My parents sent us a parcel full of Christmas gifts - so exciting! They always send Ziggy something too, it's even wrapped and addressed to him. (They call him Bob.....long story.) It rattles like cat treats...
Then Brad went and hung a little stocking next to the tree for him. Oh and those plastic candy cane ornaments.....We are off to the ferry after I finish this blog post, I have a cold and an eye infection - in both eyes. Joy. So I look like I'm hung over with my red bloodshot eyes. At least we're driving on so I don't have to go up on deck. We're taking Ziggy....he sleeps on the ferry!
Have a great holiday!
I will admit - when we go to tropical places I get nervous about running into cockroaches. I have a massive, ridiculous fear of them. Quite frankly if I was surprised by one crawling on me or say - flying at my face.......well, let's just say they would have to put me in a padded room.
Right before we stepped on the bus in Havana to head back to the resort, I saw this one on the sidewalk.
The guy who was driving the bus gave me a funny look when he caught me photographing it.
Okay, so after two nights in Havana we took a bus back to our resort - we stayed at Sandals. (I'll just point out now that it was really difficult to go back there and be waited on hand and foot after being in Havana.)
The resort itself was way better than what we were expecting. This was our room:
It had lots of separate buildings rather than a massive hotel - which was very cool. The gounds were gorgeous too.
The first day (Monday) we arrived at the resort at 7:00am after no sleep on the plane (more to come on that later). We went up to our room, slept for a couple hours, then went out to explore.
We ended up at the bar and I had two drinks - a Manhattan and a 7 year aged rum - I had a totally empty stomach and was going on 2 hours sleep. 
Then we went back to our room - that had a pretty well stocked bar (all free) and had another drink......so 2:00pm and I'm wasted.....at least I learned how to pace myself on the first day!
Anyway, we spent most of our time on the beach. There was a pretty nice outdoor bar/grill right on the beach....
As we were lying on the beach, they would come over and ask us if we wanted anything from the bar and bring it to you as you lied there like a slug on your lounger......I won't lie - it was pretty f***ing awesome. It was also weird not paying for anything - other than tips.
This was the first time either of us had stayed at a resort so we didn't really know what it would be like. This is what a lot of people did most of the time:
...which was totally not our scene. I'll admit - it was warmer here because the pools were sheltered from the wind. But they played music all day and there were people crammed too close together around the pool. The only time we stayed near the pool was after we had a drink at the swim-up bar - which was on my to-do list.
The other thing that blew my mind was there was free room service breakfast. You filled out what you wanted, hung it outside your door, requested a time for it to be delivered and they brought it to you room. We ate our breakfast on the balcony in the sun.
There was so much going on in the resort too - 4 restaurants to try (Italian, Caribbean, Seafood and the Beach Restaurant), there were 3 meals a day at the main buffet restaurant, a small creperie and coffee shop with live music at night, there were concerts on a big stage almost every night, lots of grounds to lie around on if the beach was cold and the pool isn't your thing and the rooms were comfy too - with private balconies.
So definitely worth the money for that type of trip - if you want to get away and not have to worry about anything other than what drink to order next, or which restaurant to try that night. But you don't get the cultural experience of Cuba - for that you have to do what we did and go off the resort.
I'm going to split my posts about Cuba up because there is so much to show you guys, I know you will get bored if I ramble it all off in one post.
We left the resort we were staying at and spent two nights at a Bed and Breakfast in La Habana (Havana). Here is a photo of the place where we stayed - that is our hostess Maria waving goodbye to us in the upper left balcony, that was our suite.
Here is a view of the street from our balcony. The streets were super busy and crazy. But at night everything totally calmed down and it was really quiet.
This is a view across the same street - obviously I was horrified to see that there were actually people living in that building.
So we checked in, met Maria and then went out to explore Havana. We walked almost everywhere because we were staying in Central Havana which is close to Old Havana where all the most interesting things to see were. Here are some typical streets in Havana.
....compared to a street that is fixed up for the tourists.....
The architecture is ridiculously gorgeous in this city. It's also really sad to see it all literally falling down around us.
The best example was this building - see the scaffolding they set up? Notice the amount of trees and bushes growing on the scaffolding? See how the building inside is GONE? There was just rubble with huge trees growing out of it. What the hell happened?!
Click on the video. DO. IT. (It's only 30 seconds!) Obviously no rules of the road in Havana. We took a 3-wheel taxi and it was so fun! Here is a photo of the back of a similar taxi....
We visited this famous plaza and had lunch - we split a Cuban Sandwich - pork, ham and cheese. There was a local Cuban band playing here, they were great so we bought their CD.
Maria, the hostess of the B&B was lovely. Holy CRAP did our Spanish lessons ever come in handy! She knew a little bit of English so between us we were able to talk with her about life in Cuba - she used to be a physics professor!
She offered us breakfast ($5 each) and it was fantastic - fresh fruit, yogurt, coffee (Cuban style - super strong) toast, fresh squeezed papaya juice - there was so much food there was no way we could finish it off. She also offered to cook us dinner and serve it to us in our room - we jumped at the chance to try real home made Cuban food - roast chicken, black bean soup, rice, bread, veggies, beer and wine, dessert....$15. Again - fantastic.
Here are some shots of our place and the meals.
Again, more gorgeous architecture......
So overall Havana was awesome. Lots of history and interesting people who - by the way were super friendly. A bit of a shock for me - I didn't realize the people were so poor.....but all in all I would go back, it was an amazing experience.
The other thing it has left me with is how lucky I am to live in Canada. I mentioned the state of most of the buildings, lots of people unemployed...the sidewalks were totally falling apart, there are lots of old cars which was neat - but they are just that - old cars that spew out lots of exhaust. I can't think of the last time I was overwhelmed by car exhaust - even in Vancouver.
The day after we got back Brad was saying that he was sad to be back - I pointed out some random machinery noise outside and said "Do you hear that? Someone is fixing something."
We're catching up on sleep, sorting through photos (550!) and dealing with the fact that our vacation is over. I'll update you guys on our trip soon!
I'm packing for Cuba! 
I wish I could say this is all I'm taking, but I have a feeling that while we're at the resort this is all I'll be wearing. (That's my new beach cover up!) The rest of the clothes I'm taking are for Havana.
Brad has spent the last couple of days emailing me nothing but photos of the beach and Havana.
So today is laundry, last minute errands, my work Christmas party is tonight. Tomorrow we leave for Vancouver a night early so see some old friends. Sunday we leave on the red eye for Varadero.
Brad is already packed.
See you all some time after the 13th....hasta luego!
Last night we saw Leonard Cohen in concert.
It was so refreshing to go see a concert put on by a gentleman who wears a suit and fedora to put on a show. He is such a class act - and his music - seriously. I can't even explain how amazing the show was.
(Photo: Victoria Times Colonist)
I cried all the way through Bird on a Wire because it was so beautiful. I was amazed at the raw emotion he still puts into these songs - even after all these years.
The musicians he had on stage with him were ridiculously amazing as well. Dino Soldo played instruments I've never even seen before - and he did it with such passion - everyone was on their feet.
At one point, I looked around at the crowd and not one person was up moving around the aisles, walking out to the bathroom or anything. Everyone was transfixed - it was one of the best concerts I've ever attended.
It's that time again - I've read four books since the last post. I blame this low number on all the crafting I've been doing for the craft show.
Anyway, I'll begin.
Far from the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
What can I say other than: genius? If you've been reading my blog you know he's my favourite and after a rather disturbing/emotional read before this I found myself running back to Hardy almost like a security blanket. Which is interesting because his books are nothing but heartache and wretchedness.....but there is something so beautiful about it. It's hard to explain. Not my favourite book of his, but incredible nonetheless.
The Raw Shark Texts - Steven Hall
This was a book recommended to me by my boss. It sounded kind of like Memento so it peaked my interest - I don't normally read books like this. It was umm.....interesting. It totally gets you hooked from the start, and keeps the pace throughout the book - but it's confusing. At times I wasn't sure what the hell was going on and in the end it wasn't totally explained, but I guess that's part of what makes it good. Overall, I would recommend it.
The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy - James Anderson
Sometimes I get an itch for a good murder-mystery, so I head to the library and randomly pick off the shelf. I like my murders classy - a big house with lots of interesting people locked up in it, someone is shot with a revolver in the music room and a smart ass detective shows up and explains it all at the end. James Anderson delivers. I really enjoyed it. I'm planning on reserving another of his books for the beach in Cuba.
The Secret of Annexe 3 - Colin Dexter
Yawn. I brought this one home because sometimes English murder mysteries are really good. This one was boring, the characters not engaging at all and the story just didn't run the way I like. The murder wasn't even that interesting. Don't bother.
I'm reading an awesome book right now (I'm back on to novels for the moment) so it will be the first of my next batch of reviews. Cause I know you guys all run out and get these books based on my advice.
Ha. Ha.
Esta mucho viento hoy en Victoria.
I've been meaning to tell you guys about the Spanish classes we are taking for a while now - we only have two classes left! Our teacher is hilarious and speaks pretty good English but we can tell it's her first time teaching a Spanish class. Here's why:
In our first class she taught us how to say simple things like 'Good morning' and 'How are you', please and thank you.
The next class she wrote a whole bunch of words on the whiteboard like dog (perro), cat (gato), sandwich (bocadillo), ice cream (helado).
But she hadn't taught us words like what, where, when, you, I, he, she etc. so I was having a hard time putting the language together if you know what I mean.
Then in one class she told us to write down some simple sentences. This is the English version of what I could come up with based on what she had taught us:
Ice cream dog sandwich.
While looking through the library I found this book - The Cat in the Hat Dictionary in Spanish!
It's actually been pretty helpful! She has JUST taught us how to conjugate verbs so we're working on that, but we don't know many verbs yet.
Jo tengo un gordo problemo gato.
Sitting in that cramped seat I thought about how I was going to craft this blog post, thought about mojitos, dreamt about punching Greg in the face.....anything to get through the next 30 minutes. Then....Greg's ears wouldn't pop.
Get this - he seriously started Howling. Like. Tarzan. To clear his ears?!
He acted like a normal human being on the way back - lucky for the poor soul sitting next to him. Good thing because it was a 7.5 hour flight home.
