{"id":34741,"date":"2017-03-30T01:00:05","date_gmt":"2017-03-30T06:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/?p=34741"},"modified":"2017-03-30T06:44:03","modified_gmt":"2017-03-30T11:44:03","slug":"visiting-cuba-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/?p=34741","title":{"rendered":"Visiting Cuba – Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week I wrote about the volunteering portion of our recent trip to Cuba<\/a>, and today it’s more about the fun things we did on our free time.\u00a0 Mike and I, along with another couple arrived two days earlier than the group, and we stayed on four days longer after everyone else had returned home.\u00a0 My husband plans out these trips, and he really can’t relax while the group is all there.\u00a0 So, we have learned to go early and stay late in order for him to have some actual vacation.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0\"Cuba<\/p>\n

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We took two separate day trips to Havana, which is about a two-hour drive from where we were staying in Varadero.\u00a0 Havana is a beautiful old city, and it has a lot of energy.<\/p>\n

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\"Cuba<\/p>\n

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We spent time in the old section, and I am thrilled that they have placed so much emphasis in restoring the buildings.\u00a0 A couple in our group had been there five years ago, and they saw major improvements this time.\u00a0 That makes me so happy.\u00a0 I am all for restoring the old.<\/p>\n

\"Cuba<\/p>\n

We stopped by some of Ernest Hemingway’s famous hangouts.\u00a0 They were packed, but it was still really cool to be someplace that he felt was special.\u00a0 His home, which is located outside of Havana,\u00a0 is open for tours, but we just didn’t have time to go there.\u00a0 Maybe on our next visit……..<\/p>\n

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\u00a0\"Cuba<\/p>\n

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We stopped by the famous National Hotel<\/a>, and toured the bunker that is located on their property.\u00a0 We also had afternoon tea there, but it ended up being afternoon coffee because they were out of tea.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0\"Cuba<\/p>\n

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When we took outings, we ate our meals in privately owned restaurants as instead of those owned by the government. We literally walked through a little garden door like this one, and ended up in a big restaurant in someone’s back yard that was packed with happy people, happy music, and great food.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0\"Cuba<\/p>\n

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We saw this guy in one of the restaurants where we ate.\u00a0 I thought he looked just like Jesus, and I asked if we could take our photo with him.\u00a0\u00a0 He laughed when I told him why.\u00a0 The lady with my is my son’s mother-in-law Janet.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0\"Cuba<\/p>\n

The whole country is just loaded with colorful vintage cars.\u00a0 The men really loved them.<\/p>\n

\"Cuba<\/p>\n

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One night we rented convertibles and took a moonlight tour of the peninsula where Varadero is located, and then they took us to a delicious private restaurant for dinner.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0\"Cuba<\/p>\n

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We also rented a horse and buggy one day for a ride back to the hotel after shopping at the market.\u00a0 The horses were everywhere.\u00a0 People who have figured out how to work hard to make a better living have an easier life in Havana.<\/p>\n

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\"Cuba<\/p>\n

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We went to Al Capone’s Cuban house.\u00a0 He (alledgedly) ran rum to the USA during the prohibition days.\u00a0 His house was right on the water.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0\"Cuba<\/p>\n

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This was Al’s neighbor.<\/p>\n

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\"Cuba<\/p>\n

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We also went to the Cuban home of Irenee Dupont de Nemours who founded the Dupont company.\u00a0 It is now a hotel\/golf resort\/restaurant, but back in the day, it was their vacation retreat.\u00a0 We took a day visit there and then went back for dinner one night.<\/p>\n

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\"Cuba<\/p>\n

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Its bar was in one of the most beautiful settings I have ever been to.\u00a0 I always try to imagine what these places were like in their hay day when they were used for their intended purpose.\u00a0 I had my best pina colada there.<\/p>\n

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\"Cuba<\/p>\n

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We did a very touristy thing and visited a crocodile farm, and this man worked there.\u00a0 I loved his weathered look.\u00a0 He kept that baby\u00a0 in his pocket.<\/p>\n

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\"Cuba<\/p>\n

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These guys were very ugly and probably very hungry.<\/p>\n

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\"Cuba<\/p>\n

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We also went to the Bay of Pigs, and this is it.\u00a0 It was such a dark time in our history, but it looked very benign in person.<\/p>\n

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\"Cuba\"<\/p>\n

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One of the reasons we wanted to get to Cuba now was to get there before it becomes “Americanized.”\u00a0 The Russians, Canadians, and Europeans have been going to Cuba on holiday for years, but we fear that American tourists will be more demanding, and with that some of the charm and purity will be lost.\u00a0 This sanitized pristine resort that we saw is a perfect example of what I am talking about.\u00a0 I like to stay where the real travelers stay rather than the tourists.\u00a0 There’s a difference.<\/p>\n

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Mr. Right and I are planning to do a bicycle trip in Cuba, probably next year.\u00a0 Our travel plans and bicycling trips are all planned\u00a0 for this year.\u00a0 It will be a great way to see Cuba from a whole other perspective.\u00a0 I want to write one more post about our trip to Cuba to offer up some travel tips for those of you who plan on going there soon.\u00a0 Meanwhile, you might enjoy this book<\/a> about it.<\/p>\n

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Take care.<\/p>\n

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Affiliate link used.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week I wrote about the volunteering portion of our recent trip to Cuba, and today it’s more about the fun things we did on our free time.\u00a0 Mike and I, along with another couple arrived two days earlier than the group, and we stayed on four days longer after everyone else had returned home.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":34764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34741"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34741"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34793,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34741\/revisions\/34793"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}