To continue the story...

My luggage finally arrived around midnight Tuesday, so I was able to start Wednesday off with fresh clothing. Not that it was especially important, because I'd bought new swimming trunks, and the bulk of the day was spent on the beach. Though I did summon up enough will to have a workout at the gym. We had a good time on the beach, and the sun punished us for it. Just about every one of us were glowing by Thursday. It was worth it.

Thursday was another tour day. This time, it was a Jeep excursion. Doug, Rebecca, Wayne, Mom and myself all piled into a little Kia jeep and joined a convoy that included 9 other jeeping groups. Our first stop was a cave where we could go snorkeling. It was an excellent little cove, filled with stalagmites and stalactites, with clear water going as deep as 22m. After that warm-up, we headed to the beach to see some coral. The water was fairly rough, so we elected to not go out too far. But just trolling along the shore edge afforded plenty of excellent viewing.

Next, we headed for Matanzas, a city of around 130,000. Our convoy made it's way through the streets, passengers tossing candies and other goodies to the children on the side of the street, to eventually exit the urban area and come to an outlook of the valley we would be traversing. At this stage, mom was driving, and she was quite obviously enjoying herself as she whipped the jeep side to side around/through ruts, curves, bumps, etc. I'm pretty sure she even had us airborne at a few points. My spleen is still vibrating. But we made it to the farm destination for lunch. The meal was good, the setting was excellent, the weather was perfect. I went for a ride on a bull, then we had some sugar cane cut by one of the farmers.

Our last stop, after driving back through the valley and Matanzas, were the underground caverns. No cameras were allowed - without paying the $5 Convertible Peso fee. I elected to store the camera away for that portion. The caverns were great, though. More stalagmites/stalactites to view, with strategically placed spotlights setting them to glittering hues. The tunnels went on for a ways, with many branching points and areas too small to access - including a water network that legend says an American woman once was lost down.

Finally, we began the trek back to Varadero. Not without its own adventurous moments - the 'roads' we utilized seemed to be specifically designed to test the limits of our little vehicles off-roading capacity. Then, as we passed through a village area, our convoy was mobbed by children looking for gifts from the generous foreigners. We'd brought plenty, and it was all gone within minutes. We arrived back at the resort around 6pm.

Friday all 9 of us rented mopeds and cruised around the peninsula. It was great fun! We had our own little moped caravan cruising through the town of Varadero, then we gassed up and raced along the highway all the way to the end of the peninsula. I just wish those little babies were capable of more than 65km/h. Well, mine maxed out at 65 going downhill. Mom, on the other hand, had no trouble passing the lot of us with hers - her top speed was about 70. I was jealous. Afterwards, the drinking began, and it didn't stop until the wee hours of the morning. Somewhere in there we'd found time to stop at the games room for some pool/ping pong/foosball, then eat at an Italian restaurant on the resort - served by a very gay fellow named Angel. In the end, it was Wayne, David, Michael and myself in the piano bar at 2am, still going hard with the drinks while discussing Canadian politics.

It was tough getting out of bed Saturday morning, but I managed. My first quest was to obtain water and food - having slept through the breakfast buffet. I wound my way down to the beach and gladly consumed a hotdog along with about 2 litres of water. The weather was a little colder than it had been, and the wind was up. The water was red flagged, so we weren't allowed in unfortunately. So I took a walk up the beach in search of Wayne and Doug who I was informed had also came that way. Turns out I went the wrong way, and didn't find them until about an hour later. We spent the afternoon relaxing, then headed to the El Mojito restaurant for supper. Our server for the evening was a fellow named Manuel Castro. The ladies seemed to think he was good looking, but I think it was the Castro name, and their own inherent communism coming to the surface. lol. The meal was good though, and the entertainment as well. A fellow with a guitar, and another with maracas - good Cuban music :).

Sunday was mostly consumed by the departure business. The 4 groups of us all had different departure times (Amy and Michael didn't leave until Monday morning, actually), so after getting packed and checked out of our rooms, we met for one last lunch. It was yet another excellent offering from the resort chefs, and we savoured it. Before the group was broken up, we all made promises to made this sort of holiday the beginning of a great tradition of bi-annual holidays around the globe. Sounds like a great idea to me! David and Sandy were the first to leave, followed by Doug and Rebecca, and then the three of us.

When we arrived at the airport and made it through to the waiting room, we were both surprised and dismayed to find Doug and Rebecca still waiting for their flight. Seems their AC flight to Calgary had been delayed due to a malfunction on the plane, and they were waiting for it to be fixed. By the time we took off, they had been delayed for at least 3.5 hours, with no end in sight. Our flight, happily, was one of the most enjoyable AC flights I've ever had. The crew were friendly and funny, and the food was much better than on the way down. We arrived in Toronto 20 minutes early. After being shuttled from the temporary international AC terminal (The international section of the new Terminal 1 is still being built) to the main T1, I was quite surprised to found out luggage already on the rack. This in spite of us having only been second in line at the customs check-in. Now that is efficiency I can appreciate.

Thus concludes my recount of the Cuba holiday. I hope everyone enjoyed reading it at least 5% as much as I enjoyed experiencing it! I highly recommend it to everyone, and certainly wouldn't turn down an opportunity to go back in the future. Ciao!

(More pictures are on the way)