2806

Today we're going to Habana. Our bus, #2806, was only about 20 mins late. Not bad for Cuban time :)

Apparently the museum we were supposed to go to is closed on Mondays so we're going to a rum museum instead. I am not overly amused at that; it's something you'd think the Sunwing rep *might've* mentioned when we booked it. He turned out to be less than useful overall. Boo. Cause we could def have come on a different day. I'm seriously considering just skipping that part of the tour and wandering around town instead; Kerri's not quite brave enough for that though I don't think -- that, or she suddenly has a deep interest in rum *g*

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Yeah so I definitely went off on my own. Way more fun -- if a little intimidating at first. I'm back now waiting for the tour to end and hoping it wasn't the first thing ever in Cuba to finish early! But I think I'm prob ok -- I didn't see them on the street, so methinks it's all good. Got some good pics and found this little hidden garden that belongs to a local church. I love the old classic buildings juxtaposed with the coloured spanish style ones. Gives a sense of history and personality that's just not found in suburbia. Perfect city-exploring weather out. Warm but not insanely hot. Took a shot of an old car that had stopped on the road to chat with a horse and buggy, about to be passed by a bus -- only in Cuba! Oops -- tour's done. Later!

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So by all accounts the tour I skipped was rather pathetic so I'm particularly glad I did that -- esp as my own tour was quite interesting AND when we did the city walk with the guide there was no time to stop and look at the stuff I stopped at earlier. The walkabout was quite interesting and I was having a lot of fun with the camera.

I also totally fell for our tour guide >;-P Well over the course of the day, but it def started with the flirting while playing tourist -- which may well be part of his job, but Kerri seemed convinced it was only directed at me *g* hahaha But seriously, cute smart and a little charmingly-naive (one might even say sweet) -- which is a characteristic I seriously thought only existed in the movies. Kinda wish I'd met him at the *start* of the trip *g* Ah well - such is life.

This pic was made so much better when Mike unexpectedly jumped into it :)
After the walking tour (where my fellow tour mates had dubbed me "the wanderer" -- and even more amusingly, started to follow to see where I'd end up :) we had lunch at the 12 Apostles restaurant at the Habana fort. The food was surprisingly tasty. Even more surprising was that I (she who doesn't drink) was the only one to finish a Mojito (yes I might've had to look up the spelling). hahaha One of the guys we were with was simply appalled by it, while Kerri's conclusion was that it tasted like a Christmas tree (I don't really want to know how she knows that, but ok :).

After lunch we went to explore the fort -- and really, if you know me at all you'll know that I love exploring old buildings. Castles outrank forts, but they're a pretty close second. Once again "wandering" away from the tour led to some great pics.

The later afternoon was in "New Habana" which didn't interest me nearly as much, but it was also mostly a bus tour so I just sat and listened. A stop at a market that was too short and somewhat disappointing (unfortunate combo there) n then back home again with a brief pina colada stop (waaaayyyy better than the hotel version!) on the way.

This shot amused me to no end. Their capital building (modeled of the US one, who they're supposed to despise) -- but 4m higher *g*) with old train cars parked in front. hahaha ok so maybe it's not funny to anybody else, but I was amused anyways.
Overall, a fairly entertaining day -- well I fell in love, really what more can you ask? *g* - although I do wish the Sunwing agent had been a little more on the ball since I was looking forward to the other museum, but as always, I ended up having fun with Plan B -- even if I had to make my own instead of using theirs :)


Taken from the fort -- at least you'd have a great view as the pirates approached!

Oh and it turns out I'm not imagining the whole "everyone is Canadian" thing -- seems of the two-million tourists Cuba has every year, more than a million of them are Canadian. There's your fun fact for the day :)

So not ready for this vacation to end.