22/04/2019 – Bus tour, Varadero, Cuba

We slept in a bit later today, dozing to a desert island discs podcast, then got up and went to our usual place for breakfast. Their coffee machine was broken so we went down the road for a Cuban espresso (dad would absolutely love the coffee here!) before needing an emergency trip back to the casa (pretended we forgot something, in reality needed the toilet, my first BO since my loperamide 6 days ago, massive relief!). Then we walked over the bridge to Varadero and got on an open top sightseeing bus and went all the way around the peninsula. My thermometer said 40°C up in the sheltered bus, and Josh and I were sharing my scarf to protect our limbs from the intense heat. We went all the way to the end of the peninsula, the land was very barren and there were solely all-inclusive hotels dotted all over the place. It was a hop on hop off service but we just did a complete round trip because there wasn’t much more to see or do! We ended up at our usual café for some lunch then went to the beach for the afternoon. We swam in the sea, much calmer than the last couple of days. It is an absolutely beautiful Caribbean beach, but I think I kind of expected cocktails and snacks and bars on the beach, but there is literally nothing of the sort in between the deckchairs belonging to the hotels!

Riding top deck around Varadeo.

Apparently everything that is that side of the peninsula is government owned so I am sure there are a lot of restrictions as to what is allowed be available. It is such a strange government control country. Our hosts had an electrician round the house yesterday because the government had declared they had to install a separate electricity meter in their garage. It all seems in efforts to make the government rich and in no way to help Cuban people, so it is very puzzling! We walked home, grabbing an espresso on the way. On the way back a little 8ish year old boy came up behind us and said ‘hello’ so we turned around and said ‘hola’ back. At fist I thought he was going to try and sell us a cigar because he had a big bumbag on but then he walked right up to me, grabbed my hand and planted a kiss on my cheek before going up to Josh and shaking his hand. We were a bit bewildered but watched him run back to the block of flats and start laughing with his mates – I think it was his dare! We went via the shop on our road and bought a small bottle of Havana rum (4CUC) and some tukola (Cuban coca-cola) and had a few drinks with some music at the casa before showering and going out for some dinner.