my trip to cuba
here is how it all went down... in a nutshell of course :o)

monday, we arrived at about 730ish cuba time. didn't do much except get used to our rooms and the hotel. we ate dinner and walked around til we found the beach. it was beautiful, eventhough we could barely see it...

tuesday, we booked our tours and dinner reservations for the restaurants on the resort, then we hit the beach all day. we went on one of them pedal boats out to the middle of the beautiful blue blue water and then laid in the sun. it was HOT! then we went on a banana boat. it was fun enough, i guess. but the pedal boat was cooler. so yeah it was a beach day pretty much... and yes, i am now dark like chocolate.

wednesday, we went to havana. i bought some cigars for nurse chris and annie... yeah havana was awesome. i wanna go back to that place. so much history... we went to the cigar factory that's been up since 1901, and we went to the christopher columbus cemetary to see all sorts of cool tombs and graves (ex. we saw the tomb of the bartender who invented the daquiri... yes, that is a cuban creation)... we only spent a day there, and it wasn't enough. i'll definitely go back there again someday.

thursday was another beach day. then we decided to rent mopeds and drive down to downtown varadero. so yeah i got to drive with
sabby sitting behind me. so fun!! we went to the flea market and that's when i got my hair braided. it was fun! we were riding back and then it started to rain... a LOT. they call it "tropical rains"... i think they mean "torrential storm". we could barely see cuz the rain was hitting us SO hard! like someone was flicking us all over our bodies! it hurt a lot mostly cuz we were wearing shorts and tank tops. but yeah we made it back with no scrathes. it was SO fun!

friday we went on a river tour (rio del canimar) and i saw jellyfish in the water! and when we got to the little ranch at one point
along the river, jac and genalyne rode horses as sabby and i lounged on the hammocks that were tied to mango trees! very relaxing.
that afternoon, we went to another tour called the "sunset cruise". it was on a large catamaran and we sailed out to the middle of
the ocean and one of the men went and snorkled for fresh lobsters that they cooked and fed us for 10 bucks a lobster! me and jac and sab didn't get one cuz we forgot our money. no big though... we got caught in another "tropical rain" which was so bad that we heard and saw thunder and lightning at the same time! everyone was huddled together under the canopy hoping they wouldn't get too soaked... they had to stop the boat and wait out the storm for half an hour. some people were all "this is it. it's the end..." crying and all. it was pretty scary. but the girls and i decided to take pictures of each other cuz we figured what else was there to do? so we smiled, took photos and i think that brightened the mood a bit... there were almost 60 people on that boat. but we got out of it unscathed. :o)

saturday, we woke up late (11pm). we decided to have another beach day, then we kicked it at the pool after :o) then later that night,
jac and i sang karaoke with a live pianist, saxaphone player, and bassist. it was COOL! people really liked us :o). after that,
a couple other people (karen and emma) we met out there took me to a club (yeah the girls didn't wanna go.. go fig). they took
me too "la rhumba" and it was so cool, cuz everyone who danced danced to salsa! then they had their little rap/r&b set. the snoop and dr. dre song (the next episode) came on. so i started c-walking. then i realized no one knew what i was doing so i stopped. it was cool tho. we saw a bunch of half decent looking guys... turns out they were all gigolos though. too bad. seeing all that is an experience.

sunday... we woke up a bit later, but we managed to get to downtown again. sabby's hair got braided, and i bought all sorts of souvenirs. then at night all we did was listen to a local band on the terrace of the hotel, and they sang this hilarious song that's been in my head ever since. it's called "la manzana" for all of you who want to surf the net for it... one key line is the one where they say "tengo una manzana en la cabeza" (i got an apple in my head). us girls (including emma and karen) just ended up kicking it out there til 2am. talking... it was fun.

and that brings us back to monday. we woke up, went to the beach for the last time, washed up, checked out, then ate lunch and kicked it in the hotel lobby til 3pm when we had to jump on the bus for the airport. and now i'm home :o)

it was all really fun, but i'm glad that i'm home and get to sleep in my own bed. now i know how kuya feels when he gets home after returning from someplace for a long period of time...