ONE WEEK IN CUBA
Cuba was another great experience that reminded me of being on exchange: cultural diversity, meeting new people around the world, new FOOD!
The best part was being with my family and TACB and just relaxing. The waters where crystal clear but still very salty! The pool was amazing, the people were so friendly and the food was so GOOD! The most memorable moment was watching my brother, myself and tiffany get sick during the trip. How come we were so vulnerable... i don't remember eating that much, in fact i tried to pace myself because i didn't want to gain weight. My mom thinks its the alcohol... they put so much rum in everything. Speaking of rum, they make this awesome bananas and rum dessert that i would love to have right now.... food, the fresh meats, fresh breads, fresh drinks, pizza, sandwiches, pina coladas... well the worst was getting sick and then refusing to get any drink afterwards. I got sick the day before my sister's wedding and ended up still sick during the ceremony and poor tiff had to miss the ceremony too to escort me back to my room. Then when i got better she got sick too! Arg what a week... next time we don't drink...alcohol is bad for you... the stomach pains were so intense that i teared a bit! Now that it's over i wish i was in cuba... or somewhere exotic and all inclusive! Maybe next time i'll go to cancun if it's cheap.
They had snorkling gear that could be rented for 2 hours and it was great to see all the tropical fish. We went twice; once by the beach where everyone snorkles and once with a little excursion group that took us to a secluded tiny beach but if you didn't wear flippers you'd probably step on something sharp. It was kinda scary not have a life jacket too... crazy benita who is the best swimmer of all time swam everywhere and probably saw all the best fish. I'm quite risk-adverse which is why i stayed close to the rocks incase something happened and i could hang on to something.... but i found good fish too.
Every night there was some type of performance... some night were eehh boring... just lip syncing to broadway performances...like moulin rouge, i'd rather watch the video. They had one entertainer who was this tall male with long hair, he was quite the character but looked like a crazy serial killer sometimes. He paid Urscilla from the Little Mermaid and he deserved all merit for playing an evil female villian. Anyways the best performances were the dancing shows where they had salsa or ballet, though i have to say that the ballet, i was no impressed, i could see dancers from the back because they didn't close the curtain properly and one girl kept falling and some groups were not in sync... i realize it's difficult but i'd rather watch salsa then. At the end of each show the entertainers always ask you to dance and that is when ben and i run back to the room.
Another great part was room service... anytime 24 hours... though they kept messing up our order... we wanted to try the spring rolls but they would always sub it for something else like another dish of spaghetti... last time they also forgot our assorted pasteries... oh well, we could have gone to the buffet to get it, that's where it comes from anyways. The coffee was excellent in cuba... rich and full of aroma.
The 2nd day of cuba (sorry for being everywhere) i went on a bike/hike tour with benita and it was the steepest hike ever!! No lies. It was so intense but well worth it for the peak view at the end... i don't know if the 30-40 misquitoe bites were worth it though... it was so hot that i bet all the repellent came off and since i took all the bites, ben got nothing... the other couple who was from etobicoke which is not far from Mississauga was with us and the wife was catching all the bites too.
It was cool to meet so many people... well not the kids at least haha, there were too many kids playing with all the floaters in the pool. We met so many people in cuba from Quebec, Britian, Germany, Toronto... it was great... it reminded me of my exchange. The people working at the resort were very kind to us... it wasn't until the final day that we knew it was compeltely ok to leave behind old clothes, shoes, shampoo, soap, anything because those type of daily products are so expensive in Cuba...
One day ben, tiff and i went on an excursion to an old fishing village in Cuba which was almost taken over by the US to be a military base. There was some intense history and basically because of the collapse of the former USSR and the fall of communism Cuba struggled to receive cheap imported goods. Then US put an embargo on them which made them worse off... anyways it was a sad story and made us a little depressed. But i'm sure they had that particular excursion to make outsiders/foriegners more aware of the political and economical position of cuba.
One last thing before i sleep: thank you God for letting us leave right before the hurricane!
- Cy
posted by mei @ 8:51 AM
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