Thursday, January 14, 2016
 |
| Alamar |
So things went pretty well as outlined at the
end of yesterday’s entry. We had breakfast at 7am. A minute or 2 after 8am we
had a knock at the door for our bags which we kept and brought down ourselves.
We put them into the baggage corral with the other Friendly Planet bags. I may
have forgotten to say that we all got matching blue luggage straps in Miami.
The porters started carrying them down the front entry stairs to the bus at
8:45am where we stood in the rain and watched and waited for Dagmar to load them
under the bus. We left for our 2-night stay at Varadero at 9am.
We drove through
Alamar on the way. This is a densely populated community built in Soviet-style and
it looked bleak and familiar to us. Somehow mildew and mold didn’t seem to grow
rampant on the unpainted concrete though.
 |
| Juicing sugar cane and pineapple |
Our first stop was at 10am at Finca Vigia, Hemingway’s Cuba home. It was an impressive compound with 2 houses on
it. Grency told us that he bought the property from a French industrial around
1938-39 for $18,500 or so. That sounded high but it was a big place. Tourists
are not allowed inside. In inclement weather they don’t even open the doors and
windows for you to look in. You have to walk around the outside and press up to
the glass to see inside. It was still cool. The tower room that was meant to be
his writing studio was open air and for a tip you could hand your camera over
the rope and the docent inside would take photos of Hemingway’s typewriter and
other stuff he left in place the last time he left. It has been preserved as he
left it since his death. His boat, Pilar, was on display beyond the empty
swimming pool. It looked great. We had an hour there and it was just about the
right amount of time. Since it was raining and we were the first bus to arrive,
it was probably not too crowded and that made it OK. It was still pretty
crowded.
 |
| This is the drink they were juicing in the first photo from Finca Vigia. |
 |
| Clay bought one so we could try it. Too rummy for me! |
 |
| Peeling sugar cane. |
 |
| Broom leaning against guard hut. |
 |
| Fort at Cojimar. |
 |
| Clay at the fort. It was closed. |
Our next stop was in Cojimar. This was a small fishing
village that inspired Hemingway to write the Old Man and the Sea. There was
some story about it being where the largest shark ever caught in the world was
brought ashore. I forgot that we were also told at some point yesterday that
Cuba is home to the world’s smallest hummingbird. Mom & Judy thought they
saw one outside Hemingway’s. They said it was about the size of a dragonfly!
In
Cojimar we had about 15 minutes in the rain to take photos of the harbor and
the tiny old fort and a bronze bust of Hemingway.
 |
| Virgin honey daiquiri |
 |
| fish balls |
Then we drove a short
distance to Bodega Las Brisas for lunch. It was another paladar. It was good
but not as good as yesterday, I thought. It was a seafood specialty place
though so I may be of a differing opinion. It was a small place with 2 busloads
at lunch. They served fish appetizers, fish gumbo, followed by a choice of
grilled mahi mahi, paella, pork fajitas or chicken fajitas (no tortillas!) and
rice pudding for dessert. The welcome cocktail was like a daiquiri but made
with honey instead of sugar. I had one without rum and it was good. I drank it!
I asked for a cola as my beverage expecting the usual TuKola but she asked me
if I wanted diet or regular. I got diet and liked it even better than regular. Today
was our earliest lunch yet at 11:45am.
 |
| fish gumbo |
 |
| Diet Tukola |
 |
| Grilled mahi mahi |
 |
| Fajitas |
 |
| Rice pudding |
 |
| View from Cuba's tallest bridge. |
 |
| Matanzas street scene |
Our last stop at about 3:15pm was Traditions
Alleyway in the town of Matanzas. It was a community effort to preserve and
celebrate Santeria and Afro-Cuban heritage. It was interesting, colorful and
entertaining. Some young performers sang, drummed and danced for us. Then of
course they pulled people out to dance. One guy had 2 wooden weapons he danced
with and he tried to give them to Clay and Clay pointed him to me. Before I
could stop it, I had a wooden weapon in either hand and was out dancing with
him. The good news was that every dancer had some tourist out there. The other
good news is that when Clay switched to video his battery died!
 |
| Our seaview corner room! |
 |
| Look at all that bed! |
We arrived at the Melia Varadero sometime after 4pm. We got
our green bracelets attached and our keycards and found our rooms. Mom &
Judy got the small room this time. Clay and I were very happy to see our large
corner balcony room with beach views. Two nights here won’t make up for 3
nights in a dark and dirty closet at the Nacional but it helps. The Melia is an
all-inclusive resort. If the weather weren’t so chilly, windy and rainy it
would be a lovely resort at which to spend 2 nights. We were free to have dinner
at either the cafeteria or buffet tonight as we wished. Tomorrow we are
supposed to have a group formal farewell dinner at Fuerteventura according to
the itinerary. That is one of the smaller, reservations only restaurants at the resort. Tonight’s buffet and service were far superior to the
Nacional’s. Unfortunately, one after another at a table nearby there was a man
who had too much alcohol today and who behaved very badly before leaving. We
left before the last one left. I guess it is always something. There was a live
show tonight but it started at 9:45pm today instead of 9pm. We didn’t think we
could stay up past 9 for a show much less 9:45pm start time. So after dinner we
went to our rooms.
 |
| Our shit bucket |
 |
| Our ocean view corner balcony! |
 |
| Our wonderful view! |
We plan to meet for breakfast at 8am tomorrow. Bus departs
at 9:45am. We were told that we’ll visit a fashion designer. Then have lunch at
an organic farm/pottery studio. After lunch until dinner we are free at the resort. There is a
shopping center next door. Otherwise maybe we’ll nap!
Good night.
