local experience when I travel, but we always stuck out as tourists. While we sat at the seawall, a group of people beside us started singing and dancing. They immediately stopped when we got up to leave.



The hotel had this great atrium with tiny, impractical glass elevators for you and 2 of your closest friends. Mostly, we just took the stairs.

The next day was spent in Cementerio Colon - the world's third largest cemetery. The cemetery was very dense. Bodies were entombed above ground. The tombs were very sculptural - we saw a pieta, Egyptian pyramid and zebra banding on a miniature Italianate Gothic cathedral. Then we wandered around old Havana in the daylight, this time.