olchowys2023

[olchowys2023]

This is the last evening at the resort. I did not alter this picture (or any of them, mind you. I don’t really know how) I mean… SO BEAUTIFUL 😍 We would highly recommend the Villa Cuba aka Be Live Valadero Experience aka whoever buys it next with the gorgeous round pool restaurant (which is pictured) and apparently the best part of the beach and pretty far from the mid-spit swamp area, where I assume the mosquitoes would be worse.

We got up early to fly out (our hero driver from our first day agreed to drive us again to the airport in style for a little less than the normal rate!) and Gaelan said as we left “Boy, I haven’t seen them so happy to see us in days as when they saw us with our suitcases…” lol I believe they were just happy to see me walking a bit better. Many folks asked me about if I was doing better this morning as I’m walking less slowly. But who knows. He could be right lol

Last night we got a private concert with only 2 other tables eating at the weird concrete white room restaurant. We actually weren’t booked but someone put a ticket for us in our door which we found when we stepped out in the morning. Anyway, I’m so glad the mystery person did as the musician was awesome. He sang our requests and as it turned out we were all Canadians and most of us spoke French, he did some Québécois songs, the Tragically Hip and some country classics too. We all had a great time chatting with each other too.

Actually, there were a lot of French speakers everywhere. I actually spoke to more fellow tourists who were fluent French speakers than English ones. Gaelan was often a bemused sideliner to protracted French conversations I would strike up with folks. We made a great friend Louise from Montreal, we met a couple from near Paris and a lovely Québécois couple set me up with a compression bandage and my first ice pack when I first injured my knee. Diane, a Quebecois/Cuban artist! Anyway, as the Québécois visitors mentioned more than once, it is cheaper by a lot to fly from Quebec to the Caribbean than it is to fly from Quebec to BC…. So, yeah. Something to think about as Canadians…

All I can say from my hotel in Toronto: Viva la Cuba! And, if you want a fun adventure where you can make someone’s day by having a $5 CAD or a hair barrette for them, go to Cuba. They need some tourist dollars after COVID. It’s a big part of their economy and they make it so lovely to visit.

[olchowys2023]

Last full day in Cuba. We rallied after my illness all night. I did not eat until dinner and we moved slow. But, we did our plan: we got on the hop on hop off bus and drove all the way up the Varadero spit and down to Varadero the town. 72 hotels apparently. A lot of them newer. And, at the end of the spit is like a new town or something. It was cute but pretty dead. A lovely little marina and shops and restaurants. A wonderful open air festival type spot. But we were 2 of maybe 10 people there for the hour we spent. Kinda weird. Apparently condos are being built there for foreigners to buy. It’d be nice I think. Very removed from the rest of Cuba though. 72 resorts away is Cuba and there’s an actual toll bridge to get on the Varadero spit so people aren’t accidentally coming from the rest of Cuba to be there. It’s pretty though.

Verdetto the town was super nice. There’s a chocolate restaurant! Boy I wish I could have tried some but the milk *sigh. A super cute park with a little lake and lovely touristy stuff like the cafe in a fake Spanish galleon. Fun! We mostly just walked by things but popped our head into a few spots. We’d been wanting to do a hop in hop off tour of the area all visit so we’re glad we finally were able to!

[olchowys2023]

Okay, final Havana day post. The old Spanish Fort has a cigar shop and a Master Cigar roller was there. He holds the world record for longest cigar ever rolled: it took 9 days and I am pictured with it on that wall display. It loops back and forth along the wall many times. He was giving cigar making demonstrations and it was very cool. It’s an art the way he does it.

After that, the rain started. We were just driving up high to see panoramas of Havana and the Christ statue but with the dense clouds we couldn’t see anything and definitely did not want out of the car. Thank goodness we were too cheap to get a convertible!

We did stop at Ernest Hemingway’s watering hole and saw his statue. He looked like a guy who hung out at a bar a lot. lol. Could have fit effortlessly in with some crowds in Williams Lake when I was a wee one.

Then, with the rain not stopping, we headed back a little early. Basically drove home with the storm and at one point I got hella splashed with street storm water as we couldn’t have the windows all the way closed with the old car. Funny at the time but I went on to have a very bad fever that night and was pretty pathetic the next day too. I’m not sure but splash water with who knows what in it is a good a theory as any for my immune system freaking out. The sewers aren’t super epic at getting things totally gone here so…?

But, no matter. Havana was awesome. And, we learned so much about how Cuba is today, how it got here and what’s awesome about from Lucy our guide. Cuba is going through a lot right now but it’s been through a lot before and I’m confident they will find a great way forward soon.

[olchowys2023]

These pictures are all from the restaurant. It was just so cool. The house was given to a fighter in the revolution and the family now runs the restaurant there. It’s across from one of the old Spanish forts where they still fire a cannon (not live ammunition though) every night that is heard all over Havana. Anyway, the restaurant was super unique with a gun in the fountain, polish chickens walking around under your table and a live band. The surf and turf was delicious but I would have come for just the ambiance.

[olchowys2023]

Old and Central Havana! We got to see the famous ballet building and the amazing statue in front of it. 😯 we also went to Revolution Square where Castro stood to announce the socialist revolution had succeeded in front of 2 million Cubans.

The giant tall tower is actually a monument to an 19th century Cuban hero that the last pre-Fidel president built thinking it would help his approval ratings… He apparently fled with a lot of Cuban govt money and goods just before Fidel and his men got to him.

Havana is beautiful but a little worse for wear after COVID as it caused disruptions in important building fixes. A few buildings crumbled for lack of repair in time.

The lady with us is the awesome and very knowledgeable Lucy!

[olchowys2023]

Today, Thursday, was Tour Havana with Lucy day! We booked a private tour complete with Lucy our guide and a driver with one of the old cars. So great. We spent the 2 hour drive into Havana learning about a little of the past century or two of history of Cuba (it was British for 11 months at one point so that Spain could have Louisiana but then England changed its mind… crazy!) Lucy is a chemical engineer so we also got to find out in detail why our resort room smells of gas at night (I, half-sleeping on our 2nd night, believed an airplane must have flown past our window it smelled so strongly.) it turns out the best oil deposits of Cuba are right next to Varadero so an oil refinery is right next to Varadero. Fun! But, according to Lucy, the UK tourists have complained enough to make Cuba’s govt move to soon shift oil stuff to another region. And, if tourism does matter to Cuba, it’s probably the right call. There’s lots of gas smells in the area right now. Too much.

We drove through a former mansion area of Havana and saw the ficus trees with their many trunks in a local park. Very cool. The mansions were mostly American so now they are gov’t buildings, including embassies.

Then we went to Havana’s cemetery, the 3rd most beautiful in the world. Lots of Italian marble and tons of themes and shapes. Literally a small pyramid! The black marble with angels is the resting place of the first Cuban woman awarded a divorce. She was rich enough to go to the Vatican and pled her case directly with the Pope. After, she was able to marry her age appropriate love and they were very, very happy together. He made the monument to her upon her death and the mural is meant to reference the spiritual love they shared and the physicality of a woman and a man’s love making instruments… it’s being fixed right now as some fool tried to break in to rob her jewels but the fancy outer wall is only the first wall. The second inside one is more like a vault and was not broken through. So, she still has her jewels.

We also saw a memorial for a bunch of firefighters who saved the city but perished in a big disaster fire in the late 1800ds and the ridiculous grave of a “American puppet president” (per Lucy) who wanted anyone visiting his grave to have to bow to him, thus his grave door is very low.

There’s also a lovely church in the middle of the cemetery that we enjoyed. Lovey golden stained glass windows and my first experience of an open window in a Catholic cathedral. Ah, the heat and what it changes!

[olchowys2023]

Today was a great day to be only at the resort: it’s Cuba Day! They have extra live music, flags everywhere and things like guys with machetes to cut open a coconut for you. Very cool. I limped around with the lovely folks of the resort (both staff and guests) being very concerned for me and we enjoyed all the extras of Cuba Day. (Or, “Wednesday” as some foolishly call it lol)

We ate at Le Bistro tonight, another of the reservation only resort restaurants. It was truly weird. All white concrete room. Lovely food. Smelled of diesel. No art. No windows. But, my gluten free card works great here “sin gluten” “sin lactosa” and we had a good dinner. A 2 year old meltdown at the start of the meal made it extra non-fancy feeling but again, the food was good.

I also picture Gaelan’s ingenious fix of our shower head that was always wildly rotating as the water pressure shifted. Beautiful. We’ll leave this here for the next folks.

The duet performing at sunset was especially so so good! Her voice was so deep and he could hold long complex notes like no one I’ve ever heard! Epic concert except for the many, many mosquitoes. This area has some swampy bits to it and so usually the government sprays every night or so to keep them at bay for us tourists (who provide a huge chunk of the Cuban economy I’m coming to understand) but the current economic crisis means they just just stopped spraying before we arrived. This means everyone is upset about the bugs, tourists and locals, as no one is used to them being around or prepared for them. Sunset is high tide for mosquitoes here.

[olchowys2023]

So it was all resort, all rest today. Gaelan worked out with the cafe in the lobby area that we can get ice every hour and put it in a ziplock bag we brought for my knee. Eventually the guy he tipped for that service was off and the new guy was real cranky about it but we eventually realized our room fridge has a tiny freezer compartment lol!

The tower I’ve posted a picture of is across the street from our resort and is by far the oldest building we’ve seen in this whole area but no one seems to know it’s history lol

It was also a crazy weather evening. We were in the Chinese restaurant (very fancy, named Bamboo) for dinner when the power went out for a moment and immediately after it started pouring like torrential rain as well as thunder and lightening. We spent the evening storm watching. For a lot of it, the storm was just off shore so we could enjoy the lights and sounds but not have to deal with the rain. But, when it did hit us periodically: man! It was kind of a weird storm for Cuba. Usually it doesn’t pour like that for as long, apparently. I’m adding a video of the storm but I don’t know if it will load or not… a Tumblr 1st for me

[olchowys2023]

So we went for a walk up the road a bit and saw all kinds of cacti and palm trees and such. It’s flowering season so tons of gorgeous flowers are everywhere. But, it’s hot. So we head back and get geared up for swimming in the Atlantic (if we were on the other coast, it would be the Caribbean Seal instead, warmer apparently). It was super fun to hang at the beach under our little palm leaf umbrella. We both took a swim in the aquamarine coloured water and then I went out in a kayak.

Unfortunately, it was all too much for my weak right knee. After a bit it became clear that I had messed it up. A Baker’s Cyst appeared behind my knee and we spent all night worrying I’d broken a tendon. But no, the resort nurse the next morning confirmed that I am only mildly gobbled and need to RICE for the next few days (rest, ice, compression and elevation plus Advil) Still, it was a fun day in the sun and surf!

Because of my research beforehand, we brought toothbrushes and toothpaste as well as hair clips and dice as gifts for folks here. We left a package of toothpaste and a toothbrush for the maid service and when we came back later, we found a super epic amount of towels as well as these swans in our sink!

[olchowys2023]

I thought my update from last night failed so I wrote up a whole new summary on Notes and was about to copy paste it when I noticed we were good. It did upload somehow. Here’s a bit about yesterday I didn’t include about the history of Varadero:

Driving back and forth multiple times in multiple ways along the peninsula (yesterday) means we have confidence to go exploring on foot in the future. We learned on our first trip in from a wonderful local named Boris who works for WestJet tours and basically told us when we said we hadn’t booked with WestJet or any sort of package at all, “Swoop is WestJet, get on the bus! We’ll take care of you!” Anyway, we learned that the first resort on Varadera, right at the start of this peninsula, was built as private mansions by the mafia, American Sicilians. They actually separated the peninsula physically by digging a channel so that they could totally control access. Anyway, looking around, this makes sense. A lot of Sicilian stuff like the roof tiles and that sort of architectural pieces are all over this area and we both feel that it has a Sicily-like climate at least at this part of the year.

Of course, nowadays the resorts along here are resorts not mansions and it goes on forever. We’re only about 1/5 of the way up this stretch of Heaven.

[olchowys2023]

About 2 pm we got a call from the guy who had taken our luggage by mistake and driven all the way to Havana with it (2 hours away!) So, yay but also we had to get ourselves back to the airport immediately. The valet booked us an old timely car à la Cuba and it was a fun trip (1 hour round trip, so 1.5 hours overall spent driving on that route today lol)

Gaelan had used his luggage lock and I got to say, it did make it easy to say that our luggage was whole to the airport lady. They do a smart thing here: they don’t give you your luggage if you take someone else’s until all parties are present at the same time and the people who lost their luggage sign off on the fact they have everything back.

So, with a pretty big expensive day dealing with our luggage drama, we are going to just hang here at the resort for sure for the next few days.

So far, we’ve enjoyed the beach, heard some epic Cuban music from our balcony overlooking the stage area and had good food at the various restaurants. We’ve had a lot of fun and are mostly just annoyed that our wifi doesn’t work anywhere but the lobby.

Will update when we can. We’re so happy to be here!

[olchowys2023]

Yay. We made it! Of course, it’s not an adventure without setbacks. We’re here. Our 1 checked bag with like everything in it, isn’t. So, you know. Balance. The resort felt bad so they’ve checked us in 4 hours early meaning we can start eating on their dime early. Yay! Plus, as we woke up at 2 to get here, we can nap. We are not yet sure if we’re going to buy new suits so we can go swimming but I definitely regret dressing warmly for the plane as well as not putting sunscreen in my carry on. Il sigh.

So we’re resort’ing it today and I’ve bought like 80 dollars of cooler clothing and sunscreen cuz I’m gonna enjoy the pool and surf! Gaelan wore clothing that transforms so he’s grand!

[olchowys2023]

Mission accomplished. We are bedding down for a 2 am wake-up and flight to Cuba!!! I will update in the dead of night while waiting around in the airport. For now, we sleep!

[olchowys2023]

Oh my goodness, what a great day! We walked 13.5 kms by 3 pm. We started the day with my old Kingston friend Alain who actually lives in BC but was also here visiting family. We had a lovely breakfast reminiscing about Kingston and Queens. Then, we headed out to see campus, to the Southwest. We even got a shot of me in the ol’library like old times lol. We walked back along the water to get some gelato (chocolate mint, lemon and strawberry for me) at Mio Gelato and then headed to the Northeast, across the bridge to see the Royal Military College. A lot of zigzagging through their grounds brought us within sight (my first time ever!) of Fort Henry. Boy did I not do touristy things when I lived here lol. Anyway, back we came to Kingston proper and then we walked way North to Skeleton Park (which we learned more about then I ever knew on our ghost tour) and saw my old church that I worked at. Got to get caught up on a bit of the changes in the last 18 years! Lovely. Then, back to downtown where we had an epic meal at Whiskey & Rose, a gluten free Southern themed restaurant. So so so good. At some point, we also went hat hunting as I left mine on the train getting here. We now have matching hats!

We then had a wonderful coffee catch up with my friend Lesley who was such a big part of my time in Kingston. Plus: gluten free vegan carrot cake and a maple oat milk latte. It’s heaven here!

So, completely exhausted and with the proverbial dogs a barkin’, we napped some. Then, we hit up a lovely Italian restaurant right outside our Airbnb on Market Square. I was stuffed already (that carrot cake slice was ginormous) but Gaelan enjoyed a wonderful two course Italian feast and we got to enjoy the local colour. Kingston folk are fun!

We are now going to hope that sleep cures our very sore legs and my sunburned chest as tomorrow is a busy day that ends with us in Toronto setting an alarm for 2:30 am to get to the airport for Cuba.

[olchowys2023]

Today we packed up and left Belleville and caught a train to K-Town! My old stomping grounds. Yay!

We had a great walk around, finally got our cat clothes cleaned at a laundromat (our only warm clothes lol) and then had an epic dinner at Chez Piggy. I had a gf df crispy spring roll salad that was SO GOOD! And G had a wonderful lamb chop dish. Yummy!!!

We also figured out that Alain from my university days (who lives in Victoria now) is here too! So we’re seeing him tomorrow. Hilarious!

Finally, we took what turned out to be a private ghost tour of Kingston. Just us 2 and our wonderful guide Tamara. We got creeped out for sure! Lots of ghosts apparently walk these old buildings! Including some of the buildings I loved looking at when I lived here as they are so beautiful. Because it was just us 2, Gaelan shared some of his experiences with our guide and creeped her out too! Lol

Tomorrow we plan to wander the beautiful campus and then make our way to the Royal Military College. We’ve also read there’s an entirely gluten free restaurant AND another restaurant that serves a gf fried chicken sandwich. So, you know. I’m going to have to check that all out…

Night all! Sleep well…… 👻

[olchowys2023]

Today we drove South to two lakes (West Lake and East Lake) that are both cut off by thin sand dunes from Lake Ontario. Beautiful and farmy. The sand dunes are pretty unique for Canada and when Shaun was a kid, they were way less overgrown so more obviously sand banks with towering heights. It was super cool to see where Shaun spent his youthful summers! And, we got to see the Mariner’s museum (at least outside) and then drive to Robert’s Point right on Lake Ontario. There were clouds and clouds of midges (sp?) that were the size of mosquitoes but eat other insects. It was crazy how many there were. I include pics of Gaelan working through a particularly dense cloud of apparently unphotogenic bugs lol.

Super beautiful countryside! We loved it. We ended up at Boston Pizza and enjoyed 2 DVDs: Speed this morning while it rained and Up In the Air tonight. We head to Kingston tomorrow morning on the 10:20 am train.

We also had what we thought was a porcupine friend in a tree in our backyard but eventually he stuck his head up and… raccoon! He positively hated that we were so happy to see him lol

[olchowys2023]

I just noticed I didn’t post for yesterday. We spent the morning enjoying our Airbnb and then headed to the Air Force Museum in Trenton with a real airman! We learned lots, including the fact that Halifax had multi day riots when the German’s surrendered? What’s with that? We had fun hanging with Shaun’s giant puppy Mickey out in Shaun’s backyard and then had an AMAZING, mouth wateringly good BBQ steak dinner that Shaun made for us. Yummy! I also found a quilt guide to the region and from that we decided we’d head out to see the Prince Edward County island to the South of us. It’s where Shaun spent his summers as a kid!