Marika says:

HAVANA!!!

2009-03-19T10:49:00.000-07:00

2009-01-09T15:38:00.000-08:00

PARQUE JOSONE

Well, again the photos are in reverse order, but I guess it doesn't matter! We had a view of the park from the front door of our room at the resort. This is the huge and beautiful Josone Park with the huge ficus trees and beautiful trees of all sorts. When you walk into the park there is a mechanical bull to ride (don't ask me why...), and some live camels to ride (again, I don't know) and then a few different restaurants and a water-side bar. As you can see there is a lake and pedal boats to ride. On the other side of the bridge there are birds and fowl freely moving around. I was trying to get some pictures of them but they kept running away, so a bartender came out and threw some rice or grain or breadcrumbs to eat, and then I was able to snap some pics! Further into the park are some wide open spaces and a wonderful tree-lined driving lane. Beside the lane is a covered bbq area and there was a celebration of some sort happening while we were there, of course with the requisite salsa music and dancing! Then we found a great little place to read, with the ocean behind us. Finally we started to make our way out of the park and came across a few beautiful roosters. Oh, and remember those horse-drawn carriages that take tourists around the town? They also go through the park. You really get a bang for your buck with those tours: 10 pesos per person for over an hour. But it was always happy hour: 15 pesos for 2 people! Haha! All the drivers thought that was such an original sales spin! We must have heard that 3 times...

CUBA!!!

2009-01-09T15:18:00.001-08:00

PARQUE JOSONE

2009-01-09T13:51:00.000-08:00

CUBA!!!

2009-01-09T13:30:00.000-08:00

THE TOWN OF VARADERO

Photo 1: Another residence, maybe apartments? Before the revolution this was probably a home for one rich family.

Photo 2: Various modes of transportation. The horse-drawn carriages are not only used for tourists. Along the highway we saw a few different locals using their horse-drawn buggies to transport their produce or whatever else.

Photo 3: The same church again from another angle.

Photo 4: A row of townhouses. You can see the patios for 3 or 4 separate residences. On the walk back to the resort, one lady, who said hi to us when we walked past the first time, was inside her house but coming back out to say hi! I'm sure she would have invited us in if we had stopped to chat! The people are so friendly there, it's amazing. LOL

2009-01-08T23:09:00.000-08:00

Photo 1: a residence that looks like it could have been condemned, yet some people were sitting on the balcony waving at passers-by.

Photo 2: "La Guajira" You know the famous song "Guantanamera". C'mon, you know it! ...Guantanamera, guajira guantanamera...Guajira translates to worker or something similar, and refers to the rural hard-working people like forestry workers and farmers and the like...

Photo 3: Some people lock their cars in their "garages"

Photo 4: A side entrance to the hotel in photo 5. The entrance seems so inviting! I just really like this photo.

Photo 5: A hotel neighbouring some very weathered

residences.

2009-01-08T22:19:00.001-08:00

A great little restaurant. A gentleman invited us in and urged me to take pictures. How could I refuse? He wanted us to order from the menu but we declined as we had had lunch at the hotel already. He asked if we would come back later for dinner, and he looked so hopeful, almost desperate, that I couldn't say no. I told him maybe because I knew Mom wouldn't want to pay for a meal that was already included with our accommodations, so saying yes would have been a lie...and saying no was much too difficult...

2009-01-08T09:38:00.000-08:00

A neighbourhood park.
A powerful mural.
Some residences.

CUBA!!!

2009-01-01T21:35:00.000-08:00

AHHHHHHH, THE BEACH AT VARADERO...

...NEED I SAY MORE?

CUBA!!!

2009-01-01T20:07:00.000-08:00

This is the outside of the building where our room was. Our resort has 4 buildings. The main hotel building right on the beach has the more luxurious guest rooms, and we had the "budget" rooms. The bonus was that right across the street from us was Parque Josone, a beautiful public park (I will dedicate a whole blog entry just for that!).

Sunset on our first evening in Cuba. This is the view that greeted us from our front door.

The view of the courtyard from our patio.

Close-up. I went outside to check it all out. I don't know why this tree was growing like that. Diagonally inclined?

My Mama spotted this little creature running around and I was able to get one or two decent shots, of the 15 or 20 that I took. I'm obsessed, seriously...

Some beautiful flowers growing out in the courtyard...

CUBA!!!

2009-01-01T14:35:00.000-08:00

Ok, I'm going to try to add the photos differently so I can comment on them individually. Here's hoping!

Ok, here's the live band that plays every single night and the dancers who perform their own show afterwards, every single night. This gentleman has such a great voice (and connection with the ladies! He won't break his stare once he's made eye contact with you).

The dancers have to make due with what they have. Salt-stained shoes and torn leotards. As long as it works right?

CUBA!!!

2009-01-01T13:43:00.000-08:00

Thinking about Cuba makes me want to blog! When I was there I wanted to blog, except I didn't yet have a blog to blog on. And internet access there is very expensive. So I waited until I got home and had time to fit in some blogging. Now is the time!

Where do I start? Besides the obvious reasons to love Cuba (weather; the fact that I was finally on vacation; the beach -hello!) there was just so much to love. I decided I would leave my heart there so that I would have to go back sometime and reclaim it. No, I don't mean that I decided to fall in love with a person (I am married and don't you forget it). ;) I just couldn't help but love just about everything that I experienced. Except for the blatantly obvious poverty that exists among the general population. More on that later.

I suppose the most logical thing to do would be to start posting photos "in the order in which they were received" and explain things as I go along. So I'll start.

Ok, since I'm new with this and I don't know how to change the order of the photos, please bare with me. They go in order from bottom photo to top photo.

VARADERO.
The first photo is of the front entrance to the lobby of our hotel from the street. You walk in the front doors and continue towards the beach, and along the way you walk through the covered terrace (photo #3) and then on to the covered walkway (photo #2). (Please pardon the messed-up order). Then you come across the hotel's pool and on the right side of photo # 4 is the lobby bar (which happens to be open 24 hours, although the bartenders catch a few zzzzzz's overnight) where the nightly entertainment begins at 8pm. The live band is fantastic (I bought their cd for 10 pesos) and the dancers are great. I think this should be a separate blog entry 'cause there's just so much to tell! Watch for photos.
The last photo is what I saw when I stepped onto the fabulous beach for the very first time. My heart skipped a beat 'cause it was so purtty, so perfect. AAAAHHHH! I love it in Cuba!