[darkpuppet]

As someone mentioned in a previous post, I just came back from my trip to Cuba...

It was the first day(s) off I've had in 3 months (busy dodging layoff bullets at work)... and I went there with just 2 hours of sleep in 3 days... so the rest was deeply needed.

We missed the 1st day's dinner at the resort as I decided to sleep for 16 hours (felt gooooood). But the trip in general was awesome...

here are some pics.

Flying off the coast of florida...


Coming into cuba...


First things first... a mojito...


or 12...(thankfully my friends covered my face to save you all the agony)


ok.. maybe one more mojito..

note... attach the room key to your mug. You may lose your keys, but you'll never lose your drink.

On our way to Havana... the Rio Canimar...


some scenery on the way to Havana..




Theatre in Matanzas..


Entering Havan Province..

[darkpuppet]

New Havana..








even Havana has a china town..


dogs roam the streets..


Your typical highschoolers..


Elementary school outfits are white and red, while highschool is white and yellow...

[darkpuppet]

on the way to the cemetery...

before...


after...


the cemetery..








and believe it or not.. most of that is all marble... insane!

[darkpuppet]

Revolution Square...







on our way to old havana...









Old Havana..





Cuban rice!

[darkpuppet]

back at the resort.. time for a rest...



geckos running around everywhere..


The next day...a jeep/boat tour with some snorkeling and cave swimming..






and when we stopped for lunch, a rat got caught in my shoelace...

[darkpuppet]

Eventually, the sun would set on our final day..


but before heading home... time to see if these Mr Potato Crisps are better than Pringles.


overall, it was a great trip -- amazing that a bottle of rum is less than a bag of chips, but that's cuba for ya... can't wait to go again.

[Spinal]

thats some nice pics puppet, whats the verdict on the pringles thingy? and lol @ cuban rice.

[darkpuppet]

those "hot and spicy" crisps are tasty -- better than pringles. But they're not spicy per se. Stay away from the Mayonnaise and Ketchup ones.

Cuba is kind of like the Irish of the Carribean -- the hottest hot sauce I had in Cuba, "Salsa Brava" wasn't much spicier than the ketchup.

[NefCanuck]

I'm curious as to how those newer cars got into the country (I see one pic has a late model Volvo in there)

Wonderful pics, makes me wish I could go, but Cuba isn't eactly an "accessible" country :ph34r:

NefCanuck

[Gabriel]

Great pics Darkpuppet ! love hot weather but can't say the same about the "great" winter .

[darkpuppet]

NefCanuck,Apr 6 2009, 11:58 AM Wrote:I'm curious as to how those newer cars got into the country (I see one pic has a late model Volvo in there)

Wonderful pics, makes me wish I could go, but Cuba isn't eactly an "accessible" country :ph34r:

NefCanuck
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Any car company that isn't American (well, after 1959 anyways), can be there. I have a pic of a FIAT dealership, and the jeeps (Suzuki Jimny's) and buses are all Japanese. Many of the cabs are Peugeots, while most privately owned cars are ladas or pre-1959 american cars.

The only thing is the maintenance... the first jeep I got into had over a foot of travel in clutch pedal that required me to raise my knee up beside the steering wheel to push in, and all the dummy lights were lit and none of the buttons worked.

The second jeep we got had only one dummy light on, but it was blinking .. the clutch had 1/4" of travel -- seriously, the moment you took weight off your foot, the clutch was engaged, and the front end wobbled a lot at 120kph... so while goods are imported from other countries, they're maintained with Cuban ingenuity and will power.

How many '39 coups have you seen with a diesel engine swap? I counted at least 4.

[NOS2Go4Me]

There goes your "easy" U.S. travel. Enjoy your layovers at Customs each time you go to the grand ole US of A. :ph34r:

Nice pics man! I've always avoided going because of our satellite office in Reno, NV. I really don't wanna give them a reason for a personal "secondary search".

[ZX3_2NV]

Looks like you had a great time and did alot of sigh seeing but I think this picture needs more of an explantion lol

[ANTHONYD]

Nice pics.
The first lady with cigar I actually met. She's friggin' famous man. She's the lady in that famous photo. I've seen it everywhere. Dig around, you'll find it.

Jen and I went there on our honeymoon. That looks like Playa Coco airport.. (can't remember the name off the top of my head.) But yeah, the snacks were quite interesting. It's the same as the American stuff, just with a "twist"

I brought home 8 bottles of rum (I declared 4 of them) and a whole whack of coffee. Cuban coffee is wicked!

I liked cuba over all, I felt very sorry for the people there. They're educated throught the wazzoo, but they cant leave their country. And for people who have never been.....there isn't much there.

I think the best thing that could happen to that country is for the Castro boys to step down.

Most of the employees at our resort would curse his name (under their breath of course)

I'd go back...the coffee was great. (And I've been to Columbia as well)


Oh, and Cuban women..... WOW! Some make JLO look like MeFord!

[Oscar The Grouch]

ANTHONYD,Apr 6 2009, 12:52 PM Wrote:Oh, and Cuban women..... WOW! Some make JLO look like MeFord!
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:lol:

[darkpuppet]

that's the thing about cubans... It's not that they hate Castro, they don't like the limitations.

It's such a dichotomy -- you have free education, healthcare, and a low crimerate. But you also have limited employment, scarce medications and nothing to own.

I think most of the pitfalls of cuban life are due to the limitations put on the people by the US embargo and governmetn limitations.

I've seen people excited to get a tube of Preparation H -- and I'm pretty sure that the prep-h applicator wasn't designed for sharing.

To see how the government takes care of everyone is nice -- ie, you get married, and the government will find you and your spouce jobs close to each other. But seeing how people get excited over a bottle of toothpaste hints at just how little these people have.

We gave away about 60lbs worth of toiletries, stationary, etc, and walked away with some great stories.

[darkpuppet]

ZX3_2NV,Apr 6 2009, 12:40 PM Wrote:Looks like you had a great time and did alot of sigh seeing but I think this picture needs more of an explantion lol
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We were just regrouping after lunch during the jeep tour when my GF had to head to the washroom.

While I was sitting on a wall outside waiting for her, I saw a rat come up to me. I went to shoo it away with my foot, and instead of running away, it ran up my leg. So I gave my leg a shake, and the rat fell onto my shoe, somehow getting the loop of my shoelaces latched over it's head. It tried to run forward and firmly ensared itself into my shoelace.

I gave my foot a couple of more shakes until I realized it was firmly attached to me at which point, I went for the camera and took a picture of it. By that time a small crowd had gathered around (and it being April 1st, the tour guide was telling everyone that it was just a rubber rat -- until I shook my foot and it tried scrambling again).

So after all that, I had to untie my shoelaces to free the rat -- and then wash really well.

Tourguide said he's never seen anything like that -- to which I replied, "neither had I until now".

I think the rat was injured or something as it left some blood on my shoe, but the staff was kind enough to disposed of the rodent once it was free of my foot.

My GF was glad to not have been around at that moment. Score one for velcro shoes.

[Focus man. Focus.]

I found the same with the Cuban people. They would give you the shirt off of their backs even though they didn't have another. Nicest people I have ever met. Although the food wasn't the greatest I would go back in a heartbeat.

It is amazing the things that they could do with a car. We has a 56 Pontiac as a cab and it was diesel powered as well.

The only thing I had trouble with on the resort was the lack of diet pop. Being Diabetic made enjoying a rum and coke difficult for my blood sugar. Although by the 3rd day they had a limited supply set aside for me at the pool bar.

For the price Cuba cannot be beat. We will be going back.

[ZTWsquared]

darkpuppet,Apr 6 2009, 12:23 PM Wrote:

ZX3_2NV,Apr 6 2009, 12:40 PM Wrote:Looks like you had a great time and did alot of sigh seeing but I think this picture needs more of an explantion lol
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We were just regrouping after lunch during the jeep tour when my GF had to head to the washroom.

While I was sitting on a wall outside waiting for her, I saw a rat come up to me. I went to shoo it away with my foot, and instead of running away, it ran up my leg. So I gave my leg a shake, and the rat fell onto my shoe, somehow getting the loop of my shoelaces latched over it's head. It tried to run forward and firmly ensared itself into my shoelace.

I gave my foot a couple of more shakes until I realized it was firmly attached to me at which point, I went for the camera and took a picture of it. By that time a small crowd had gathered around (and it being April 1st, the tour guide was telling everyone that it was just a rubber rat -- until I shook my foot and it tried scrambling again).

So after all that, I had to untie my shoelaces to free the rat -- and then wash really well.

Tourguide said he's never seen anything like that -- to which I replied, "neither had I until now".

I think the rat was injured or something as it left some blood on my shoe, but the staff was kind enough to disposed of the rodent once it was free of my foot.

My GF was glad to not have been around at that moment. Score one for velcro shoes.
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Welcome back - sounds like you had a good time. In terms of the rat ... it's a good thing another rat didn't come along and try to hump it while it was trapped in your shoe lace ... and you'll have to get caught up on some of the threads from last week for that comment to make sense.

[ANTHONYD]

Limitations are a good way of putting it.

Jen took school supplies with us to Cuba. Pencils, pens, rulers, chalk, erasers, colouring books, notepads, markers etc.... We handed them out as tips at the bar. Many of the staff at the resort worked 12-hour shifts with 2 days off a week. Many of them with children back at the home front. However, the money they made (which was amazing by most standards) went into clothes and food. Most of the staff couldn't afford learning materials.

One bartender I made good friends with (he worked the day shift and I would go down and get hammered in the afternoon while the wife was napping) brought in some pictures of his family to brag to me. What a beautiful family. A modest house with a 56 Chev in the driveway with blue tints.:lol: he was the proudest guy I've ever met.

I had some old pictures of the Focus and my home on the digital camera...he almost fell over when I showed him the pictures. He was fascinated by the curbs in the pictures on my street. He said the "garden" in front of my house (the grass) was like nothing he's ever seen. I think they would lose their mind if they came here and saw how we live. I wanted to take this guy and his family home with us.

He said they get in toruble from the boss (who walked around like Tony Soprano) if he got caught talking politics with the tourists. So sad.

On the brightest note though...... Our room in Cuba got the BBC... so you know what that means???? TOP GEAR!