cuba

cuba was a whirlwind trip. we went to playa caleta in varadero. it was a 3.5 star resort but was beautiful. it was the beginning of high season so the resort was pretty empty when we got there. we had an ocean view.



we spent most of our time lounging beside the pool but also chasing around these guys:



we called them spring-tailed lizards because when they ran, their tails wound up behind them. they were fun.

we went to the city of matanzas, which was the cultural center of cuba before the capital, havana city, took over. matanzas was our glimpse of actual cuban life. we also saw the bellamar caves, the biggest tourist attraction in cuba. the cave was enormous and the weird part was that it was hot and humid in the cave unlike here, where caves are generally cool.



the resort had a different show every night, and joe, one of the guys from the animacion team would come into the lobby right before 10pm and shout "show time!" over and over. he was fun. the shows were much better than we were expecting. there was dancing and singing and aquatic ballet... everything that j wants to do when he grows up. unfortunately they weren't accepting applications. he contented himself with watching the pretty cuban girls in thongs.



it was interesting learning about cuba and how things work down there. we finally got the nerve to ask our waiter how cubans can afford cars when the salaries range from (the equivalent of) $10-20 US a month. (the answer: it isn't easy.) we enjoyed it but probably wouldn't go back to varadero, not that it wasn't beautiful and fun, just in a been-there-done-that kind of way. i would recommend cuba, but bring some anti-diarrheal medicine. take it from someone who knows.