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This was our first trip to Cuba, our first time at an all inclusive resort and our first winter holiday together with Paul and Judy. We're looking forward to a break from winter -- some warm weather, sun, swimming and snorkeling.
The resort is on the north shore of Cuba far to the east. Holguin has a major airport and is inland an hour or so to the south west of the resort. I don't know why this resort is identified being in Holguin and not as in Guardalavaca which is the nearby beach side town.
We flew out of Toronto on Jetsgo airline -- a low cost Canadian carrier. Things did not go well -- our early morning departure was delayed 8 hours or so because of mechanical problems which meant we didn't get to Cuba and our resort until late in the day. They provided a token for $100 off our next flight with them but shortly after our return the airline went out of business! So that token was worthless. Some people on the plane were really pissed about the delay, we shrugged it off. That's what happens when you travel.
Paul and Judy were already there when we arrived. They had a room at one end of the resort, we were located far away at the other end. Our impressions of the resort were pretty good. The lobby is large and impressive. Grounds are well tended with lots of lovely greenery and flowers. The rooms were very nice and well appointed in scattered 4-unit two story walk up buildings. Ours was on the second floor with a balcony but we didn't get to use it very much -- mosquitos were a problem.
The next morning we went down to the beach. To get there you walk on some trails through a bit of woods -- there are no units directly on the beach. The beach was pretty so-so and seemed to have been scooped out of the woods or mangrove swamp (to the east there's a large forested area and the same to the west -- we were pretty much it in this part of the coast). The water was quite shallow, we had hoped to snorkel here but were disappointed. There was some coral but it was very beat up and you had to go a long way out to find deep water. We arranged a tour one day where we went out on a catamaran from sheltered cove between us and Guardalavaca. We got in some nice snorkeling with a guide showing us around and even took some good under water pictures. That worked well -- we ended the adventure with a lobster dinner at a beach side restaurant the "El Encla" overlooking the long sandy beach of Guardalavaca.
Where the resort failed on beaches it was a winner with swimming pools. There were several including one with a built in bar! You could swim over and take a seat at the bar while still in the water. I worry about guys sitting there drinking beer all day and pissing in the pool.
There were days when it was too cool and windy to go down to the beach. We spent some time by the pools with drinks. One day when it was rainy we spent the day playing Euchre at one of the bars. We were on an all inclusive plan and Kate decided that she ought to try all the rums available at the bar to find the one she liked best (the wines tended to be pretty poor, beer is pretty good). After sampling quite a few she decided that she liked the Havana Club 7 year old the best. The bar tender agreed with her selection. I'm of the opinion that if you have rum in a Pina-Colada it really doesn't matter what kind of rum you use.
The main dining hall was down towards the beach. The food was pretty good but it is Cuba and the variety is limited. There's lots of pork and chicken, beans and rice. There is a fancy restaurant that you can book. We had dinner there one night and the waitress came around near the end of the meal and asked us how we enjoyed our meal. At this point I decided to try some faulty Spanish and replied "Mucho Gusto!". She looked at us like we'd fallen on our heads! What I had said was "Pleased to meet you".
Another day we took a bus tour into the city of Holguin -- a bit of a peek at how the other half lives. There's very little traffic on the roads. When you see a vehicle it's either very old, pedal driven or horse drawn. On the way in I spotted a farmer in his field with an emaciated horse that had just given up - it was done and had laid down, gasping, ready to die. Probably one of most pitiable scenes seared into my memories. It's pretty hard scrabble in Cuba. The US embargo isn't helping anyone and, with the fall of the USSR, there isn't the Russian money to prop up the country.
In Holguin we toured a cigar factory -- where they still make cigars by hand. There was a bit of a black market going on where you could clandestinely buy from some of the workers. I'm not into cigars and these under the counter version may well have been old, tired and broken down like that horse we saw on the way in.
The tour took us to a show with young dancers in a rough looking building. The town has lots of Colonial era buildings but they're all in need of some paint and restoration. The dancers got us up dancing too. From there our tour had lunch in a fine restaurant in an old, but well restored colonial era building with the guys playing music on guitars and accordian. We had some time to wander the streets of Holguin -- there was a fair or event of some sort in the main square. There was an exhibition of books for sale under a tent/sun shade. They had only a very few books, so few that they didn't let people come into the tent to touch the books!
We saw lots of pedal cabs, bicycles and old motorcycles on the busy streets. Often they'd be carrying two extra passengers. I was surprised how cheerful seemed. Back at the resort I was talking to a guest about hard scrabble it was outside the privileged walls of our resort. They said, you've obviously not been to other parts of the Caribbean. It's tough on all the islands.
Anyways, it was a good holiday with Paul and Judy who we don't get to see that often. The nice thing about being in a resort is there's plenty to do, even when the weather is cooler. The bars are open, the drinks are included and you don't have to spend a lot of time figuring out where to go to eat!
We should do this again.
[Update 20/04/30: the resort is now called "Memories of Holguin Beach Resort"]
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