A Winter Get Away

    It has been a while since we have posted a blog. The world is in turmoil and although we are well and have lots of time to blog, we just have not got around to it. February and March seem so long ago. Well, now we want to continue to update you on the things that we have been doing. Let's start back in February...

   Winter in New Brunswick can be hard with wind with an abundance of snow. According to many who have lived here for years, it seems that this year has not been too bad but there have been days when you would just like to stay in your warm bed.

Most properties around Fredericton do not have eavestroughs, resulting in extensive icicle formation and chunks of snow and ice sliding off roofs.

This is what we see from our kitchen window.

     Off to our winter getaway. Destination is Cuba via Ontario. On the flight from Fredericton to Toronto, I was involved with an accident on the plane as it was landing. As soon as it touched down, the plane engines were reversed to assist in stopping.  When that happened, the drink cart at the back, which was likely not secured properly, became disengaged and flew down the aisle. It was a blur as it went by but as it passed, the lady behind and I were hit by it because our arms were jutting out a bit beyond our aisle seat armrests. She injured her elbow and it hit my arm.  The cart continued rocketing down the aisle and hit the back of a seat that was near the front of the cabin. The individual in that seat was injured enough that they had to get an ambulance to take the person off the plane.  My injury resulted in bruising and swelling.  I sent in an incident report to Air Canada and was compensated with a credit which I was hoping to use for my flight to Switzerland in April but.... that is another story. My arm has recovered well with no signs of damage. What a great way to start our vacation!

     In Ontario we met with our family and got to see our grandchildren. It was lovely.

Henry found a yummy icicle with Grandpa

We met Thomas face to face for the first time.
What a delightful child!

And we met Ruby for the first time as well.
Love her smile for the camera.

     After several days, we were off to Cuba and the sun.

The photographer in the shadows

Welcome to Varadero, the area where we stayed. There was a
strip along the ocean with many resorts. We stayed at the .....

Paradisus Princesa del Mar Resort

The view from our balcony

We paid extra for "Royal" service which meant we had access to
the Royal Service pool (shown here). We also had access to several 
restaurants and our own butler, Ernesto, who was great.

Coconuts everywhere

The trails and pathways around the resort were wonderful
to walk and we did do a lot of walking

We look wind swept.

The beach

The water was nice and clear

Not too many in the water. Some days the beach and all of the 
activities planned there were cancelled due to strong winds and
waves. Al was able to go Scuba diving one morning at two 
different locations and he thoroughly enjoyed his time with the fish.

Just like at the pool, many claim their chair and hope to bake in the sun.

Out for a stroll

     Because 90% of the guests typically are from Canada, each week the resort honours the Canadian guests with a special lunch with live music on Wednesdays. I am not sure how people learned about this event because it was not posted anywhere. I believe that we heard about it from another guest. I attended this event, as Al was away from the resort scuba diving. Other than the cake with "Canada" on it, there was really nothing Canadian about the event.

The food was the typical food that you would get at this outdoor restaurant.

The celebratory cake

     Euchre anyone? We worked with the resort's recreational director to set up a euchre tournament for those Canadians who knew how to play. We had three full tables of players and it was a great night. The resort provided some prizes (rum and Cuban coffee) and they also provided a lovely spread of appetizers for us. The Cuban staff know nothing about the game let alone how to pronounce the word but they were wonderful to work with and did everything to make the evening a success.

The group of Canadian Euchre players at the tournament that we organized

     One day we went to Havana, the capital city of  Cuba. We were driven in a 1950's Chevy Bel-air. It took 1-1/2 hours to drive to Havana but along the way we stopped at the tourist stop which had a bar, shops and a nice view. Once in the city we were taken by the tour guide to the well-known buildings and streets. The streets were small. Although they were busy, behind the facade you could see the poverty of the city dwellers. Many small shop owners were engaged in trying to draw you into their shop. Apparently, Ernest Hemingway enjoyed being in Cuba so we visited the Hotel Ambos Mundos where he stayed. We saw street performers, classic cars galore and lots of history.

Here we are standing beside the car in which we toured Havana. There are many, many old cars
in Cuba. They are refurbished and well maintained. The majority of them are used
for tourism, transporting people as a taxi or a personal tour. We had a driver and
a tour guide with us. 

Our view from the back seat.

At our first stop on the way to Havana. They are very proud of this bridge

     In Havana:

The architecture of the city has a Spanish influence

Pineapple topped pillars surround this building.
An indication of warmth, friendship, welcoming
and hospitality.

A statue of Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, a Cuban revolutionary hero, in Plaza de Armas

An old fountain in the middle of "old" Havana surrounded by lush greenery

Street performers. Very colourful and skillful on the stilts.

A typical narrow street in "old Havana"

The colourful native dress on the left. Too bad the tourist with the cell
phone (as well as the seated woman) date the photo, otherwise it could easily have represented 100 years ago.

Hotel Ambos Mundos was the hotel where Ernest Hemingway stayed
 while in Cuba. Unique architecture.

Inside the Hotel Ambos Mundos. The end wall is a tribute to Hemingway.

A furniture factory in the middle of the city on a narrow street

Some streets are very narrow

Our tour guide took us down an alleyway to an area where doors in the walls lead to homes.

A water tank on the roof of one home

Looking down to the back of the alley.

Very old crumbling walls inside the alleyway 
leading to the homes. Junk, overloaded electrical 
boxes and crumbling walls are abundant.

Old cannons are stuck in the roadway to stop the traffic

A classic car in the narrow street

Some streets are crowded with tourists and trades people.

School children going home from school

Drying clothes on the top floor

We went into a small market. I don't think that I would
buy any of the fruits and vegetables. There must be very
low health standards.

This is the Plaza de la Catedral. We are looking at the
Cathedral which was built in 1727.

There are many statues of people along the streets. This one is in the Plaza 
de la Catedral. The statue is of Antonio Gades who was a 
flamenco dancer (claimed to be his generation's greatest 
male Spanish dancer).

La Bodeguita Del Medio is famous for the various personalities
which reportedly patronized it. It has been claimed that it was
a favourite of Ernest Hemingway. It also claims to be the location
where the mojito cocktail was invented. It all sounds good,
especially for the tourists.

Some walls are made of cut coral rock. Very interesting! They have held up well.

The parking lots are full of rows and rows of classic cars (taxis)

These three wheeled vehicles are another way of  transportation
around the city. Odd little things.

This depicts Camilio Cienguegas and the words "Vas bien 
Fidel" which mean, "You're doing fine, Fidel".

This wall depicts Che Guevara, an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, guerilla leader, diplomat and military theorist.  He was a major figure of the Cuban Revolution.  The words on the building are "Hosta la Victoria Siempre" which means,
"Until the Everlasting Victory, Always".

This depicts Jose Marti, a Cuban poet, philosopher, professor and publisher who
was another key figure in Cuba's independence from Spain.

The monument is 359 feet tall and dominates the square.

On the way back to the resort we stopped on the other side of
the bridge we first saw in the morning.

On a lookout beside the river

For years I have tried to play table tennis with Al but I was
never very good. My hand-eye coordination was just always
off. We played one day at the resort and to my pleasant surprise, I
was pretty good. I could return the ball not only once but
many times. The nice thing about it was that I enjoyed playing.
Maybe I should work on it more whenever we get a chance.

     We returned to Canada at the end of February and our whole world changed..... It was nice to travel to Cuba and finally see the country that so many Canadian travel to during the winter months.