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Early birds
Sunrise on the beach. Dianne took this photo just after 7am.After a slight break (no pun intended) due to my recent hospital visit, we will now re-visit our Spring Break excursion to Cuba.
Our visit to Old Havana ended too soon. There are lots of things we would have liked to have seen but time got away on us. The bus to take us to the beaches of Veradero pulled up right on time and away we went to the second half of our Cuban adventure.
The All-inclusive Resort I was a bit apprehensive about spending time at an all-inclusive resort. I am not particularly a-sit-around-on-the-beach kind of person, so what would I do there?
The ride from Old Havana to the Veradero peninsula was certainly pleasant in our large Chinese-made bus. Some pretty nice scenery and we passed lots of old cars whose condition gradually deteriorated as we got farther from Havana.
We dropped people at other resorts and then pulled up at the Iberostar Laguna Azul. It was all it was described to be in the brochures. Attractive buildings surrounded by palm trees. Beautiful swimming pools surrounded by palm trees. The bellman drove up in a golf cart and gave us a tour of
Safety first!
Road work on the main highway from Havana to Veradero. the site on our way to our room. I am not sure how we scored the room we did, but it was perfect. It was in the building furthest from everything (including the disco which could get a bit noisy) so was very quiet. We had a top floor room looking out over the ocean. There is a band of trees/bushes along the edge of the beach so you can’t always see the ocean as you stroll the grounds. Our third floor location provided a gorgeous view of the water. Facing east, we got nice sun in the morning and shade on our deck after lunch.
We had read that people don't go to Cuba for the food. Well, we certainly had no complaints. The main dining room had a fantastic selection. If you couldn't find something you liked, you probably would have trouble anywhere. There was even outside seating which allowed us to eat most meals in the fresh air.
There were several, more casual restaurants with outdoor buffets that you could walk up to in your bathing suit for the ultimate in casualness.
The staff at the resort was great. Many could speak, or at
Flowers
Dianne loves flowers and taking pictures of them. least get by in, several languages. They were always cheerful and we shared many laughs, especially at the “Spanish blah blah” classes where they tried to help us with our Spanish. I found myself trying to use my limited Chinese more than once.
One thing that concerned me a bit was the effect free drinks and unlimited food might have on some people. Fortunately, we didn't see any problems. Our most decadent moment: on one occasion we had two cappuccinos EACH while we were relaxing and reading our books. A second occurred after we checked out and had a couple of hours to wait for the bus to the airport. We had had lunch and were sitting on the patio in the shade. Our server took our order for Gin and Tonics and was apologetic when she returned because the drinks were in plastic glasses. They had run out of glass glasses! She returned a little later with two more; these in real glasses that were even bigger! Good thing it was the end of the trip.
The Beach The ocean was very pleasant – beautiful colour and great water temperature. When it was really hot (to
The Resort
The entrance is very welcoming. me, at least), there always seemed to be just enough sea breeze to keep things from being too hot. The thing I missed most was our grandchildren as I would love to have built sandcastles and forts in the fantastic sand. There weren't many young children at this resort so there were few opportunities to join in.
Beach walking is a common pastime at Veradero and there is a constant string of people walking up and down the beaches. We saw lots of interesting resorts while walking the one way and some very odd beaches while walking the other. Our beach was quite deep and gently sloping to the water. A couple of the other resort beaches had sand cliffs you had to negotiate to get to the water. One fellow spent a lot of time digging conch shells out of these cliffs. The beaches in the other direction turned to rock and would have been pretty disappointing if you were looking for a swim. Don’t know what people do in this case although I don’t suppose anyone would be able to tell if you were swimming at someone else’s beach.
We did take our waterproof camera to
the beach and got a few shots before something went wrong. We’ll have to take the camera into the shop to see if can be repaired and maybe go back to Cuba to take some more shots. Life is tough! Dianne managed to get her big camera down to the beach for a few morning and evening pictures so we do have some memories of our good times there.
There were plenty of activities one could get involved in if one wanted to. As we were there such a short time and were there to relax, we skipped most organized activities. We peeked at a couple of evening activities in the show room but they were too loud for us. The people attending seemed to be enjoying themselves.
Time to head home Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the airport. The travel company did a really good job of keeping its buses and agents on time. One of the most entertaining people on the whole trip was the gal on the bus to the airport. The trip was just over half an hour and she spent most of the trip talking to
the group of us. She could have done stand-up comedy. The crowd was very receptive to her message. I wished she had been on the bus to Havana which was a two hour trip.
So what happens next? I am writing this after my little escapade in the park in Nanaimo. Good thing I didn't know what was coming! My recovery is going well even if it seems slow. People have been very generous with their time and offers of things to help me pass the time. Our whole summer had to be re-planned. I am sure some interesting things will happen so I can safely say: this is ‘
To be continued…’
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