I spent last week in an all inclusive resort that happened to be in Cuba. (In other words, not visiting the country for now, just baking in the sun and relaxing). A few thoughts;
- I’d rather not understand everything I’m told and have to “make do” than have spanish speakers answer me in english and french. I appreciate the effort but it doesn’t feel right, it’s your country after all.
- The women working at the resort had mustaches, thankfully on my one day “out” I had a chance to confirm that there are a lot of beautiful women in Holguin.
- Reports were correct, food was not all that good. Best meal of the week as the one I had “out”. Simple pork with rice and beans but very tasty.
- It’s very sad to see the condition of all the buildings in Holguin and how poor some (most?) of the people in the country side are.
- Some stereotypes are true; I’ve heard time and again that Cubans are warm and friendly and have a great “joie de vivre”, I only spent a few hours in town but it was enough to have me go from very sad (seeing the conditions along the road (from the bus)) to smiling (after feeling the “vibe” in town).
- I’m wondering if everyone in the Rest Of Canada gets handed Roots products at birth?
- Too bad I didn’t think of this earlier but I should have tipped more to atone for the moronness of some of my fellow resorters. You’re on vacation people, relax!
- Funny how people can spend so much time in a cold (ish) pool then lay dripping on their chair but run under cover when a few drops of rain (at the same temperature as the pool) fall for 3-4 minutes.
- Some people should not be allowed to wear bathing suits.
- I’m astonished at how much time some people can spend baking in the sun doing nothing. I mean really nothing, not reading, not talking, just laying there.
- I don’t know who came up with the concept of beach/breeze/sun but I hope the guy up there gave him a raise.
- There’s something wrong about a couple in matching pool outfits.
- Tropical nature is noisy at night.
- Cactus based edges are cool.
- 24 hour open bars are lovely.
- Charter planes are fucking cramped but I loooove stepping off the plane right on the tarmac in the sun.
- Charging $1 for headphones can’t possibly be worth more than the lameness factor you subject yourself to by asking your clients for it.
7 Comments
The Roots thing is something that’s bothered me for some time now. I think it has to do with travelling outside your country.
Nothing against the store itself – it’s not where I shop but whatever. It’s this idea that Canadians have to announce every where they go that they’re Canadian. It’s handy to not be mistaken as American in some countries but in the past, it was done a little subtler than that (a sticker here, a badge there).
My girlfriend’s sister emigrated back to the UK after 20 years here. The photos she sends back her sons have them decked out head to toe in Roots with “Canada” prominently featured everywhere. It’s been two years and she still does this to her children who now have Scottish accents. It’s a little embarassing.
I had to ask her, “When you immigrated to Montreal, did your parents make you wear the Union Jack everywhere you went? No? Well, there’s a reason for that…”
Anyway, glad you had a nice holiday. Gotta get down to Cuba one of these days myself as I need an excuse to wear my Molson Canadian Speedos.
Good thing you told me you were off on vacation. I’m watching 6 feet under and no posts for a week could mean something else.
“There’s something wrong about a couple in matching pool outfits.” That works for ski-doos, motorcycles and skiing as well.
j: mouahahaha. Exactly! :-D
e: Also correct.
“Some people should not be allowed to wear bathing suits.”
I’m not sure if you saw gorgeous girls or ugly men…
The only thing I do when I do nothing in the sun is get sun stroke. How many of these sunbathers were really newly dead, d’you think?
Once years ago I took three foreign students who were dying in the Montreal humidity-cement combo to a lake an hour and a half away from Montreal. Y’know, to swim. It started to rain, they started to complain (and I started to get very very annoyed – and to wonder why I’d brought them along). To this day I don’t get it. We put our towels under an upturned canoe (see, they’ll be dry, relax!), and we went to swim. Wet is wet, people!
Did you try the internet connection in the hotel?
Nope. No internet at all for me. Supposedly it was excrutiatingly slow.
Hee. Reading your thoughts on Cuba reminds me of my trip last winter to the Dominican Republic. An interesting experience (my first all inclusive) – especially for the (small) cultural aspect when we went into the city. But I’m not sure if I could hack the food again. And I’ll add another point to your thoughts:
-Charter planes built in the 70’s are damn scary. What with the shaking parts, turquoise pleather seats, zero leg room (and I mean zero – I’m not tall) and major turbulence.