Cuba -- 5 Years Later

July 2003 is when Jame and I first ventured to Cuba. It was an amazing honeymoon and I remember clearly on our last day telling him that we HAVE TO make an effort to come back every five years.

A few months ago our great pal Steve was talking about going on vacation. He said he wanted to try Cuba since everyone he spoke to said they loved it there. At that point Jame and I kind of invited ourselves along given that this year is our 5th year wedding anniversary. Eventually, Steve/Alex, Bouwman/Tara, me and Jame had a ticket booked to an all-inclusive resort in Varadero. We have been home for about 1 week and I cannot stop thinking about it. We all had such an amazing time!

On March 29th our flight left Vancouver at 8pm. The flight was about 5.5 hours long...none of which any of us slept. We got to our hotel at about 6am on Sunday (there is a 3 hour time difference). We were informed that our rooms would not be ready till around 10ish, so needless to say we had some serious time to kill.

The very first thing we did was get a drink from the 24 hour bar and made our way down to the beach. Ahhhhh....the soft, white sand and the gorgeous blue water. What a site considering we left snow in Vancouver!

Fatigue was starting to set in, so we made our way to the pool. A few peeps instantly crashed, while the rest of us were hoping to get our room soon. We were a little bit worried as the people walking by us had told us that days prior people we not getting their room until mid afternoon. YIKES!! Thankfully we got our room at about 10:30. Diligence pays off!

As soon as we got our rooms, we put on our suits and headed to the beach. Five of the days we were there we spent on the beach. It was the life I tell ya!

One of the days we went into Havana city. We were going to rent a car, but the guys ran into a hotel worker who told is that he could give us the name of a guy who would take us into town in his 8 passenger van. He would stop whenever we wanted and he would take us to places that tourists are not really taken. He would take us out for 12 hours and charge us $300. It was a total steal, so we obviously took him up on his offer.

Jose was our driver and he knew soooo much about Havana and the country in general. He took us to places that I didn't even know existed. It was an unbelievable, eye-opening and unforgettable experience. Definitely a huge highlight for all of us.

The 6 of us had such a blast. Lots of laughs and 7 days filled with good times. I took a load of pictures, but find it hard to choose which ones to put on here! If you want to check out all of the photoz I took, check out my flickr album:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33808451@N00/sets/72157604482037395/

We cannot wait to re-visit Cuba in 2013 :) It is an open invitation, so start saving now!

This is what we left

My 1st time in a limo:)

Ahhhh...CUBA

We were constantly checking the Spanish ESPN channel to see how the Canucks we holding up :(

It's a long story, perhaps one that no one will find amusing but us!

Rocking out at dinner

One night we spent a few hours rocking it out (literally) to piano karaoke! GT's

Posing with the 25 year old aged rum. Lucky Fidel!

John Lennon Park in Havana

How awesome is it that we played beer pong in CUBA!

What a sad day that was -- see ya in another 5 years!