Caribbean Adventure - January 14 to January 28, 2015

In order to once again escape the ravages of winter in the North Country we journeyed to Club Amigo Corales Carisol in Santiago de Cuba. A mere 4 hour plane ride from Toronto, we arrived to warm weather (mid to high 80's) and beautiful sunshine on Ron's 62nd birthday -(Social Security here we come!) We had never been to this particular area of Cuba before but the resort itself was like many others we had visited. This one was in fact two hotels next to each other and you could go to any of the facilities at either resort. While the beach was not as nice as some other places we have been, it had a great pool and we became "pool people" for this trip. This was a vacation to relax,read and enjoy the wonderful Caribbean weather.

The pool at Los Corales

Ron enjoying the good life







The Beach

Resting my poor "bunioned" and "heel spurred" feet

Mayan "Museum"

Just down from our hotel we came upon a group of statues placed along the side of the road. The caretaker let us in the enclosure and told us that these statues were built by the Mexicans some 30 plus years ago and honored their Mayan gods.  Some of them were damaged by Hurricane Sandy and can't be repaired.  Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on the homes of many of the locals as we discovered.

Views of the Resort

Billy and Betty - two of the many animals - donkeys, cows, horses that wandered through the resort



Our Bungalow

Our porch

The lobby of Los Corales



 

The lobby of Carisol



The dining room at Carisol

Views from our bike ride

We were able to get bikes from the resort on two occasions and we rode 5 miles to the nearest village of Baconao. On one of our trips we even got to visit the school -1st - 6th grades.  This is one of our favorite things to do on our trips to Cuba.  We purposely bring items that the locals, including children might need.  We left over half the things we had brought down. 



We had to shoo the animals from the road so that we could pass





Ron with the teacher and 5th and 6th grade class



The third and 4th graders learning about the World in which they live - Science class.

 



The Jose Marti statue visible outside of all elementary schools





The Aquarium at Baconao





We couldn't get a bike so we took a horse and buggy ride for 4 pesos down to the aquarium. The aquarium still had much damage from Sandy but the dolphin show was really impressive.

Ron wrestling a crocodile





Entertainment at the resort

We often skipped the nightly entertainment. We still are trying to see who is the cribbage champion. There were a few nights when rain cancelled the events but we did see some dancing, singing and even a synchronized swimming event. Some of the best entertainment though were the bands that you had serenading you at lunch and dinner.



Cars in Cuba

In case you want to know, they really do have lots of old cars in Cuba. Here was one that parked in front of the hotel.

Food and Drink in Cuba

Ron and I are not fussy eaters but some people may find the food repetitive after 2 weeks at the same resort. According to the scale though I definitely didn't starve - in fact -quite the opposite.  Maybe it was the afternoon Pina Coladas from the Coco Bar on the beach. We did splurge one evening and had the lobster - it was very inexpensive (everything else is all inclusive) and was huge and tasty. I also had the shrimp from the a la carte seafood restaurant which is part of the package. On our last night there they roasted a pig as part of the Cuban night menu. 







We had a very relaxing vacation and enjoyed our time here. They did "accidently" stamp Ron's passport this time - they typically do not stamp Americans passports - fortunately we were able to get back in the US without much trouble. The customs official did have to check with his supervisor but they let us through without even pulling us over. Hopefully things will open up sooner rather than later.  While we were there we caught CNN on TV and heard about the American delegation in Cuba paving the way to open relations between the two countries.  I wonder how the Americans will enjoy Cuba once they can legally travel here?  Whereas Ron hopes they never have a McDonalds or a Mall on the Island as they will lose their cultural identity but the country is impoverished and undoing the embargo will help.  Time will tell. 

We were home from Cuba for less than a week and the weather was frightful when Ron asked "Want to head to Long Island to see the grandkids?"  So we're off to Long Island for a long weekend.  Then drive directly to Buffalo to see the parents and on February 11th catch our flight to San Diego where we'll see Chris and Jason. So fortunate - LIFE IS GOOD!