Havana to Barbados

Rick and I went out early to find the art shop again, and Suzie stayed behind to pack her bags.  Naturally I took my camera with me to record what I saw.  Firstly, Cuba does not have a very reliable inernet.  In fact,very few places have it. But where there is some, you'll find locals and tourists all lined up against the wall using it for as long as they can. We had some in our hotel but it was pricey and only for an hour....

I came across the local butcher...

The streets were pretty quiet at this time of the morning.

We headed to the airport and got there in plenty of time.  I desperately needed to use the toilet, but all water and toilets were out of order, toilets blocked up, and I couldn't bring myself to use it.  Instead, I waited until the plane had taken off and I hightailed it to the bathroom on the plane.

To get to Barbados we had to fly into Florida first, then sit around the airport for a number of hours, before catching our 3 hour flight to Barbados. Our plane was delayed for some time as well which was annoying. Coming into Florida was quite pretty...

Flying over the Carribean was also very pretty - I remembered the flight on the way in 38 years ago - little islands dotting the blue sea with white sandy beaches. Some deserted, some inhabited.

Sun set on our flight over. We didn't arrive until nearly 11pm.  Suzie and I both burst into tears when we got off the plane, and we were both very surprised at the strength of our emotion when we arrived.

We picked up our rental car and drove to our Airbnb. We got lost several times. I thought I knew how to get there, but was surprised at how lost we got.  Barbados had got slightly bigger, and the roads were quite confusing.  You can't rely on a memory 38 years ago to get you straight to your destination!!

We settled into the airbnb accommodation - and then headed to bed.

Havana Day 3

Day 3 and our last day in Havana, Cuba. We wanted to hire a car and travel out of Havana to explore some of the beaches and national parks. Unfortunately in Cuba you could only hire a car for a minimum of three days so that was out for us. Instead we hired a taxi to take us to the nearest beach resort at Varadero, 148km away. Between the three of us it came to $50usd each, so not too bad a price for the distance and time.  The drive took two hours and he dropped us off at this gorgeous beach. We had a quick look at the beach then headed to a nearby restaurant for lunch as we were starving. A beautiful meal, then back to the beach for a bit of sunbathing, sleep, and swimming. I just love the carribean blues. I have missed these colours since being back in New Zealand 38 years ago!

Transportation around the island reminded me of being in Barbados 38 years ago, but interestingly enough, you could no longer find these scenes in Barbados.

The Cuban curly tailed lizard made an appearance at our restaurant.

And I loved seeing breadfruit once again!

Back at the hotel later in the afternoon, the entertainment were some clowns by local ballet students.

And another cuban singer.

We then went back out on the streets for a final exploration, photography, and to find a restaurant to eat diner.

Rick wanted to find an art shop to buy some art that he had seen on his first day, so we walked until we found it. I ddn't mind as I got to explore the local streets yet again! We finally found the art shop to find it closed. So we agreed to come back in the morning before flying out.

We eventually found a good restaurant and believe it or not, I couldn't face another Pina Colada!  In fact I couldn't face anything.  I think I was pretty tired, so back to the hotel for a good sleep.  I remember feeling very excited to fly to Barbados the next morning - didn't think I would sleep - but miraculously I did..

Havana - Day 2

After an uncomfortable nights sleep in our very expensive flash hotel, with single beds with hard plastic on the mattresses in case we wet the bed, and a leaking, flooding toilet, and lifts that didn't work, we headed to breakfast on the top floor!

Breakfast wasn't all that flash foodwise, but they had a wonderful string quartet making up for it and fantastic views over the city. Our Breakfast room....

The views:

The floors of our hotel. There were just two lifts for us to use, which were old and slow, and most of the time, only one was going. Which meant very long waits. In the end I found the maids lift and used those - the only way to get anywhere fast!

After breafkast we wandered up to the other end of town to start our free historic walking tour of the old town.

Compared to where we had been the day before, it was crowded.

Found an old pharmacy, now a musuem.

And a famous bar. Suzie managed to get some cocktails, but the crowds drove me out.

We explored this square and ended up here for dinner later in the evening.

We stopped for a long lunch. Suzie and I worked our way through six Pina Coladas as they were so cheap. The restaurant was recommended from our walking tour guide, and the food was superb. I was pretty impressed by the $2 cocktails.  And afterwards we had to try the cuban cigars.  We sat outside and it was really interesting watching the people pass us by. So much so that I ended up getting my big lens out and doing some street photography with my camera in one hand and my Pina Colada in the other!

After lunch we carried on exploring on our own..

I was fascinated by the bollards in all the streets to stop cars from coming in. They are actually unused canons and there are hundreds of them.

 We then jumped into one of these yellow three wheel taxi's for a different tour around Havana.

I then got dropped back to the waterfront and Suzie and Rick went back to the hotel for a snooze.  I wanted to do some more photography from where I was the day before, and capture some more of the old buildings and street scenes.

Then I went back to the hotel for another sunset shot while getting ready for dinner!