30th June 2011 - Cuba here we come

We got up and took the hotel bus to the airport and got through so quickly because we didn't have to hand in the cases...we bought our suncream, sunglasses and a new underwater camera and then got some breakfast and were heading for the plane in no time!  The photo above was taken on my phone immediately before we stepped on the plane, I managed to upload it to facebook just before I put my phone onto airplane mode and I didn't get internet access again until we arrived back in England two weeks later!
It was a 10 hour flight which I thought would be so long and boring but it went quite quick really.  Cuba is 5 hours behind us so rather than it being 7.30pm when we got there it was 2.30pm and boiling hot!!  We got though the airport quite quickly and onto the coach.  We were given our room keys and hotel info on the coach.  The journey on the coach was about 2 hours, firstly to Santa Maria and then along the man-made causeway which linked the tiny islands on the north of Cuba to the main island.  Cuba looked very green like England but very different also - the houses were tiny and shack like and the roads were really empty of traffic.  Huge buzzard like birds circled in the sky, and palm trees were everywhere.  We were tired so I don't know how much of it we took in!
When we got to the hotel, a band started playing the Cuban music we got so used to over the next two weeks and people in Cuban dress stood singing on either side of the entrance handing us a welcome cocktails.  It was a bit embarrassing actually walking past them not really knowing where we going!  We had also read about not drinking the juice to avoid stomach problems, so we took the drinks and then spent a few awkward moments trying to get rid of it somewhere!
As we had already been given the room keys we just had to go off and try and find the rooms - and its a big place and we were boiling hot.  After some confusion and frustration we finally found the rooms - we had two rooms next to each other on the ground floor - and our view was greenery.  We had a small tiled area with a table and chairs then about a metre of space and then green bushes.  I was a bit disappointed about this because we couldn't really sit out there because it was so close to the bushes the mosquitos were everywhere.
We realised we were quite close to the adult pool which is where we had wanted to be, and a bit of a walk to the main area of reception, restaurants and beach.  When our cases finally arrived we all got changed and went for a walk.
We have a tradition of seeing who can be first in the sea, and you have to be fully submerged to win! I am very competitive and I like to win - but on this occasion Connor managed to run and just throw himself in! lol

We eventually figured out where the main restaurant was and went for food.  It seemed quite big and a good selection.  I tipped the waitress 5CUC which is quite a lot (the norm is 1CUC and 1CUC equals about 70p) and we got star treatment a bottle of wine and a pass to one of the nicer restaurants for the following night.
We tried to stay up as late as possible to get over the time difference.  I think we went to bed about midnight (which was 5am in England) and by the next morning we had adjusted to the time difference.

29th June 2011 - going to Cuba

Today was supposed to be fun...getting ready to go to Cuba.  Andy was working at home and was hoping to finish early but he ended up working all day and getting a bit stressed.  Me and Lissa had arranged to get shellac nails done and our fingers and toes, get eyebrow threading and semi-permanent eyelash extensions.  I got this deal through Groupon and out appointment was at 11am.  I was hoping it would take no longer than 2 -3 hours. When we got there it was at a residential house and was just one woman.  We got amateur beauty treatment and didn't get away until 4.30pm!!  We had not eaten all day and Lissa got stomach pains so bad that she was in tears!  We couldn't get to the bank because it had closed, and I couldn't get my belly bar changed because that was also closed.  We managed to get the tyre changed on the car - but it also needed the tracking sorted out and the time kept ticking on.  We got back to the house at about 6pm and we had wanted to leave at 4.30pm!  I think we left for the airport about 7.30pm, much more stressed out than we intended.  We handed our cases over at the airport without any queuing up and headed off for the hotel at Gatwick that we had arranged.  We booked in then headed for local restaurants and decided on Frankie and Bennies.  It was good fun - speculating on what the next two weeks would have in store for us and making the most of the English food.  We got back to the hotel and set the alarm for 6am...