Interesting. My post just deleted itself as I was typing. I should say that my irritation at the minimum would be - moderate. I'm restraining myself. I would certainly not want to do violence upon my computer. It would be wrong; Immoral, if you will. I'll restart, but it'll be shorter. Because that's life. Lucky for you, my readers, you won't be able to see the difference between this effort and the original. You could say the blogger template played the role of editor for me - either that or hungry mischievous dog.

So our flight out was late - we went through 3 planes in the process. Then my luggage was lost. The trip started out bad, but that didn't last long. Monday we met up with our familials from across the nation, representing Vancouver Island (Amy/Michael), Summerland (David/Sandy), Saskatoon (Doug/Rebecca), and of course, Waterloo (Mom/Wayne/Myself). We met our Air Canada Vacations representative - Rainer, as well. Then I went and used my baggage insurance money allotment to purchase some replacement clothing (Che Guevara shirt woo!). The weather was perfect. Lots of sun, few clouds, little wind, and not so hot that I wanted to peel the skin from my bones, but hot enough that all the ladies were in their swimsuits. It's unfortunate that so many were a little old for my tastes :\. Even more unfortunate was that all the best women tended to be on the arm of some jerk. Sigh.

We hit the beach for the afternoon, enjoyed the evening buffet and subsequent entertainment, and called it a night shortly thereafter. Big plans for the morrow.

Tuesday was Havana (La Habana!) tour day. We met our very eager, and very talkative guide Juliet in the lobby in the morning, and amazingly enough - she wasn't just on time, but early. Something I don't imagine happens often in Cuba. (In fact, the term "Cuban Time" is a synonym for "Late" we soon learned.) Our group of eleven was rounded out by Mickey the driver - who showed up at intermediate yet oddly convenient points to drive us around. The city itself proved to be very interesting, and reminded me very much of some areas in Italy. We saw the dwelling of an author some of you may have heard of who goes by the name Hemingway. It was a nice little hotel, and his room is preserved with all kinds of original relics, such as the table with his typewriter facing the window (Nice view btw). After that, we went to the top floor patio bar for Mojitos. The mariachi band really completed the Cuban experience, in my mind. In fact, I was seduced into buying their cd! The group, L'os Tainos, even signed the case for me.

After more sights (I'll post pictures later) we were taken to a Cuban Cigar store. I bought the obligatory Monte Cristo #2 - a big one. Then I saw the table of rum, and next thing I knew - I was buying two bottles of Havana Club. How could I resist for $8 and $6, respectively, for 750ml bottles? It's good rum, goes great in Mojitos ;). Then we went for lunch at a nice restaurant not far from the Capitolio building. Lastly, we were dropped off at the market to do an hour of shopping. I bought a pair of maracas for $1. I have to admit, those Cubans do some really cool things with wood :).

Overall, the tour was excellent. It could have been just good, but we had the benefit of a really great guide, and that just made it that much better. On another note, Mickey, our driver, was so happy to see me wearing a Che Guevara shirt that he gave me an old 3 peso bill with Che's face on it.

That's enough for now though, I'll post some pictures from the first two days before I goto sleep. The account will continue tomorrow :).