Cuba May 2016 – Starting The Journey In Bay Of Pigs

It was a good idea to fly into Varadero and drive straight to Playa Larga from there to start this trip.

And an even better one to upgrade to Business Class and have a relaxed flight with some space. Hell, I am old enough to deserve some extra space.

Two hours after landing at VRA airport and two cold cans of Cristal and a cigar later I was at Homero & Silvia’s place, being their only guest.

What a relaxed way to start my trip with old familiar friends and being in “family”.

The place is now entirely refurbished, glass windows and new a/c units have been added ( OK, some work still to be done to stop the flooding from a leaking a/c tube ) and to me it is being “home”.

Waking up very early due to the time difference I always had a thermos jug full of strong, sweetened, delicious black cafecito to start my day before having a full breakfast upstairs in the terrace watching the sun go up. The only sounds being the roosters and the birds. Best time of the day.

I sure did enjoy a lot of coffee as my final bill was something like 1 CUC for juice, 2 CUC for water, 14 CUC for beer and … 12 CUC for coffee !

What I also did enjoy was the limitless sky, the sun, the beaches and the pools. Plus a trip back to Guama and the crocodile breeding station there. Sadly no boat trip to the Taino island as there was no gas for the boats, or so I was told – until I met a frustrated Cuban guide of a French tour group who cursed at having the same problem …

Cuba is not to be understood but to be enjoyed…

I re-visited the swamp charcoal guy before spending the day at Caleta Buena swimming with the fish and relaxing there.

Sundowner drinks and cigars were at Noraida’s roof terrace – they even had the barman called up for me as they had no guests ( and no Añejo for the Cubatas ). Good service.

Dinner was at Homero’s terrace fighting the mosquitoes and enjoying great red snapper, conch salad, lobster and prawns.

Courtesy of John Bongo, Homero was outfitted in stylish new golf polo shirts ( as well as many other friends in the island including the staff at Hector Luis farm ).

It was a perfect start to my trip and I sure was sad leaving the place ( not before hopping on the new Soviet tank adorning the town’s entrance which Frank missed 4 months ago ) and driving to Havana.

But having old friend Enrique as a driver in his new a/c van sure helped – as well as meeting up with my friends David and Jan.

Nino