• November 22 Back to Maggie and Jamal’s

    We awoke early to the sound of the squirrel monkeys arriving. They came as a large troop it was impossible to count them all at the same time as they were constantly moving and appearing from different places and then hiding in the large tree. There was over a dozen. We watched them for a […more]

  • November 19 2015 Off to Maggie’s

    We were supposed to be picked up at the AirBnB place at 1pm so we had all morning to kill. We walked over to the Amon District looking for a Gallery and didn't find it. But we did find a lot of neat buildings, street art and nice places. From there we went to China […more]

  • 2015 Nov 16

    Made it to Costa Rica. We left this morning at 4am and made it to Costa Rica without a problem. We were worried about finding the AirBnB place but the instructions that we were given were good. There was a lady here to meet us and she took us to the local supermarket for provisions. […more]

  • February 21 Varadero again, Elisa and Pepe’s

    We heard that John is home and looking forward to going to Alma for his game of 45s. We should be home in time for that. We have been to Elisa and Pepe's enough that it almost feels like home. It is the beginning and end of every trip. It is a great way to […more]

  • February 19 The Plaza de Revolution, the stadium, art gallery and another good restaurant.

    We got up and had breakfast. We are rapidly running out of stuff to see in Holguin, even with a day chewed out for bureaucracy. We walked over to the Plaza de Revolution where they have huge rallies every May 1st. We got lost on our way and a nice cuban guy named Ramon walked […more]

  • February 15, Castro’s hideout.

    We were up early, we had breakfast scheduled for 6:30, pick up by the taxi at 7. We set the alarm for 6 and opened our bedroom door at 6:25 to complete blackness, at this point we didn't expect to have breakfast. But one thing we have noticed is that if you are walking anywhere […more]

  • February 12 An early escape from Santigo de Cuba and arrival in Bayamo.

    We had to leave our casa at 530 am so we were the only ones up leaving the casa. I opened the door at 520 and the taxi driver was waiting so we were early leaving. The trip to Bayamo is short so we arrived at the bus station at a reasonable time. We even […more]

  • February 6, If you don’t like the way I drive, stay out of the ditch!

    We asked the casa to move our breakfast to 0730 so we could have a little extra time to get to our tour to the rainforest that started at 8:30 It wasn't a long walk to get to the tour company but if anything went awry it would give us a few minutes to adjust. […more]

  • February 03, Rum, rum, more rum, and a chocolate soldier

    We started the day with two things in mind, the Emilio Bacardi Museum, and The Carnival Museum. We struck out completely on the Bacardi museum it is closed for renovations and not going to open until June. Strike two was the Carnival Museum. Santiago de Cuba has a Carnival much along the lines of Bahamas' […more]

  • Jan 31 Getting lost in Santiago de Cuba

    Breakfast wasn't quite as good as Pepe's but That is hardly a criticism. Pepe is a top grade chef and presentation is a big thing to chef's. The food was still very good, and lots of it. Bananas, pineapple, melons, rolls (HONEY TO DIE FOR) two boiled eggs, and amazingly good coffee. The first thing […more]

  • January 30, On our list of Good Days in Cuba, This wasn’t one of them.

    We knew it probably wasn't going to be considering we were starting out at 10:00 pm (Jan 29) for a 15 and a half hour bus ride. By the time we got to Santigo de Cuba at 13:30, with one quick bathroom break, and no coffee or any food since 5 pm the previous day […more]

  • January 29 Walking around Varadero

    Our bus was leaving at 21:45 so we had a day to walk around and do not much of anything. We checked out of Pepe's and Elisa's and they were kind enough to allow us to leave our bags in their apartment and come back and get them later. They had another guest coming in […more]

  • January 28, 2015 A day to get on Cuban time

    We always take a day for letting our bodies adjust to the climate and to go from winter hibernation mode to actually wanting to do something outside. Today is to get our tickets to Santiago de Cuba and ask Elisa to call the next casa, Walk the beach and relax. The school is closed for […more]

  • January 27 2015 ESCAPE!

    Made it out of Fredericton in the nick of time SNOWMAGGEDON was what the US was calling the storm. Our forecast was 20-30 cm (8 to 12 inches) with blowing winds. Everyone called asking if we knew about the storm and asking if we were going to get out. The weathernetwork.com weather forecast said that […more]

  • February 11, 2014 Walking around Che city (Santa Clara)

    The first day in Santa Clara we walked up to Parque Vital and then toward the Che Memorial. We walked by a wall of cartoon murals by the municipal bus station(“Los humoristas declaramos Guerra a la guerra”, “Comedians declare War on War” ) some of them were priceless and could have run anywhere in the […more]

  • February 4 2014 Final day in Trinidad, the Pottery place

    We had breakfast with a birthday cake and a present from Lily! Lily's birthday cake had a different icing than we were used to, almost a cocoa icing but an awesome chocolate flavor. We loved it, and I can't thank her enough. I got Bonnie a trip to Cuba for her birthday! Gave Lily a […more]

  • January 26, 2014 The Botanical Garden and the fort.

    We had a vegetarian omelet for breakfast, a one egg omelet with a cabbage salad inside. We were met at the Casa after breakfast by the taxi driver and his friend. Both Bonnie and I notice the driver slip his friend a commission. The taxi was an old Lada in OK shape The taxi driver […more]

  • January 22, 2014 A day to adjust to Cuban weather

    We are lazy travelers, we don't bust a gut trying to do everything and see everything. Our objective is to have a good winter vacation in Cuba, not to see and do everything. If a place is really interesting and we just HAVE to come back to see something we missed, we will, someday. In […more]

  • Back from another adventure in Cuba!

    Hi All, just a short note to say that we are back from our month long winter vacation in Cuba. We are both safe and sound barely a sunburn to be reported. Paul, our too good to be true neighbour picked us up last night at 1am and dropped us in our driveway. I turned […more]

  • Saturday is the day to move

    Looking at the various weather models the day to move is Saturday. Normally Odelia would not move on Shabbot but on rare occasions weather does not permit any other time and this is one of them. So today we will check out of the marina in Gouvia and move down to Corfu town to anchor. […more]