Cuba – fantastic fun and a real adventure! An incredible 21st-century communist country!! Loved the music and old American cars. People were very nice. Absolutely loved it - a trip to remember...
Last minute planning and last minute “SUNNY” vacation.
6 days in Varadero and 2 days in Havana!
We reached 4 am at Varadero and as I was out, I loved the sound of the trees in the breeze. I closed my eyes and turned my face into the wind. It was so rejuvenating. Our resort was perfectly located by the beach and the facilities made it an ideal place for a dream Caribbean vacation! It was an all inclusive vacation (including sexy musical nights shows every night)! The food was okayish..Best part....You can have a drink anytime, anywhere!! ;) Yeah u heard it!
Beach, music, partying, chilling and being so laid back is Cuban culture. People are fun and chill! It’s like you are going back in time!
Varadero has perfect beaches, perfect temperature, a perfect resort with musical night shows and white sand..couldn’t ask for more!
Day 1: We took the scooter rental and drove into the countryside Varadero {P.S. Don’t drink and ride…You will be caught! ;)} N then just relaxed on the private beach waiting for our friends to arrive!! My friends are super enthusiastic so we planned various activities and turned the vacation into a thrilled adventure!
Day 2: We started with the nice walks on the beautiful white sand, sitting on the beach and all day soaking up the sun!!N then we booked snorkeling and MY FIRST SCUBA DIVING! Actually my first underwater lifestyle began here in CUBA! I was OK with snorkeling and I so wanted to do scuba diving, but I was not sure…How?? So I called the instructor and told the situation. He was like don’t worry you will be fine! Lol! I was the odd one out and had butterflies in my stomach all the time!!
Day 3: We were picked up at 7 am by our snorkeling instructor. He was too friendly. We did snorkel on the Coral beach. The instructor helped me to get more confident! I was extremely excited with this little adventure and wanted to do it again. Then we went to Saturno cave..it’s an interesting unique deep clear water cave. A spot to do snorkeling and swimming.. (Must do in Varadero) and then we went sightseeing Matanzas. The day ended in dancing, drinking and long night tequila chatting!!
Day 4: Scuba Morning! 7 am it is! We were picked up from our resort and were on the beautiful old fashioned car. It was a 3-hour countryside drive from our resort to Punta Perdiz – Top diving spot located in the Caribbean Sea! The drive was beautiful and then we saw cuban crab migration on the road.. OMG! We learnt every year on the island of Cuba, female land crabs migrate from their forest home to the coastline in order to release their eggs into the Caribbean Sea. The whole thing was so unpleasant. The driver didn't stop the taxi either.. arghh
And then finally we reached to the most spectacular diving site. The view was stunning. We got the equipment. It was well worn..But Hello... This is CUBA! We got 30 mins of training and instructions. Now it’s time to do the real thing!! But I was so nervous and my anxiety was increased. I was having trouble with a scuba tank. I was like this is the toughest thing ever! It was difficult to breathe && I was not trying to be dramatic. I told to myself, this is it, I can’t. But thankfully I got the BEST instructor (Thank God). He asked me to take a deep breath and hold his hands! And then I went underwater with him. I was totally in a different AMAZING world. So many beautiful fishes swimming around me. It was like Super super WOW. I was astonished by the marine life. I was a bit tired, but it really felt good. YAY!!
After the diving fun, we stopped for lunch at a small local restaurant. We were served crocodile, deer, lobster, crab & of course, vegetarian food in true Cuban style! It was a fun dive day! J
Day 5: All the way to Havana! Our beautiful traditional taxi arrived on time at 7 am. The driver/guide was too good. We stopped along the way to see various sites and then arrived in OLD HAVANA. My friend pre-booked a Casa. It was a perfect place in Old Havana! :)
Old Havana is a picture that reminds me of 1970’s…Lots of old cars, lots of people, lots of dreams, lots of hopes just like the movies. The weather was amazing!! We had a lot of fun with Guava juice. There are many restaurants with live Cuban music... which is pretty cool! We walked around in the evening, saw history at every corner and watched another beautiful sunset. It was a gorgeous day!
Day 6: 10 am!! We had a Cuban-style breakfast and then took the double decker hop on hop off bus tour. It was fun! The buildings were old and stopped at all the historical sights! It reminded me of my hometown (old Jaipur). The people were nice. We had street food n chilled beer.We spent hours on negotiating beautiful paintings and now I have in my house. It’s worth it. :) Then we said goodbye by filling up with sugar cane juice. Back to Varadero.
Day 7: Relaxed got up late and then went for “ Swimming with Dolphins adventure”. It’s a fun activity that can boost your mood and life experiences. We got to swim with dolphins in a pool. I only wish it had been for longer. We had a fancy dinner followed by a great musical show! We danced on Y.M.C.A song! Lol!
Day 8: Packed the things.. said GoodBye to CUBA and reached Canada! L
It was a perfect Caribbean vacation! Thanks to my amigos for a great wonderful vacation and loads of memories! I wanna go back!
