The bus/van picked us up at 2:30 and stopped each hour for a washroom / snack break. One of the stops was Che's monument and where he is interred in Santa Clara. We arrived in Varadero with a bit of difficulty finding our casa particular as it was tucked in off the street. The room was a bit of an adjustment. Lets say that most of my friends would not stay but it was clean and the family is lovely. Everything is booked at this time of year. Breakfast was fine and we walked to a Barcelo Hotel where we heard they had internet. They wouldn't sell us a card as they said they didn't have enough for their guests. No toilet seats in the main bathroom that day. We had a card that had 7 minutes remaining so we used that. As we were walking towards the beach, it started to pour rain and thunder. We got absolutely soaked, came back to the casa and changed. After the downpour we took a double decker bus for 5 cucs each, good for the day. Nothing was awe inspiring. There was one 5 star hotel that looked interesting. We tried to buy an internet card at the telephone office but there was a long line. So we abandoned that and came home to get dry and warm. Right now I am feeling why would anyone come here? The people, the old cars, some beaches if the weather is good, Mojito and cigars. We went out for lousy chicken, and decided we can't give a rating today. No eye candy, internet sketchy, terrible food, coldest in years, we've been rained on twice, staying in the 'Oh my God' casa particular and there is no entertainment.
It was very windy all night long and I think it may be time to start a fast as I can't face another meal. Unfortunately we don't have time to explore the other end of the Island ( a long trip) by Guantanamo and the roads aren't as good. Then we walked to the internet store and waited an hour to buy a card. I was told that Cubans are not allowed to buy beef. Only the army and tourists can have beef. Sometimes they can have some if their guests request it and they cook it for you. There is a lady here who has Diabetes and she has to inject insulin 4 times a day. She has to reuse long unsharp needles as there are no tiny ones here available. We walked down 20 long blocks to an Italian restaurant where we had Cuba Libre (rum and coke) and shared a spaghetti. (We were worried that it might be awful but it wasn't too bad. We met 2 couples from Quebec and Ontario who came for dinner hoping it would be better than their all-inclusive. He had half a heart that worked with a built in defibrillator.
We walked back and picked up 2 tubs of ice cream. I can imagine that the Cubans feel trapped with their inability to travel. We have booked our bus back to Havana for tomorrow,we really don't want to spend any more time here. We walked along the beach where the sun sort of came out and the temperature was cool. We ran into the French couple again who were flying back today, feeling disappointed with their experience in Cuba.
 |
| Catamarans in Veradero |
 |
| Roger on beach, Varadero |
No comments:
Post a Comment