CUBA

with Catherine & Alex

31st January - 9th February
2011

VARADERO
 
Sunday 6th February

We arrived at Varadero last night in a mini-bus. This morning we took speed boats and drove them at high speed following our leader.
From our boats we could see our hotel, the Blau at Varadero.
We drove into a mangrove swamp and found a landing stage. We walked over some boards to find a small private zoo. Catherine was not too sure about this two year old baby crocodile even though its jaws were tied shut.
Alex wasn't so worried.
This one was a bit bigger but safely behind a cage.
There were also some flamingoes.
In the afternoon Catherine and Alex took a two man canoe on the beach just by our hotel. They had some difficulty getting into it without it capsizing.
Monday 7th February.

Today was a very easy day mainly relaxing by the swimming pool. This is our hotel the Blau Veradama as seen from the back by the enormous pool.
Inside there are 13 floors. I took this picture from the very top floor looking down to the main hall. Opposite can be seen two of the four lifts which are open with glass sides. It was fascinating watching them going up and down all the time.
Outside we had this enormous swimming pool.
In the eveninmg Catherine & Alex played a sort of game of tennis. Remember that almost everything here is free, including all drinks.
Good shot, Alex.
Tuesday 8th February

Our last day. We decided to go on a jeep safari ride. Everyone was picked up by coaches from their hotels and taken to the jeep centre. Here we were allocated to jeeps. Three or four to a jeep and off we went. There were about eight jeeps in our section of English speakers and we all set off following a leader. We soon went off road and went through terrible un-madeup roads.
We stopped by a big bridge where we had a rest and a drink before all getting into small motor boats.
These boats were similar to the ones we drove two days ago and again we followed our leader up the river and back again.
Here we have arrived back at the boat centre and are all trying to get out of our boats without falling in.
At this place were a group of young men and young girls doing original Cuban dances. All with bare feet and to the accompaniment of drums. All the girls were topless but their upper halves were painted blue to look like a bikini top.
We drove on a bit further in our jeeps before stopping at a restaurant beside the river for lunch. Here they had some horses so we had rides. The horses only went about 100 yards before they turned round and walked back again. It didn't matter how hard you pulled on their harnesses they simply walked back again with their heads pulled to one side.
Next stop was at a place where there was a cave. We had to walk down lots of steps but it was very nice when we got there with some very old stalactites and stalagmites. We were encouraged to have a swim in the lovely clear water. We decided that it was too cold but many of the party did swim.
Finally we drove back to the centre with another section off road. This time we were near the back of the convoy and it was very dusty. Altogether an excellent day.
 
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