Canada

Vejret i Canada var varmere end vejrudsigten havde antydet 14 dage tidligere - godt 24 grader de 3 første dage men så faldt temperaturen også dramatisk med 10 grader på hver af de følgende 2 dage, så det var næsten vinter inden vi tog hjem igen. Også i Canada var der mange hjemløse på gaden, men tilsyneladende er det ikke indvandrerne, men de etniske canadier der er ramte.

Der er vildt mange forskellige nationaliteter samlet - det ses især på de mange farvede, som fylder gadebilledet. Det er tilsyneladende kun den vestlige verden, der er ude for dette fænomen med udskiftning af den oprindelige befolkning.

Vi boede på Holiday Inn, 30 Carlton Street meget centralt i Toronto, hvor mange seværdigheder lå tæt på the Waterfront, men afstandene var alligevel mega, så Max's vedholdenhed ikke at ville tage metroen, gjorde det temmelig tidskrævende at komme fra en destination til den næste, men vi fik da set både Ripleys's Aquarium, Casa Loma, Kensington market og CN Tower (i sidstnævnte havde vi udsigt over det meste af den store by men jeg var lidt skuffet over afskærmningen efter at have været i Dubai's Al Khalifa).

Vi var på en heldagstur til Niagra Falls, hvor vi tog afsted omkring kl. 9 om morgenen og først var tilbage kl. 19. På turen mødte vi bl.a. en sød ung britisk pige, som havde taget turen over alene. Det var åbenbart ikke første gang, at hun gjorde sådanne rejser alene. Da vi ankom til destinationen virkede som det kun var kinesere, der havde valgt samme udflugtsmål. Det var næsten umuligt at se andre nationaliteter, da vi stod i kø for at komme om bord på den båd The Hornblower, som skulle sejle os tæt på vandfaldet. Med 1 mia. kinesere i verden bliver det nok ikke et særsyn fremover. I øvrigt var der så meget gang i vandfaldet, at vi måtte søge ly for vandet, da vi kom helt tæt på. Det virkede ret voldsomt. Vi fik en god middag på Sheraton on the Falls og besøgte også en særlig by på vejen hjem Niagra-On-The-Lake. Det er en af Nordamerikas mest velbevarede byer fra 1900-tallet og noget af det mest idylliske og fine lille by med smukt anlagte haver, et hyggeligt klokketårn og meget mere. Det er ikke unormalt, at folk kører rundt hestevogn her. Den mindede mig om samme slags turistattraktion uden for Shanghai, hvor man har bevaret en gammel by, som man skulle betale for at komme ind i.

Jeg plejer ikke at bryde mig om museer men Royal Ontarium Museum har den flotteste samling af natursten der ligner smykker i sig selv - de er så flotte, at de ikke kan beskrives. Desuden er der alle mulige andre flotte samlinger lige fra det gamle Kina og Egypten til alle mulige fortidsdyr.

Desværre nåede vi ikke Toronto Zoo et godt stykke uden for byen på grund af vejret. Det regnede en del dagen før vi skulle hjem, hvor det var planen at nå dertil. Selve Toronto er i øvrigt nem at finde rundt i og meget moderne i lighed med andre vestlige storbyer - især bemærker man de mange meget dyre biler uden at jeg dog har kendskab til landets bilafgifter.

Vi spiste både på kinesiske, japanske og thai restauranter og nåede ikke at finde ud af nationalretten i Canada.

Vi kunne sagtens have brugt et par dage mere, men samtidig er man træt efter at rejse rundt så meget. Det er jo hårdt at holde ferie, og Canada er heller ikke ligefrem et billigt sted.

The weather in Canada turned out warmer than the weather cast had predicted 2 weeks before - almost 24 degrees centigrade the first 3 days of the stay, but then the temperature fell dramatically with 10 degrees each of the following 2 days, so we ended practically up with Winter before we went back home to a climate just as cold despite the time of year. As in Cuba Canada also has many homeless people on the streets. Very strikening it is not the immigrants on the streets but the etnic Canadians.

There are  many different nationalities in Toronto - you can tell by the many colored people in the streets. Exchange of the native people is a phenomena only seen in the western world.

We stayed in Holiday Inn, 30 Carlton Street with a very central location to the many sights in Toronto,many of which were close to the Waterfront, but distances were mega non the less, so Max's perseverance not to take the metro made it a rather time demanding issue to get from one destination to the next, but anyway we did get to see both Ripleys's Aquarium, Casa Loma, Kensington market and the CN Tower (the latter did give us a peak over most of the big city although I was a bit disappointed because over the fencing in compared to the Al Khalifa in Dubai).

We did go on a one day tour to Niagra Falls leaving around 9 a.m. in the morning not returning until 7 p.m. in the evening. During the tour we talked to a nice young British girl pige, who had made the journey across all by herself. It was obviously not the first time that she did such a holiday alone. At the arrival of our destination it seemed as if only chinesee had chosen the same excursion. Cueing for the boat The Hornblower, which should take us close to the waterfall you could see no any other nationality but the Chinesee. With more than 1 billion Chinesee on the planet that will probably not be a rarity in the future. The water fall was so heavy that we had to go indoors on the boat when we came close up. It seemed pretty rough. On our way back we visited an ancient very tidy looking town Niagra-On-The-Lake dating back from the 1900 century. It is one of North America's best preserved Towns and very idyllically with beautiful gardens, a cosy belfry and a lot more. It is not rare that people in this town drive around in horse-drawn carriage. It reminded me of a small town with the same purpose in Shanghai that I visit but with the difference that you had to pay to get in.

Usually I do not fancy museums but Royal Ontarium Museum has the most amazing collection of natural stones and many being a piece of jewelry in itself - they are so spetacular that you need to see them to understand. Besides these stones there are all sort of pretty and interesting Collections from ancient China and Egypt as well as prehistoric animals.

Because of a rainy day we did not make the Toronto Zoo some 1½ hours' ride outside town so we missed a tour on our tour pass tickets. It is easy to find your way around Toronto city, which is very modern similar to many equally big cities in the western world - specifically noticable is the many very expensive cars not that I know how much you tax pay on cars.

We ate both in Chinesee, Japanesee and Thai restaurants and really did not find out what the national dish in Canada is.

A couple of days more for exploration would have been fine, but at the same time you are very tired after a long time moving around. Holiday is hard Word and Canada isn't exactly a  cheap place to be.

Cuba

Første indtryk af Cuba var stegende varme selvom klokken var 10 om aftenen samt det at blive sat tilbage i tiden. Gamle huse og biler fra 50-erne og ingen reklameskilte bortset for propaganda for helten Che Guevara og hyldest til republikken og Fidel Castro. Cuba er et fattigt land og har hovedsagelig undgået bankerot pga. turisme, men de ved så til gengæld også, hvordan de skal flå folk. Alt i Cuba er 10 gange så dyrt for turister som for indbyggerne, så det er ikke specielt billigt at opholde sig i landet. Deres valuta CUC følger dollarkursen, som jo er steget kraftigt det seneste års tid. Deres anden valuta pesos er meget lidt værd og ikke særlig anvendelig hvor turisterne kommer.  Der findes ikke ret mange butikker, og dem som findes er nærmest usynlige. De har næsten intet udvalg og der mangler ofte varer på hylderne. Cubanerne lever mest af hvad de selv kan dyrke og de er ikke specielt gode til at lave mad.

Der er mange europæiske turister på Cuba - især tyske med deres helt egen guide mens kinesere og andre asiater, muslimer og amerikanere glimrer ved deres fravær. Et land, der mere eller mindre stadig er sin helt egen med helt egen oprindelig befolkning.

Dejligt at opleve livet igen uden internet. Det giver så meget mere tid, når man ikke skal opfylde alle de krav, som er kommet i forbindelse med nettets indtræden i den offentlige sfære.

Der er folk i Cuba, som sover på gaden på trods af, at regeringen giver fri uddannelse, lægehjælp og yder madpenge, og de lokale tigger konstant, hvilket bliver en større og større belastning - jo længere man opholder sig i landet. Man skal helst undgå øjenkontakt, da man ellers bliver mødt med en fremstrakt hånd om at give lidt penge. De ser selvfølgelig os turister som meget velhavende. En receptionist på et hotel tjener ca. 50 CUC = 350 kr. om måneden, så der er ikke meget at slå til Søren med. Jeg blev bl.a. spurgt om jeg ville give min lille rygsæk til dørmanden på hotellet, da hans søn på 7 år lige var begyndt i skole. En mærkelig fornemmelse at få den form for tiggeri udstukket. Så kan man jo undre sig over, at en køretur med privatchauffør for en enkelt dag koster 120 CUC. De penge var godt givet ud, da det egentlig var den pris vi skulle have givet for samme oplevede, som hvis vi havde købt den med bus hjemmefra, og oven i købet slap vi for at sidde i en bus samt at måtte følge mængden af turister. Vi kørte i en gammel flot istandsat amerikanerbil - en rigtig flyder med masser af plads. Dog måtte vi konstatere, at gammeldags støddæmpere ikke har den samme affjedring, som vi ser i dag. Vejene på Cuba er i ringe tilstand, så man hoppede noget op og ned i løbet at turen.

Ikke mange taler engelsk, og chaufføren, som skulle køre os til Vinãles talte kun spansk - det fik vi først at vide lige inden afgang, så vi fik lige indhentet nogle gloser og sætninger i receptionen til hjælp. Med et meget lille ordforråd fik vi gjort os forståelig over for chaufføren, så vi kunne udfritte ham for nye ord. Han var tålmodig alle 10 timer vi kørte med ham og Max donerede ham 20 CUC i drikkepenge, fordi vi ikke kunne få vekslet. Det fik ham til at flække fra øre til øre. Jeg tænker at han aldrig før havde fået så mange drikkepenge, men det blev også den eneste gang, hvor vi afgav så store drikkepenge ellers ville vi være blevet ruineret.

Max var utrolig god til at huske og lære og i løbet af kun 2 dage havde han fyldt en masse ord og sætninger i et medbragt skrivehæfte, så vi fint kunne begå os resten af tiden på Cuba.

Selv med næsten ingen trafik på vejene var der ca. 2½ times kørsel til Vinãlesdalen, som er et UNESCO Verdensarvsområde på grund af de limstensbjerge, mogotes, som dominerer området - vi besøgte bl.a. Mural de la Prehistoria med kalkmalerier på bjergvæggen og sejlede inde i drypstenshuler. På vejen til Vinäles stoppede vi også ved bl.a. et kulturområde med en lille udendørs bar og ved en tobaksplantage. På plantagen spurgte en mand hvor vi kom fra og da vi sagde Danmark, var hans bemærkning; have you no sun? vi lignede jo kridt i forhold til de lokale. Vi havde da kun været i Havanna en enkelt dag, hvor vi prøvede at flygte lidt for solen og varmen, som virkede ret ulidelig. Jeg blev brændt allerede i Sightseeingsbussen den første dag, fordi vi valgte at sidde ovenpå, hvor mit hat ikke kunne blive på hovedet, når bussen kørte. Om aftenen var vi ude og spise på La Mina i Havanna. Ret dyrt når man tænker på, at man er i et fattigt land hvor folk næsten ingen penge har. Maden var heller ikke særlig god, så vi fandt dagen efter en lille Pizza restaurant Don Julio i den gamle bydel, hvor vi boede tæt på centrum. Om aftenen stod den på drinks i hotellets bar og snak med dørmænd og bartendere.

Hotelværelset på Armadores de Santander i Havanna var stort og i 2 afdelinger med sofaarrangement i den ene afdeling - måske ikke ligefrem luksus efter danske forhold men alligevel fint. Værelset lå lige ved en stor terrasse med udsigt over en del af havnen i nærheden af Plaza de San Francisco.

Vi forsøgte om lørdagen 1. maj at komme med til den årlige demonstration på pladsen Plaza de Revulozión. Vi havde fået at vide, at det var omkring kl. 12 og at der kom en million mennesker, så vi tænkte, at det varede hele dagen. Da vi kom kl. 11:30 var det hele overstået og næsten alt pakket væk. Det havde varet ca. 20 min., var startet omkring kl. 9 og der havde kun været omkring 600 mennesker.

Vi så ikke folk danse, men der er musikbands alle vegne, som prøver at sælge deres CD'er i forsøg på at lave lidt penge. De går fra restaurant til restaurant og spiller - åbenbart med restauranternes velsignelse.

Vi blev i øvrigt hentet og bragt i taxa under hele turen undtagen da vi kørte de ca. 5-6 timer med bus fra Havanna til Trinidad med kun 3 stop. Faktisk også kun den eneste gang, hvor vi måtte vente på at blive afhentet, fordi bussen også skulle til andre hoteller og afhente. Alt på Cuba går langsomt, men det virker trods alt sjovt nok bedre end DSB i Danmark. Vi havde en del ventetid i lufthavnen på bagagen da vi ankom, men ellers gik alt faktisk på slaget.

I Trinidad boede vi på et Casa Particulare som svarer til det engelsk bed and breakfast. Der er åbnet op for at cubanerne kan have selvstændig virksomhed, og man kan tjene pænt på at have turister boende. Vi boede hos Amarilys Y Andrés i en smal bygning med stejle trapper. Vi fik et lille værelse med eget toilet og bad med udgang til den overdækkede terrasse - heldigvis var der air condition for der var endnu mere ulidelig varmt i Trinidad. Vi fik ikke set meget, da vi kom, da vi var helt udmattet af varmen og den lange køretur, så vi spiste hos Amarilys og gik tidlig i seng. Næste morgen fik vi små pandekager, mango og lidt toast og ost - cubanerne har slet ikke det madvareudvalg som vi europæere er vant til, så de må spise det, som de selv kan dyrke. Amarilys havde mangotræ i haven og lavede den bedste kolde mangojuice. Vi fik talt en del med hende trods sprogvanskelighederne - en smule spansk blandet med lidt engelsk. Hun var i gang med at lære engelsk for at kunne tale med kunderne. Bagefter tog vi på byvandring kl. 10, hvor det allerede var omkring 32-33 grader, Vi var bl.a. oppe i bytårnet i Museo de Historico Municipal for at se ud over byen - en fantastisk udsigt over et gammelt samfund. Det er hårdt at gå i Trinidad, som består af smalle stejle gader, der kun belagt med toppede brosten. Ligesom i Havanna er aftenslivet meget afdæmpet - ingen diskoteker og larmende unge mennesker. Man hænger bare ud på små barer og cafeer eller sidder rundt omkring i gaderne og nyder, at det er blevet lidt køligere. Salsa er nok mest arrangementer for turister.

Trinidad er meget lille og er hurtig at overse men særlig med sin gamle stil, de små snævre gader og farverige smalle huse. En by uden højhuse og alt det moderne teknologi vi vesterlændinge er hjernevasket med. Dog er en masse mennesker begyndt at bygge en ekstra etage oven på deres eksisterende hus, hvilket vel er konsekvensen af den nye politik med at folk kan eje og have lidt egen virksomhed.

Efter nogle dage i Trinidad gik turen videre nordpå igen til Varadero, en 20 kilometer lang tange med masser af hoteller specielt til turister. Det er en helt anden verden på Cuba, hvor man kun finder turister og udlandscubanere, der inviterer familien på et ophold. Der er lidt køligere og mere luft pga. beliggenheden. Vi boede "all inclusive" så ingen penge op af lommen. Omgivelserne lever op til de absolut flotteste, og strandene er fantastiske om end vandet indimellem kan være noget utilgængeligt pga store bølger, men så er der jo poolen. Vi ramte en periode, hvor der ikke var mange gæster på hotel Naviti, da hovedafdelingen var under reparation. Vi boede et stykke fra det store hotel i bugalowlignende bygninger ved vandet, så der var stille og roligt - nok lidt for stille og roligt. Max underholdte sig selv med bartenderne i den udendørs bar og mødte også nogle tyskere, som han var lidt sammen med. Hver aften var der en eller anden form for underholdning, men den var for det meste ret kedelig - kun en svømmeopvisning var lidt speciel. Vi slappede meget af ind imellem nogle få ture bla. til Delfinario ikke så langt fra hotellet med delfinopvisning og mulighed for at svømme med delfiner (prisen de forlangte for det sidste var ganske uhørt - omkring 750 kr. pr. person for ca. 20 min. svømning). Vi tog også sightseeingbussen helt ud til spidsen af tangen, hvor der lå en flot marina. Vi var også på en heldagstur til Zapata Nationalpark (igen flere timers kørsel sydpå), hvor vi besøgte en krokodillefarm og sejlede i speedbåd til en lille ø samt spiste ved stranden ud til det Caribiske hav. Efter Zapata tog vi på Beatles bar i området nær broen til Varadero, som havde bylignende faciliteter. Det var faktisk en rigtig god oplevelse med Beatles musik og optræden af bands, der spillede gamle popnumre. Vi tog selvfølgelig en af de gamle biler, som Cuba er fyldt med. På vejen hjem blev vi kørt i åben "karet", hvor jeg nær havde fået blæst håret af. Mors dag, som var dagen før var der lavet et specielt spisearrangement på hotellet - det var rigtig hyggeligt og mødrene fik roser - man nævnte specielt, at det var i anledningen af mors dag i Danmark, men jeg ved ikke om de normalt har så mange danskere, at det var grunden.

Den sidste aften/nat fik vi besøg af en græshoppe. Den sad fast i  håndklædet, som lå mod sprækken i døren og den larmede så meget, at vi vågnede af det. Tidligere havde jeg mødt en kæmpebille på badeværelset - ikke just velkomne gæster for europæiske turister. Ikke alle værelser var lige afskærmede ved foden af indgangsdøren men ellers var værelset stort og godt med udvendig terrasse, og vi så ikke flere skræmmende dyr, men fodrede til gengæld fugle til den helt store guldmedalje.

Vi fik drukket en masse Pina Colada, som er nationaldrikken - rom er bare billig og vi fik svedt en masse. En oplevelse på Cuba sætter ligesom livet i Danmark lidt i perspektiv.

First impression of Cuba was an extreme heat even at 10 o'clock in the evening and the fact of being set back in time. Old houses and cars from the 50'ties and no commercial signs apart from propaganda for the heroe Che Guevara and the glorification of the republic and Fidel Castro. Cuba is a pour country and has only avoided bankrupcy mainly because of tourism, however they also do know how to rip off people. Everything in Cuba is 10 times as expensive for tourist as it is for the locals, which does not make it especially cheap to stay in the country. Their currency CUC follows the dollar, which has risen quite a lot during the last year. The other currency pesos is worth very little and not of much use to the tourists. There are only few shops and they are almost invisible. The range of goods are extraordinary limited and very often there is even lack of the usual goods on the shelves. Cubans mostly eat what they can grow themselves and are not very good cooks.

You will find many European tourist in Cuba - especially Germans, who have their very own guide while the Chinesee and other Asians, muslims and Americans are almost absent. Cuba is still a coutry of origin with its very own people.

So nice to have life back without the internet. That gives you so much more freedom not having to fulfill the many obligations, which have entered our lives with the necessity of being online.

There are people in Cuba sleeping in the streets in spite of the fact that the government provides free education, medical care and food coupons. The locals beg constantly and it becomes an increasingly pain in the neck the longer you stay. You have to avoid eye contact as that obviously urge them to ask you for money. Of course they see the tourists as wealthy people. A receptionist in a Cuban hotel earns about 50 CUC = 350 DKK a month which leaves very little money for having fun. A doorman in the hotel in Havana did ask me for my very small backpack to his 7 year-old son who had just started school. A very strange feeling being exposed to that kind of begging. That makes you wonder about the price for a one day drive with a chauffeur which is 120 CUC, but the money was well spent as it was the same price we should have paid in advance for the same excursion but in a bus, and on top of that we did not have to follow the crowd of tourists. We drove in an old and very well kept American car - a very big one with a lot of space. We did however get to the conclusion that old fashioned shock absorbers do no meet the requirements of today. The roads in Cuba are in a very poor state and poor shock absorbers gives you many hoops during a ride.

English is only spoken in hotels and  the driver taking us to Vinãles did only speak spanish - we were only told this just before departure and we had to make the hotel reception manager give us a few words and sentenses in a hurry, so with a very scarce vocabulary to make the driver understand us, we succeeded to learn a lot of new words from him along the way. He was very patient all 10 hours he drove us around and Max tipped him 20 CUC - mostly because we could not get the huge amount changed. Of course that amount made him smile all over his face. I think that he had not had that kind of tip before. Anyway it was also the last time we gave that away so much money otherwise we would have been ruined.

Max was emmencely good at remembering and learning, so in the course of only two days he had filled in words and sentences in a notebook to get us though the rest of the time in Cuba.

Even with very little traffic on the roads we drove almost 2½ hours to the Vinãles valley, which is on UNESCO's list of preservation areas because of the limestone mountains, the mogotes, which dominates the area - we visited amoung other places Mural de la Prehistoria with the mural paintings on the mountain walls and sailed inside limestone caves. On our way we stopped both at a cultural place with an exsotic outdoor bar and by a tobacco plantation where a man asked us where we came from. When we said Denmark, he smiled and said; have you no sun? we were extraordinary pale compared to the locals being only in Havanna a single day having to try to escape the burning sun and the heat, which was almost unbearable. I did get my face sun burned already in the sightseeingsbuss the day before, because we chose to sit in the open on the top deck where it was impossible to keep your hat on. In the evening after returning we ate in the restaurant La Mina in Havanna. Pretty expensive when you think that you are in a poor country where people only have very little money. The food was not very good either so the next day we found a small Pizzeria Don Julio in the old part of town not far from our hotel. In the evening we had drinks in the bar of the hotel and chatted with doormen and bar keepers.

Our hotel room in Armadores de Santander in Havanna was huge and separated in 2 departments having a couch and chairs in one - maybe not exactly luxurious compared to Danish conditions but I found them very nice considering. The room was on the first floor close to a very big terrace with a view to a part of the habour just across the road and close to Plaza de San Francisco.

Saturday the 1st of May we intended to go the yearly demonstration on Plaza de Revulozión. We were told it started around 12 a.m. and that one million people would be there, so we expected it to last all day. When we arrived around 11:30 a.m. it was all over and almost everything was packed away. It had lasted only about 20 minutes and had started already at 9 a.m. with about 600 people.

We did not see people danse the Salza but there were band playing music everywhere trying to sell their CDs and make a little money. They go from restaurant to restaurant and play - obviously with the consent of the restaurants.

All during our stay in Cuba we were being transported in cabs exept for the 5-6 hours ride in a buss from Havanna to Trinidad with only 3 stops. Actually it was also the only time that we had to wait to be picked up, but that was because the buss had to get people from hotels all over Havana. Everythin in Cuba is slow, but strangely their transportation seems to be better than our public tranportation DSB in Denmark. We also had to wait in the airport quite some time for our luggage but everything else worked on the clock.

In Trinidad we stayed in a Casa Particulare, a sort of the English bed and breakfast. The cubans are now allowed to have some private business and they make good money on renting rooms to tourists. Amarilys Y Andrés lived in a very narrow building with very steep stairs. We had a small room connected with a private bath next a porch - luckily the room had air condition because Trinidad was even hotter than Havana. We did not see much when we arrived because we were all worn out by the heat and the long drive and we ate at Amarilys and went to bed early. The Next morning we had pan cakes for breakfast with toast and cheese and Mango - the Cubans do not have the wide varity of food that is available for us europeans, so they eat what they can grow themselves. Amarilys had a Mango tree in her garden and made the best cold Mango juice. We manage to speak with her in spite of the language problems - a little Spanish mixed with some English words. She was into learning English in order to be able to speak with her customers. After breakfast we went to explore the town by walking. It was 10 o'clock but the temperature was already around 32-33 degrees. We did see the Museo de Historico Municipal and went up in the belfry where there was a fantastic view over the old town. It is hard to walk in Trinidad. It has narrow steep streets covered by cobblestones and like Havana nightlife is very quiet - no discos or noisy young people. People just hang out in small bars and restaurants or sit in the streets enjoying that the temperature has gone down. The Salsa is probably mostly arrangements for tourist.

Trinidad is a very small town and it does not take long to see it all, but the town is special because of its narrow cobblestone streets and old colourful narrow houses. A town is without houses with several floors and all the modern technology that brain washes the western people. - however it seems to be a lot of construction going on. Due to the new politics in Cuba many people can now afford to build a new storage on top of their existing house.

After 3 days in Trinidad we went North again to Varadero, located on the sinuous 20km-long Hicacos peninsula with a lot of hotels - a resort especially for tourists. It is like coming to a quite different world in Cuba only visited by tourist and excile Cubans inviting the family on a vacation. The air is cooler because of the location where there is a breeze from the ocean. We stayed "all inclusive" so everything in the hotel was free. The surrounding were fabulous and the beach looked like paradise even though the see had big wawes most of the time. Anyway the pool didn't. The big hotel building of hotel Naviti was being repaired, but we stayed however about 5 minutes walk away in quiet 2 floor buildings by the see. Max entertained himself with the bar tenders in the outdoor and also met a German couple, with whom he spent some time. Every night the hotel gave some entertainment, which was pretty much very dull - only a swimm show in the pool was quite nice and entertaining. We did relaxe and went on a couple of excursions among others to the Delfinario not far from the hotel. They had a show and the possibility to swimm with dolfins (the Price they charges was totally outrageous - about DKK 750 per person for about a 20 min. swimm). We also went by the sightseeing buss all the way to the tip of the peninsula and a very pretty marina and we made a one day excursion to Zapata Nationalpark (Again we went south driving several hours) visiting a crocodile farm and sailing in a speed boat to a tiny island and eating by the beaches of the Carribean ocean. After Zapata we went to a Beatles bar in the Varadero area, which had entertainment facilities when you crossed the gate to the peninsula. That was a really good experience listing to old Beatles music and pop music from the 60-ties and with performing bands playing that old music without being able to pronounce the English very well. The cab bringing us to the bar was of course an old American car, which is on the roads of Cuba by the number. We were brought back in an open American car and the wind almost blew my hair of. Mothers day the day before was a special dinner arrangement in the hotel - a very nice arrangement with sofiticated music played by 5 beautiful girls in red. We had roses too. They told us it was because of mother day in Denmark. Maybe they usually have a lot of Danish guests.

The last evening/night we had a visitor in the shape of a grasshopper. It was stucked in the towel, which had been put into chink. It was so noisy that it woke us up. A couple of days before I met a huge beetle in the bathroom - not exactly guests for European tourists. Not all the rooms were well shielded by the entrance door but apart from that the room was huge and nice and with an outdoor terrace. We did not see any other scary animals but feeded a lot of birds.

We had a lot of Pina Colada drinks - the national drin in Cuba - rum is cheap and we were hot a lot. Life in Cuba does give your life in Denmark a different perspektive.