Stevo and lel’s adventures

Having now experienced Havana (good and bad) we embarked on the last leg of our journey, to the beaches of Varadero. The journey from Havana to Varadero takes approx 3 hours by car. We were picked up from our hotel and chauffeured in a relatively modern taxi (if a little shabby –  an 80s design at least). It’s one of the better taxis we’ve been in here even though the interior door fabric was falling to bits!  The driver (charles) was a pleasant sort and we snoozed on and off happily as we made the transition from city to countryside. We passed though some wee Cuban towns full of locals going about their business (and invariably mending the old trucks and cars which had broken down) and watched some local children jumping dangerously from what seemed to be a very high rail bridge to the river below! I got to wondering about this and came to the conclusion that when I was that age that yeah, we would have done stuff like that too its only now in this crazily conscious age of Health and Safety where everything is a potential law suit that this stuff is frowned upon in the UK (I’d like to see someone sue the Cuban government haha!). Anyway it was a pleasant enough journey with the coast pretty much always on the left hand side and we kept ourselves amused trying to see who could spot the coolest old car! The hotel we stayed at – Blau Varadero – is one of the newest and biggest in this Cuban Beach resort of Playa Varadero. The Playa Varadero, is located in the peninsula of Hicacos, province of Matanzas Autopista Sur  and is famous for its long and beautiful fine white sand beaches, and its pleasant climate throughout the whole year. The hotel itself is flanked by arid countryside with stubby prickly grass on three sides and on the other there is a  beautiful Caribbean coastline with warm, fine white sand and crystal clear, clean sea. The sea is a turquoisy blue with splashes of  white surf. The shore is dotted with sun shaders made from faded local leaves and is accessed via a pretty wooden walkways cutting through the trees surrounding the resorts.  This was going to be a bit of a transition for as it is so different from  the other places we’ve been, however, after such a busy schedule so far on our honeymoon we wanted our last few days to be chilled out and relaxed so had opted for a luxury all inclusive hotel for the final part. Kuoini our travel company highly recommended this one and after the beautiful hotels we’d stayed in so far on our trip we had high hopes! The reception are as you enter is stunning, it’s spacious and open plan with the lobby area extending into an area of cane and wicker furniture looking over a little balcony down to the very ornate bar area covered by a delicate wrought iron gazebo type structure on the ground floor. There is a circular atrium  around which over 13 or so floors sit the hotel rooms. Vines hang from the balconies around the atrium on ever side from the ceiling to the floor and the effect is really quite dramatic. There are domed glass lifts either side which look very impressive (however as we were to find out they are really, really slow!)      We spent the next four days relaxing  by the pool drinking pina coladas – yum  😉  And swimming in the translucent water at the beach – I have to say again the beach really is spectacular ….  I was however a wee bit worried (unnecessarily it turned out) about the sharks. The water is so, so clear though you could see them coming – though  what good that’d do  have no idea, them being, well, water things with fins and me being a land thing who can barley manage a crawl!    Aesthetically the hotel was very pleasing and you really couldn’t wish for nicer beaches. We did have a few bad experiences with the food  here though  resulting in me being quite ill for a couple of days. The food was not really that great. In truth it was pretty awful and very samey. For example breakfast seemed to be an exercise in how many ways you could cook and egg. If you don’t like eggs (guess what…!) or if last nights leftovers ‘cleverly’ arranged into a new breakfast option (carrot omelette anyone?) don’t appeal you’re going hungry. I’m not really sure whether this is Cuba in general though or just this place? Anyway the hotel was quite full and on our first night there in the buffet dinner area it did feel like feeding time at the zoo, bringing our the worst in people with them pushing in and stuff. You had to go for your food in turns – one unlucky couple we witnessed went up together and another couple promptly took their table leaving them nowhere to sit when they came back!  There were a few other things which made this hotel not quite what we’d expected and we mentioned this to our Kuoni rep the next day. The up side of this is that we were given champagne (they said champagne – it was really sweet cava) flowers (3 roses tied with orange plastic!) and the ability to avoid the crazy free for all in the main buffet and eat in the a la carte restaurant every night. Our rep Pepe was lovely and did his best.      The a la carte restaurant was the real bonus as it included live music from a brilliantly talented classical string quartet who we later found out were members of the Cuban Symphony Orchestra. They were amazing, the young lead violinist in particular, so talented. They did requests and over our 3 nights played Canon in D (Pacobel – our wedding entrance music), Albinonis Adagio (which is a lovely amazing and moving tune) and a few others we requested. Their presence really made the experience and we were so impressed we bought their cd. I couldn’t help feeling a bit of a shame for them though, to be playing in a restaurant for tips is product of their economy. They should really be paid adequately enough not to have to do that, they were so very gifted.  We were informed that this is where the money is though, in the tourist resorts, a waiter  for example is a much prized job in Cuba, one trained doctors and other professionals covet and leave their careers to pursue. I will append a snippet of their playing later.. you really have to hear this.  Another wonderful experience we have in Varadero was swimming with the dolphins. Neither Stevo nor I had ever done this before so we were really itching to do this! ‘Delfinario’ is a natural lagoon approx 1 mile away from the Blau hotel. There are two options offered here – swimming with these lovely, affectionate playful creatures and watching a dolphin show  which includes ball tossing, hoop jumping (the hoop is so high!), leaps and acrobatics (including one of the Dolphins Christian going for a basket with a basketball!). The show is really great and very popular (packed out) with mostly Cubans. The swimming part is really something very special. You put on your life vest then walk out onto a floating platform before slipping into the lagoon alongside the dolphins. You then feel them whooshing past you underwater and even, as happened to Stevo, nibbling your toes with their wee teeth! You go in in a group of no more than 8 and first of  you all line up then swim forward and be kissed on both cheeks by 2 of these affectionate beauties. They then flip over and you get to stroke their soft rubbery underbellies, whist you get photos taken (which you can purchase later – we did and will post them soon when we get them scanned!).They feel lovely and warm and like cats getting the undersides of their chins ticked they seem to loe having their smoothe white bellies stroked. They are just some mischievous and fun! You then get a chance to ride around while holding onto their fins – they are extraordinarily and unexpectedly powerful and really propel you through the water! Then comes the best bit! You lie flat out in the water on your belly and two of them come along underwater and pop their noses  into the arches of your feet then propel you forward through the water then up, up and out of it until you are balancing on their noses with both feet hands up in the air in a star shape!  They then flip you off and you fly through the air and splash into the water – it’s AMAZING!! Once you’ve recovered they turn tail and come back for you again letting you hold their fins to take you back to the group. They are so clever they will wait for you if you haven’t grabbed on properly. They are also so gentle, so well trained. They just want to play, they are very inquisitive and push, prod you and twist round you in the water and ‘talk’ to you in that funny clattery way. There is something very enthralling and captivating about dolphins. They make you feel so happy and good, I can totally see why ill people sometimes go to swim with them. It was a fantastic experience one we’ll always remember.     There isn’t too much more to say about Varadero,  it was very much a time for us to  chillax 😉 and reflect on all the places we’d seen, all the things we’d done.    So with Varadero our Cuban holiday, and indeed our honeymoon save for the long flights homeward, comes to an end… 🙁  We have had many new experiences and itwas definitely an interesting country to visit however I wouldn’t go back to Cuba.Stevo says it will all be different in 5 years, that it’s  a country full of potential, one on the cusp of change and he’s likely right. We did see some amazing things and met some brilliant talented people. It  would probably be very different in the less touristy more rural places? We are after all tourists treading well trodden paths, not travellers experiencing the other side. We can but go on our experiences though and sadly the places we went to (and really  the main reason I wouldn’t go back to Cuba) is that everybody seems to be after something. The tipping in particular is ridiculous  – everyone expects a tip for doing absolutely nothing! And woe betide you if you don’t tip! Most of the staff  seem to only pretend to be friendly (for the tips!) and are constantly muttering things to each other in Spanish, sometimes they just completely blank you – its just really, really rude. Everything seems to be such an effort for them. Coming from such the UK with such a focus on  and high level of service this is quite hard to get used to.  To sum things up we would say that we have had THE BEST HONEYMOON EVER! South America in places is Heaven on Earth. we truly had  an amazing time and completely LOVED Argentina and Brazil. We are totally sold on seeing the rest of South America soon (look out for a blog on Patagonia and Machu Pico!). This honeymoon destination was Stevos choice and in all honestly he couldn’t have chosen better!. An amazing adventure, the first, and hopefully one of many of our married life together! Ciao for now lel & Stevo x  

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