Well, it's a weekend.

My cold's just about gone; at least, it's to the point where I actually felt like having myself a Cuba Libre tonight, which I am enjoying as I'm writing (except I've substituted some rather nice Havana Club Añejo Especial for "light rum"). Cuba taught me to really love rum as I never have before; I think it's the fact they have very, very good rum. I mean, I've had rum and Cokes before but never really enjoyed them. Upon arriving in Cuba, I did much the same as my mother: a rum punch on the bus to the hotel, a Brisas del Caribe in the check-in line, and a pina colada while waiting for my room to be ready (I did manage to skip "losing" my purse and having a bit of a freak-out in the lobby). Matt is incorrect about the North American drink equivalent of a Brisas del Caribe, I should mention; it's much closer to a Blue Monkey than an Electric Popsicle.

Anyways. Rum - very good, and also poured very generously if you didn't stop the bartender. I guess it's probably the cheapest ingredient in Cuba, given the overabundance of sugar cane. Another thing I learned to love was cigars (which we also brought back and have barely touched thus far due to our colds). That really surprised me; I never quite got the hang (or the point) of smoking cigarettes, so I thought I'd have a lot of trouble with cigars too. I guess not having to inhale makes it much easier to learn! The first one I had was a Cohiba. It was alright, and had an interesting taste, but I wasn't too sold on the cigars based on that one. The next night, I had a Montecristo and OH MY GOD, was it good. It had an actual flavour that wasn't just "tobacco". It tasted like coffee and chocolate to me. After that I was fairly enthusiastically trying as many different kinds as I could. We had more Montecristos and some Romeo Y Juliettas (the Churchills were fantastic - nice and mild) and even one other Cohiba, a special request from my friend Stephen. He had given me $25 and asked me to bring back as many Cohiba Corona Especiales as I could buy with that. Well, they turned out to be pretty expensive (though much cheaper than in Canada) and I could only find a five pack in Varadero, so I had one myself and enjoyed it a lot more than the first Cohiba I had. I think part of that was experience, part was that it was a higher-quality, more expensive cigar and part was the fact that the first one had apparently been one of the black-market ones my uncle bought (I later learned). The black market ones, while quite a bit cheaper, were never quite as good as the ones from the government cigar shops. We ended up buying a few from one of the bartenders before we really found this out. I guess there's a reason the government rejected those cigars!

It was so nice to sit out on the deck in the evenings, enjoying a cigar and some Bailey's (very, very good together) and just talking and visiting and playing cards with my family. I'm actually really, really glad we went in such a big group; you could always find someone else who wanted to do the same thing you did on any given day. Plus, it was such a good chance to reconnect with some of my family who I hadn't really seen in years because I've been stuck in Victoria (especially my sister and new brother-in-law, whose wedding was the whole point of the trip).

Matt has already written up so much of the trip, so I'm just going to share some of my favorite memories. There's some overlap, of course, but if you've read this far, you obviously don't mind me rattling on and on.

The first full day there, I woke up at 5:00 a.m., as I always seem to do when I am travelling. Fortunately for me, Matt woke up as well and we set off to find coffee and explore the resort. The resort had a 24-hour coffee bar which made decent espresso and a pretty darn good cafe con leche. It was kind of weird wandering around the resort in the dark, because you couldn't really grasp what everything was that you were peering at and it was interesting to compare with what you could see in full daylight later. It was also pretty cool, since we had the beach completely to ourselves for awhile and we could wander around and listen to the waves and just relax and absorb the fact that we were actually on a real vacation.

Obviously the wedding was another high point. Despite some problems beforehand (which I will talk about in another post), everything during the wedding day went really well. The ceremony was short and sweet (and in Spanish!), and then there was a reception with cake and champagne. The hotel has a Cuban band that played for the processional and recessional and during the reception, who were pretty good. Unfortunately for Shane, the wedding coordinator had a serious thing about making everyone dance, and Shane is not big on the dancing. Haha, I should have gotten that wedding coordinator to come to Canada for Matt's and my wedding! Alana and Shane had pictures taken after that, and we had dinner at one of the resort's a la carte restaurants that night. We apparently lucked out and they were able to buy enough lobster for our whole group, so we got half a lobster with our dinner as well. I guess that's not something they tell you about ahead of time, since they can't always get the lobster. My mom was in heaven. She had a whole lobsters - hers, and someone else who didn't want theirs. I think the best part of the day was seeing how Shane, my new brother-in-law, looked at my sister. He is smitten, and she looks at him the same way. You can tell how happy they are together.

Being there for two weeks is just about right if you're going to a wedding; it gives you time to focus on and help out the couple, if they need it, but also lots of time for your own vacation.

One of my favorite days was the day we went on the catamaran trip. I was, at first, highly unconvinced that it would be worth my money - I was never much of a boat person, having little experience growing up in Alberta, and the brochure really didn't adequately describe it. On the catamaran trip, we got to snorkel, we chilled out at a gorgeous beach, we had a dance party and we got to swim with the dolphins. The snorkeling was a really cool experience. My uncle said that it was better last year, and the hurricane probably damaged the coral, but to me, it was still pretty damn cool. I had never been snorkeling before, and I got to see lots of different fish and brain coral and we got to use our underwater camera actually underwater, not just near water like we normally do. Swimming with the dolphins was an amazing experience. It was actually a little frigthening, too, because you're not really aware until you get in the water with them just how pathetic a swimmer you are. I initially resisted this trip because you didn't get to swim with the dolphins for very long as compared to a different excursion, but after my ten minutes was up, I was pretty tired anyway! The dolphins seemed like they really didn't mind their life in the sea-pen; when our boat pulled up, they all came over to the side closest to check us out. The edges of the net were certainly low enough they could have jumped them easily, if they wanted to, but I think they get fed pretty well when they are swimming with the tourists. After every pass through the crowd, they go back to their trainer for another treat.

When we were in the pen with the dolphins, they seemed like big puppies. Giant, slippery puppies, to be sure, but they seemed like they were having a really good time with all the people. They went around and "kissed" all the swimmers and swam close so you didn't have to reach far to touch them and rolled over in the water. They are mischeivious, too; at one point, one of them dove between Travis's legs and goosed him a little bit. They also made a sandwich out of me. It really gets the adrenaline going to see two grey heads coming straight towards you, only to split to either side at the last second. It was an amazing experience I'm fairly certain I won't have again anytime soon, and I'm really glad I did it.

By far the coolest trip we took off the resort was to Havana. Even with the beggars and the hustlers, this is something you should absolutely NOT MISS if you're going to Cuba and you're within travelling distance. Havana is gorgeous; the old colonial architecture takes my breath away. I had such a good time in Old Havana just soaking up the atmosphere and the history. We did not get to spend nearly enough time there! Between our group of ten, we came up with quite a few things we wanted to see, and I think we hit some really cool stuff, like the Napoleon Museum and the Christopher Columbus Cemetary. Rod is already planning for the next trip, when he will stay in the National Hotel for two or three nights and give Havana a proper going over. Sounds like a great idea to me! I would almost go back to Cuba for Havana alone.

My favorite part of the day was the Tropicana. Yeah, it made for a late night and we got a wee bit rained on, but for someone like me who had had so much dance and musical theatre training, it was just awesome. The show was so energetic and everyone on stage seemed to be having a great time. The music was infectious, even though I couldn't understand any of the words. I definitely enjoyed it more than my husband, and there were women in the show with pasties and g-strings! (I'm glad we didn't get the expensive seats, right close to the stage. Some of those high kicks would have been, erm, "interesting".)

The music in Cuba was phenomenal. Everywhere we went, there was a little homegrown band ready to entertain us. For a fan of Buena Vista Social Club and Afro-Cuban All-Stars like me, it was heaven. I guess they've all heard the Buena Vista CD, since everyone I asked could play my favorite song from it, El Cuarto de Tula (it was the only song I knew how to ask for, embarrassingly). We heard some interesting non-traditional music as well - apparently there is a big Cuban rap scene these days. On the catamaran trip, we also heard some electronic/dance on the boat. My parents bought the CD, and while I made fun of them at the time, I ripped it to the Mac and have been listening to it nearly constantly. I mean, how can you not love a dance song about Commandante, Che Guevera?

Going to Cuba was really nice. I loved the people I met (especially Oliva and Larissa who showed us the real Matanzas and invited us into their home), the new sights and sounds, the downtime to relax on the beach and do some reading that wasn't related to my thesis. The cars! The rum. The cigars. The time with family. And really, how can you not love the coconut cabs?