Save the best till last! (Cayo Coco, Havana)

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May 7th - May 13th

3 days of pure leisure were ahead of us - a good book, relaxing by the pool, drinking numerous amounts of cocktails and enjoying the sunsets. We booked ourselves in Hotel Sol Cayo Coco, which was a perfect decision – good food, nice garden, friendly staff and two really nice beaches.

As we are not really the lazy bunch, we took a day exploring the cayos on a bus that takes you all the way to Playa Pilar – which is definitely the nicest beach we've ever seen (and we've seen a lot). On the way there we even stopped at the Dolphinarium, where I had my dream come true and swum with the dolphins. If you ignore the fact that they don't really have all that much space, they are really beautiful creatures. I wish however to swim with them someday in a natural environment.

We had one more thing on our itinerary, and that was the spectacular Havana – leave the best till lastJ. Since Cayos are off limit for locals there is no public/local transportation to and off the islands. The budget option would be convincing the bus driver that transports the locals working at the resorts to smuggle you on the bus. However they can get in a real trouble if they get caught so I don’t know if you want to carry that on your shoulders. After struggling to get to the Cayos form Camaguay (bus to Ciego de Aguila – bus to Moron – taxi to Cayo Coco) we took the easy way out and spent the whole day in the resort, ordered a taxi at 9pm and went straight to Ciego – changed the taxi that took us directly to Havana.

Back in Havana we returned to Casa Lisette – we didn’t really fancy the owner but her mother was really a gem. It seemed like we were more like her grandchildren rather than guests. We walked endlessly through streets of Havana Vieja, took the bus through Malecon to Plaza de la Revolucion and explored Vedado on foot. We found this amazing place called Callejón de Hamel, hidden between funky streets and psychedelic art shops that kicks off every Sunday at around noon. It is a kind of temple of Afro-Cuban culture and THE PLACE to hear (and see) some original rumba. This was definitely a highlight of Cuba!

For the last night in Cuba we decided to go see a Cuban show, and we heard some good reviews for the one down at Hotel Melia. It was quite good value for the price, if you skip the drinks (very pricy). We wanted to continue the dance/music/party mood at Casa de la Musica but, left with almost no money, decided for plan B. We met a couple of Argentinians, went to buy some rum in Tetra-pak and sat on Malecon. It was Dia de Madre (Mother’s day) so there was billion people on the streets, just doing what Cubans do best – Rum&Salsa. We hung out with locals, having some very interesting (and a bit disturbing) conversations and simply enjoying the vibe. It was the perfect finish to the amazing trip.



Saludos until next adventure!

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Photos

Cayo Guillermo
Bus trip

Cayo Guillermo
bus trip

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Great beaches
Glad you found some time to relax and enjoy the amazing Cuban waters.