5:15 PM Saturday Afternoon

Sitting at the airport waiting for our return flight to Toronto.

This morning we sat on the beach and then said our goodbyes to certain staff members we enjoyed speaking with over week

Caro went for a swim in the pool while I waited in the shade. We left a little early due to loud mouthed drunks in the pool, which reminded both of us why we enjoy being out at the ocean-no stupids around!

The bus trip to the airport was 90 minutes long and this time we were able to see the countryside.

Caro changed a lot of Canadian coins for Canadian bills with some airport staff. Coins are useless to them. The man changing money for himself and his friends also got a handful of chocolates from Caro for the man's grandkids.

We hadn't planned to purchase anything but who can turn down  $C10 for a 1 litre bottle of rum? Caro,(bless her heart) decided not to buy anything so I got another bottle of rum for her to declare.

Trip just about over. Have a night in Toronto and should be back home tomorrow morning

Friday night

We had a very quiet day just reading and watching the Cuban world go by. I had another sailboat ride by myself ( and the boat operator) because Caro didn't feel comfortable going "all out" in the hobby cat. I took my waterproof camera along to get some video as we got "quality air time" up on one hull. Great fun and worth every peso of tip I gave!

Tonights specialty meal was at the Italian restaurant. Great food. We talked to a couple from St. Catherine's sitting at the next table. Nice folks, also heading home tomorrow but not on our flight.

I was able to get on-line today and touch base with Vanessa.

We went down to the beach tonight again. All week has been wonderful here and there really only is minor things to nit pick about. The people working here  have been exceptional and they deserve every tip they are given. The food isn't up to Mexico's standards but we knew that before we came. Our room was very nice and honestly it was probably a good thing we had to walk quite a bit to get from place to place to keep our waistlines from growing.

we leave the resort at 2:15 P.M. and I think we are ready to go home. We have decided we still need to be able to do things off the resort and there really isn't much here other than the hotel.We still have trouble just lazing around.

Thursday night

Well..... another.........awesome day!!!

After breakfast and a quick walk we headed to our spot on the beach where we proceeded to endure 34°C , blue skies ,and cuba libres. Oh yah!,

During the afternoon we caught up with "our guy" with his Hobie Cat sailboat and off we went for a fantastic sail boat "flight" -Caro in the air many times looking down at me as I was getting soaked in the spray as the catamaran was up on one hull. A GREAT time for me however Caro has suggested I might be by myself tomorrow! Looking forward to a thrilling ride.

After a lazy afternoon reading we went for our second specialty meal-seafood. Ummmm hmmmmm .....not good. Nuff said.

Tried a very frustrating 30 minutes trying to get connected to the internet with no success. Very aggravating!!!

Before going back to the room for the evening we went down to the beach. We were on a pitch black beach with waves crashing on shore, thousands of stars overhead and not a soul around us. Too cool!

The TV here has channels from 6 or 7 countries including the Toronto CTV channel.We usually watch about 30 minutes of something or other before shutting 'er down for the night.

Wednesday evening

Last night we went to bed early after listening to the house band in the lobby bar and walking through a good chunk of this huge resort. Some sections are not open at present as it is not high season so we were alone.

You'd think that after getting bed early we would be up early but Nooooo. After breakfast we walked the beach to the east of us. It is just wilderness and we were told afterwards that it is a restricted area. Oops. There were quite a few of us there including a half dozen kite surfers so I guess it can't be that bad to be there!

We ended back at our usual spot on the beach where we spent all afternoon reading and of course going for a sail boat ride (which is free but we always tip nicely).

The last couple of lunches have been at the same pool snack bar where we talk to the same waitress. They work their tails off 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. Needless to say everybody gets tips from us. Interestingly our room wasn't made up or our fridge restocked because I forgot to lock the safe. When staff see that they leave a note reminding us about locking it and they do not go any further into our room. A good policy I think. Saves them having to deal with theft accusations from ignorant tourists.

Another nice supper in the buffet room.

In about 15 minutes we are going to see a Cuban band in the night club.If it is anything like the band earlier in the week it will a really good show.

Tuesday on the beach

Just finished e-mailing Vanessa that all is well and was able to receive her reply.  Painfully slow internet.no way I will upload these from here unless the internet really speeds up!

This morning after breakfast we went down the beach past "our spot" and tried snorkling. The water was too rough and we couldn't see anything. Oh well....windy weather means GREAT  sailing so we took another sailboat ride. Very fast and the best fun yet!

Lunch was from the snack bar. We had burgers , Cuban style. Mmmmm.

We are spending all our time on the beach today. It was rainy and thundering this morning but this afternoon it is sunny and a wonderful day.

Monday night

I seem to say this alot on our vacations but it is true; another AWESOME day.
We started out in the buffet for breakfast before getting to the beach about 10 AM. As with yesterday we went far down the beach (but still within range of the beach bartender, we are on vacation after all!)

We walked further west on the beach and discovered what looks like a decent snorkling location for manana. After reading for a while and walking back up to a pool snack bar for lunch we resumed our positions on the  beach lounge chairs. Before too long our butts needed a break so we had another sailboat ride. Today was longer than yesterday and Caro spoke with the sailboat operator about life here and how it is changing. Interesting.

For supper the hotel had a special night for everybody including those of us in the buffet. We had no water for quite a long time on Sat night and a good chunk of Sunday so as a "thank you" to all for the inconvenience the hotel went all out. The buffet had champaign for everyone and wine at supper, and the tables were set as if it was a special occasion. It was great. Kids,ask your Mom about the Spanish coffee she had!

On our way from the buffet we passed the lobby bar and a Cuban musical group was just starting. It was too fantastic to walk away from. It was AWESOME. Truly an amazing hour. The place was rocking and the 5 member band was very,very good! I can't say enough about how much fun it was to watch and listen to them. Everyone was having a good time.

We went back to a deserted beach and watched the shooting stars until the mosquitos chased us away.

Caro is watching a Spanish dance group as I write this at 10:15 PM.

Cuba,here we come

Presently flying over Thunder Bay on our way to Toronto. After a 90 minute layover and plane change we are off to Santa Clara Cuba.

The flight has been pretty good so on far except for the two VERY hyper and noisy toddlers behind us.I wonder if our kids were like that "back in the day"?

Hmmm-Caro tells me that our kids were noisy too. I probably have selective memory because I always  thought our kids were AWESOME!!
(Or as I like to think, "well brought up").

Vanessa dropped us off at YEG at 0530 and last we heard she was back home and in bed. I slept for over an hour on this flight (even with the noisy ones behind us)

Cayo Santa Maria; Hotel Valentin Perla Blanca.
No problems in Toronto and a smooth flight to Cuba where we got on the bus and drove 90 minutes to our hotel complex. We arrived last night and after checking in (no wrist bands-yay!!) We went to the buffet.

Today we checked out the place. It is huge! There are 5 specialty restaurants of which we can choose 3 to eat at during our week here so tonight we had French cuisine. Mon Dieu!, way better than the surprisingly poor buffet (at least as per our initial impressions). The beach is very beautiful with very soft white sand. The hotel has about one kilometre of beach (no exaggeration) and we found a unused palapa a fair ways down but no problem because the Cuban beach bar tenders can bring out drinks so Caro "made" me order a few rounds over the course of the afternoon!!

We spent some time at a pool and then after supper we went down to the almost unlit  dark beach where we looked at the stars and congratulated ourselves for picking another wonderful place to vacation ha-ha.   We'll see if this sentiment lasts the complete week.

At this point it is unclear if I can upload this to the internet or have to wait to get home. I know I can at least e-mail from the hotel computers so can get the word to back home that all is going well.

Caro is at a Michael Jackson show which I decided to skip so I could write these comments. I can actually hear a good portion of the show from our room