Fork Included
TD Admin
This is going to be a long post…
Also I originally wrote it for a photography forum so the little bit about my equipment might sound weird to you, basically I brought a film camera and various lenses.
This is my third time visiting Cuba, i have never been to the Dominican Republic or Mexico, even though it is much more affordable, but i have a feeling i'm not missing much. There are reasons why i visit Cuba that go beyond the simple notions of "going on vacation"; the island is a world that is both different and familiar in a way that invokes a mediative state for the entire duration.
It is a 90's Russia, only there are no white people, and its comfortably warm. (This was in February, i would not recomend going there May-July if you are not used to warm climates, you'll microwave your brain, you have been warned)
I grabbed the cheapest of my gear, an MZ-S, four takumars, a sigma wide angle, a monopod, and a bag of film.
The airport proved to be a boring place as usual, even with all the young adults enjoying their fifth too many overpriced beers at the bar. You see, it is reading week for many students, and instead of spending it reading they all pile into the southbound planes for a chance to do things they dont want their kids to ever know about. This was me a mere two years ago, so i still look at it with a smile, only something inside is giving me a worried feeling that one day i may not "get them", i hope that doesnt happen.
I bought a bottle of water for 2 bucks.
Flight from Toronto to Cuba is a mere 2.5 hours, however they were gratious enough to provide us with Presidents Choice Chinese Noodles and a fortune cookie! I had a good laugh, Airtransat certainly had a good sense of humor! (And the most beuatiful attendants i have ever seen, and i fly a good deal)
It's hard to make out the text, but at full resolution you'll read, in both english and french: "say goodbye to your winter coat!"
Varadero Airport is an intresting place, If you have ever been to JFK or Sheremetevo you might not be too phased, but for people used to something like Pearson or Schiphol you might get very agitated, fast.
Passport control went by without a hitch, however it was followed by a metal detector before you can get your luggage. A word to the wise, when you go through this thing, throw as much of your junk into your carry on as possible. GPS devices and fancy communication devices may cause complications. Apperantly Cuba has a ban on GPS capable equipment (word of mouth), so its best not to dangle it in front of their noses.
It took our luggage quite some time to pop out of the little black rubber hole in the wall, all the while imagining a single Cuban muchacho lazily offloading the bags at a snails pace while sipping on an ice cold mojito.
Exiting the airport i made a small bow to the land of Cuba, was instantly offered a 6 peso beer, and my 30lb duffel bag carried for me, i replied, in Russian, "no". After finding our friendly Hola Sun representative we were instructed to locate bus 765, and pointed us in a direction completly opposite of where the bus actually was, not all was lost, as a few minutes of wandering the bus fillets parking lot we located our driver. My friend loaded our bags and i went to exchange some of my Canadian papers for the ridiculously overpriced and completly unfunded by the world economy "convertable peso's". 400 of mine bought me 280 of theirs, ouch.
We arrived at our hotel, Sol Sirenas Coral, which is a two part hotel, and we were dropped off at the wrong entrance, luckily ive been here before, so instead of waiting for shuttle bus we walked for 5 minutes through the resort to the other reception. I left my buddy in the line and went to get some beer, which proved rather difficult, the bar that was open before was closed, so i went to another one which didnt exist on my last trip there. Full of beer and carrying a cup for my friend, i arrived to find him glaring at me, i totaly forgot the registration papers in my pocket, and while he was wating another party arrived pushing us far behind.
at 1:30 AM we got our room keys, quickly sorted our stuff, and went back to the bar to not waste the night at all. The bar was packed with lively people, but since this was our first night we didnt know anyone. Making friends while sober with completly wasted people is hard work, plus we were tired. I envited my friend to the beach, since really, that was the main reason i came here. Its an amazing feeling to stand and stare up at the blackness of space devoid of city light polution, a rare sight for me indeed.
We retired for the night, tommorow was to be a day of orientation.
==================================================
The day started out with a quick breakfast, quality food is something you should forget about while in Cuba, unless you stay with a cuban family or find some street side restaurant, you're going to be eating mediocre (at best) meals for the entire week. Two hard boiled eggs, flatt bread and a few slices of pineapple were enough to satisfy me. My friend, who is a vegitarian, had a bit more trouble, but managed by loading himself up with fruit, he particulary liked the grapefruit, they cut it in a very nice way there.
We met with Jose, a fella that likes to say "
kay" alot and wave his hands around, in a private talk later on i learned that he is in fact an architectural engineer by trade, its a shame he must resort to dealing with silly tourists.
after a brief introduction, we went to explore our resort, i realized that i actually didnt take any pictures of the architecture, since i was here before i guess they didnt catch my eye as well. But i will mention that warm climate architecture is radically different from northern countries, everything is more open, and much less hallways and doors.
my buddy standing still, i liked the tunnel shot and used an 85mm F1.8 at wide open for the depth of field play
The pool, with bar. Why ohh why do poeple spend their times in the pool when there is an OCEAN 50 feet away! I would take salt water over chlorine any day!
on the way to the beach we passed by the beach-side bar, and i witnessed the isntallation of a new counter top, it was surreal watching these guys work
The beach, while filled with the occasional cigarette but and plastic cup, was phenomenal. If Chuck Norris ever stepped foot on this beach, the world would explode, because you cant mix such two awesome together. The light February breeze cooled you off just enough to not feel uncomfortable under the blazing sun over your head.
To my friend, all of this is happening for the first time, he didnt say much, but he didnt have to, i udnerstand him pretty well and i knew that he was just as happy as i am to be standing in the sand watching all the typical beach activites unfold.
time to take off the shirts!
Although a word to the wise, for those that never visited a tropical place, you should ease into the sun. Start with a strong sunblock and dont spend too much time in the sun, then as the week progresses reduce the strength to 15 or less and you wont turn red like a boiled lobster.
through out the week i took walks down the beach, every time noticing something new, i will just put all of the notable parts into here:
=======================================================
EXCURSIONS
we signed up for 3 trips out of the resorts, dubbed "the catamaran", "havana" and "jeep safari"
Highly recomend getting out of the hotel, while the beach is nice and all, you really have to explore Cuba to get inspired.
The "catamaran" trip you put you on this very large and modernized catamaran, think Waterworld, only no one is shooting at you. The trip had multiple parts, aside from the basic sailing around and enjoying the sights/feeling, we stopped by some coral reefs to snorkel, only there was little to see and strong current to fight (for a split second i actually got worried where a comfortable swim could not get me back to the boat, and i had to actualy exert myself to swim against the current). It was only 2 days later i was to learn that it wasnt even a coral reef, just some rock formations in a shallow area (more on that later). It was unfortune that the day was a rather windy one, this resulted in more time spent trying to warm up than enjoying the moment, especially after that swim. Good thing i actualy brought a long sleeved shirt and one of the huge towels provided by our hotel, as illustrated by my good friend, there were no smiles.
This was followed by a visit to the "dolphin pen", much to the dismay of my friend, who originaly thought that we were to seek out some wild dolphins in the ocean and lure them with food, and then just kind of observe them in their natural habitat. Unfortunetly capitalism and zoo tactics have reached Cuba with full force, everything is organized, single file, with a professional photographer ready to take pictures of you for a fee with the highly trained dolphins.
I was surprised to find the experience a little less than inspring, i want to say comical in its ridiculousness. I was last in line, so i spent a good deal of time observing my fellow humans engage in this playful act. When it finaly came time for me to submerge, for a brief moment i got to touch this wonderful creature, only to understand that i am a man, and it is a dolphin, and really, there is nothing supernatural about it.
Back on the boat we go, lunch time!
We were marooned on a dingy island full of white sand, very light white sand, which combined with the lack of chairs and high winds made it a very uncomfortable experience to actually enjoy it. I got so much sand in my ears that it took me 2 days to get out, no joke. My camera got a good sand exfoliation as well, but i gave it a good clean with a blower when i got back to the hotel, so everything was fine.
As promised, we got lobster lunch, only the lunch offered some sort of lobsterette, i want to say scallops, but i am not a big seafood guy; a "real" lobster meal was offered for the addtional cost of 10 peso's. In my head i flipped the smiling cuban the bird and politely declined. Luckily my friend, who was vegitarian, passed on his entire plate of seafood and requested a vegetable meal, which he got, but the silly waiters forgot about his original serving, which i conveniently hid underneath my straw hat. I so sneaky.
After lunch we were given an hours leasure time, the two of us went our seperate ways and snapped away the islands randomness.
Back to the boat.
After kicking it in gear for a bit, the skipper shut off the engines and engaged the sail (which i found very enjoyable, finaly some archiasm)
We were given out a "snack", a plastic wrapped bun with a piece of cheese and baloney inside. I dont think anyone on the boat ate theirs, i am not an overly picky eater, but i wouldnt even give this a homeless person lest i be sent directly to hell.
The flock of seagulls however, which conveniently appeared over our ship, do not have the same feelings as me, and consumed our supply of bread with great enthusiasm, which in turn led to some intresting photos.
although i feel that my friend, with his auto-focusing 16mm fisheye, achieved more intresting ones.
http://mischivo.zenfolio.com/p201873630/e20376f06
After all the food was gone, so were the birds, and were soon to dock back where we started.
On the boat were two Czeck couples, one of whom got so hammered that they started getting really fresh with each other in front of everyone, a dude in his mid 40's with a belly and a wife to match, not a pretty sight. At one point she fell over and hit her head on one of the benches, two men had to help her off the boat. Then came the husband but he refused to be helped, i made a bet with a fellow excursion buddy that he is going to topple over. I almost won.
This was Tuesday, and we still had 4 days ahead of us.
Stay tuned!............
Also I originally wrote it for a photography forum so the little bit about my equipment might sound weird to you, basically I brought a film camera and various lenses.
This is my third time visiting Cuba, i have never been to the Dominican Republic or Mexico, even though it is much more affordable, but i have a feeling i'm not missing much. There are reasons why i visit Cuba that go beyond the simple notions of "going on vacation"; the island is a world that is both different and familiar in a way that invokes a mediative state for the entire duration.
It is a 90's Russia, only there are no white people, and its comfortably warm. (This was in February, i would not recomend going there May-July if you are not used to warm climates, you'll microwave your brain, you have been warned)
I grabbed the cheapest of my gear, an MZ-S, four takumars, a sigma wide angle, a monopod, and a bag of film.
The airport proved to be a boring place as usual, even with all the young adults enjoying their fifth too many overpriced beers at the bar. You see, it is reading week for many students, and instead of spending it reading they all pile into the southbound planes for a chance to do things they dont want their kids to ever know about. This was me a mere two years ago, so i still look at it with a smile, only something inside is giving me a worried feeling that one day i may not "get them", i hope that doesnt happen.
I bought a bottle of water for 2 bucks.
Flight from Toronto to Cuba is a mere 2.5 hours, however they were gratious enough to provide us with Presidents Choice Chinese Noodles and a fortune cookie! I had a good laugh, Airtransat certainly had a good sense of humor! (And the most beuatiful attendants i have ever seen, and i fly a good deal)
It's hard to make out the text, but at full resolution you'll read, in both english and french: "say goodbye to your winter coat!"
Varadero Airport is an intresting place, If you have ever been to JFK or Sheremetevo you might not be too phased, but for people used to something like Pearson or Schiphol you might get very agitated, fast.
Passport control went by without a hitch, however it was followed by a metal detector before you can get your luggage. A word to the wise, when you go through this thing, throw as much of your junk into your carry on as possible. GPS devices and fancy communication devices may cause complications. Apperantly Cuba has a ban on GPS capable equipment (word of mouth), so its best not to dangle it in front of their noses.
It took our luggage quite some time to pop out of the little black rubber hole in the wall, all the while imagining a single Cuban muchacho lazily offloading the bags at a snails pace while sipping on an ice cold mojito.
Exiting the airport i made a small bow to the land of Cuba, was instantly offered a 6 peso beer, and my 30lb duffel bag carried for me, i replied, in Russian, "no". After finding our friendly Hola Sun representative we were instructed to locate bus 765, and pointed us in a direction completly opposite of where the bus actually was, not all was lost, as a few minutes of wandering the bus fillets parking lot we located our driver. My friend loaded our bags and i went to exchange some of my Canadian papers for the ridiculously overpriced and completly unfunded by the world economy "convertable peso's". 400 of mine bought me 280 of theirs, ouch.
We arrived at our hotel, Sol Sirenas Coral, which is a two part hotel, and we were dropped off at the wrong entrance, luckily ive been here before, so instead of waiting for shuttle bus we walked for 5 minutes through the resort to the other reception. I left my buddy in the line and went to get some beer, which proved rather difficult, the bar that was open before was closed, so i went to another one which didnt exist on my last trip there. Full of beer and carrying a cup for my friend, i arrived to find him glaring at me, i totaly forgot the registration papers in my pocket, and while he was wating another party arrived pushing us far behind.
at 1:30 AM we got our room keys, quickly sorted our stuff, and went back to the bar to not waste the night at all. The bar was packed with lively people, but since this was our first night we didnt know anyone. Making friends while sober with completly wasted people is hard work, plus we were tired. I envited my friend to the beach, since really, that was the main reason i came here. Its an amazing feeling to stand and stare up at the blackness of space devoid of city light polution, a rare sight for me indeed.
We retired for the night, tommorow was to be a day of orientation.
==================================================
The day started out with a quick breakfast, quality food is something you should forget about while in Cuba, unless you stay with a cuban family or find some street side restaurant, you're going to be eating mediocre (at best) meals for the entire week. Two hard boiled eggs, flatt bread and a few slices of pineapple were enough to satisfy me. My friend, who is a vegitarian, had a bit more trouble, but managed by loading himself up with fruit, he particulary liked the grapefruit, they cut it in a very nice way there.
We met with Jose, a fella that likes to say "
kay" alot and wave his hands around, in a private talk later on i learned that he is in fact an architectural engineer by trade, its a shame he must resort to dealing with silly tourists.
after a brief introduction, we went to explore our resort, i realized that i actually didnt take any pictures of the architecture, since i was here before i guess they didnt catch my eye as well. But i will mention that warm climate architecture is radically different from northern countries, everything is more open, and much less hallways and doors.
my buddy standing still, i liked the tunnel shot and used an 85mm F1.8 at wide open for the depth of field play
The pool, with bar. Why ohh why do poeple spend their times in the pool when there is an OCEAN 50 feet away! I would take salt water over chlorine any day!
on the way to the beach we passed by the beach-side bar, and i witnessed the isntallation of a new counter top, it was surreal watching these guys work
The beach, while filled with the occasional cigarette but and plastic cup, was phenomenal. If Chuck Norris ever stepped foot on this beach, the world would explode, because you cant mix such two awesome together. The light February breeze cooled you off just enough to not feel uncomfortable under the blazing sun over your head.
To my friend, all of this is happening for the first time, he didnt say much, but he didnt have to, i udnerstand him pretty well and i knew that he was just as happy as i am to be standing in the sand watching all the typical beach activites unfold.
time to take off the shirts!
Although a word to the wise, for those that never visited a tropical place, you should ease into the sun. Start with a strong sunblock and dont spend too much time in the sun, then as the week progresses reduce the strength to 15 or less and you wont turn red like a boiled lobster.
through out the week i took walks down the beach, every time noticing something new, i will just put all of the notable parts into here:
=======================================================
EXCURSIONS
we signed up for 3 trips out of the resorts, dubbed "the catamaran", "havana" and "jeep safari"
Highly recomend getting out of the hotel, while the beach is nice and all, you really have to explore Cuba to get inspired.
The "catamaran" trip you put you on this very large and modernized catamaran, think Waterworld, only no one is shooting at you. The trip had multiple parts, aside from the basic sailing around and enjoying the sights/feeling, we stopped by some coral reefs to snorkel, only there was little to see and strong current to fight (for a split second i actually got worried where a comfortable swim could not get me back to the boat, and i had to actualy exert myself to swim against the current). It was only 2 days later i was to learn that it wasnt even a coral reef, just some rock formations in a shallow area (more on that later). It was unfortune that the day was a rather windy one, this resulted in more time spent trying to warm up than enjoying the moment, especially after that swim. Good thing i actualy brought a long sleeved shirt and one of the huge towels provided by our hotel, as illustrated by my good friend, there were no smiles.
This was followed by a visit to the "dolphin pen", much to the dismay of my friend, who originaly thought that we were to seek out some wild dolphins in the ocean and lure them with food, and then just kind of observe them in their natural habitat. Unfortunetly capitalism and zoo tactics have reached Cuba with full force, everything is organized, single file, with a professional photographer ready to take pictures of you for a fee with the highly trained dolphins.
I was surprised to find the experience a little less than inspring, i want to say comical in its ridiculousness. I was last in line, so i spent a good deal of time observing my fellow humans engage in this playful act. When it finaly came time for me to submerge, for a brief moment i got to touch this wonderful creature, only to understand that i am a man, and it is a dolphin, and really, there is nothing supernatural about it.
Back on the boat we go, lunch time!
We were marooned on a dingy island full of white sand, very light white sand, which combined with the lack of chairs and high winds made it a very uncomfortable experience to actually enjoy it. I got so much sand in my ears that it took me 2 days to get out, no joke. My camera got a good sand exfoliation as well, but i gave it a good clean with a blower when i got back to the hotel, so everything was fine.
As promised, we got lobster lunch, only the lunch offered some sort of lobsterette, i want to say scallops, but i am not a big seafood guy; a "real" lobster meal was offered for the addtional cost of 10 peso's. In my head i flipped the smiling cuban the bird and politely declined. Luckily my friend, who was vegitarian, passed on his entire plate of seafood and requested a vegetable meal, which he got, but the silly waiters forgot about his original serving, which i conveniently hid underneath my straw hat. I so sneaky.
After lunch we were given an hours leasure time, the two of us went our seperate ways and snapped away the islands randomness.
Back to the boat.
After kicking it in gear for a bit, the skipper shut off the engines and engaged the sail (which i found very enjoyable, finaly some archiasm)
We were given out a "snack", a plastic wrapped bun with a piece of cheese and baloney inside. I dont think anyone on the boat ate theirs, i am not an overly picky eater, but i wouldnt even give this a homeless person lest i be sent directly to hell.
The flock of seagulls however, which conveniently appeared over our ship, do not have the same feelings as me, and consumed our supply of bread with great enthusiasm, which in turn led to some intresting photos.
although i feel that my friend, with his auto-focusing 16mm fisheye, achieved more intresting ones.
http://mischivo.zenfolio.com/p201873630/e20376f06
After all the food was gone, so were the birds, and were soon to dock back where we started.
On the boat were two Czeck couples, one of whom got so hammered that they started getting really fresh with each other in front of everyone, a dude in his mid 40's with a belly and a wife to match, not a pretty sight. At one point she fell over and hit her head on one of the benches, two men had to help her off the boat. Then came the husband but he refused to be helped, i made a bet with a fellow excursion buddy that he is going to topple over. I almost won.
This was Tuesday, and we still had 4 days ahead of us.
Stay tuned!............
