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We stayed at the Playa Costa Verde resort in Holguin. Amazing beach.
Walking along the beach with the waves washing over my feet was pure heaven.
This is the beach bar & hot dog hut. Normally it had a steady line of people getting their refreshments.
At first I couldn't get over how many palm trees there are in Cuba. All along the roads as we drove in from the airport and the resort has hundreds of them. Very cool.
This is the part of the pool with the swim up Aqua Bar. Very popular place.
More of the pool area.
In the middle of the resort is this hut with a stone wall around it. Inside the wall is a rooster. I didn't see any other animals inside the walls during our stay. Just that single rooster. Kind of like a rooster prison.
Marika & Anthony walking towards our suite.
More palm trees & pool....
The pool with the main resort building between the palm trees in the background.
Lots of old American cars in Cuba. This one was in a town called Guadalavaca where there is a small tourist market we rode mopeds to.
Another old classic in Guadalavaca.
Nice hood ornament.
More ocean.
I couldn't get over the colour of the ocean. From a clear to turquoise to dark rich blue, almost black. Simply beautiful. I spent more time in the water during our 6 days there than I have in the last 15 years combined.
Found this little lizard in my room on our last day at the resort. Connor & Sasha managed to catch him the glass.
Took him out of the room and found that he really liked sitting on our hands. He wouldn't even move. Just sat there calm as could be absorbing our body warmth. Pretty cool.
Almost makes me want a pet lizard....
In front of the buffet restaurant they had a couple pig roasts while we were there. And man, did that pork ever taste good. Just out of the picture on the left was a staff member who sat there for hours hand turning the wooden spit. The smell as it cooked just kind of floated over the pool area.
Our house cleaner was always leaving what we called 'towel oragmi' in our rooms. On the last day there she used towels to spell out 'bye' in our boys room. We also had a towel butterfly and flower & vase. She was very sweet.
Outside view of our guest house. We had 3 rooms on the 1st floor. The corner room, one beside and one on the inside. Great little places with large, airy rooms.
The side entrance to our rooms.
Sasha on a moped in Guadalavaca.
Marika & Sasha on the ride back to the resort. Guadalavaca was 18kms from the hotel. Got to see the real Cuban country and people.
Flag on the beach bar in Guadalavaca.
Strangely beautiful sculpture by the tourist market in Guadalavaca.
Looking towards the beach in Guadalavaca.
The main entrance to the buffet restaurant at our resort.
Early morning shot of the beach at our resort before it got crowded.
There was a man at the resort with this beautiful hawk that he would let people hold on their arms and have their pictures taken. I think the bird was trying to walk right up my arm. Amazing looking creature.
Photo taken by Sasha.
Sasha liked the hawk as well. The bird's owner also had a tiny baby hawk that he left on a table in the snack bar beside the pool. It would hop onto your finger when you put your hand in front of it.
These hibiscus flowers were all over the resort.
Driftwood sculpture that I liked.
Real Cuban homes along the road to Guadalavaca. Lots of poverty.
Some homes still haven't been repaired 2 years after the last hurricane yet people still live in them.
We were told this is a complex where a lot of the resort workers lived.
No roadside billboard advertising in Cuba that we saw except for political propaganda.
Typical Cuban highway scene. Cars, trucks, buses, mopeds, horses, people. You have to keep a sharp eye when driving in Cuba.
A roadside banana plantation. That is one thing we really noticed at the resort - how amazing the locally grown bananas tasted. Nothing like what we have in Canada.
To get to the beach from the resort we had to cross a walkway over a conservation area that had so many different species of birds that it was nice just to stand on the walkway to watch & listen to them. Lots and lots of turkey vultures everywhere in Holguin.
Morning patterns left in the sand from the receding tide.
At the market in Guadalavaca this old friendly guy was walking around talking to anyone and everyone in Spanish. I tried to talk with him but he spoke no English and I speak no Spanish. So I offered him a peso to take his picture and he agreed.
Jackson & Anthony - Jackson (left) works at the resort on the entertainment crew. He and my daughter's boyfriend Anthony (right) looked like they could be brothers. On our first night at the resort other staff members approached Marika & Anthony saying they had to meet Jackson. Jackson turned out to be a pretty nice guy as well. Watching him MC a show one evening I heard him speak fluent Spanish, English, French & German.
Cuba was a wonderful time for us. Great people, great resort. Looking forward to returning next year.
All photos taken by me unless otherwise noted.
