Cuba Recap

It’s hard to believe how quickly a week in Cuba can go. Then again, I really shouldn’t be surprised. As I told my nieces before I began this year’s cycling tour back in June, “Time goes REALLY fast!” Perhaps I should’ve heeded my own advice as this week very much supported that statement. And the time goes even faster when you’re having fun. I can say with great confidence that it was a fun week in Cuba.

The week was full of both work and play – although, perhaps a bit more on the play side. The purpose of the trip was to shoot as much video as possible of the Rumberos Cuban Drumming Retreat with the goal of turning it into a documentary. It became pretty evident early on that we were going to need more resources to really cover the retreat properly. As such, our focus for the week changed a bit and it became more of a scouting mission with a longer range plan of returning next year for the 10th Annual Drumming Retreat. That said, we still managed to shoot quite a bit of video and witnessed several very entertaining performances by local talent. VERY talented talent, I might add.

As I mentioned, there wasn’t a lack of play time during the week and we certainly had a bit of the royal treatment at the resort. The resort in question was Memories Holguin. And, as it happens, one of the drummers attending the retreat was Joan Hunter who just happens to own Sunwing Travel Group. Suffice it to say, travelling with the owner of the resort (and airline) has its perks! Perks aside, Joan is an incredibly fun, energetic, and entertaining person. But as for those perks, well … there was certainly no waiting in line at the airport! And at the resort, a chef was brought in from Veradero for the week. Before coming to Cuba, I heard many people say that the food isn’t very good. I can confirm that, yes, some of it was more than a little bland (although, it reminded me of the food I cook so I felt right at home). However, the food prepared by the chef from Veradero was muy bueno. VERY muy bueno!

To go with the muy bueno food, we also had a couple of special dinner venues. One night, the dinner tables were set up IN one of the swimming pools. When I first heard of that plan I was slightly concerned given my general aversion to water. However, the pool in question was shallow so the risk of drowning was minimal. And I won’t lie, eating dinner with your feet soaking in a pool is more than a little fun.

The other special venue saw us enjoying dinner on the beach complete with a full eight-man band. And the dinner was highlighted by a suckling pig which had been slowly roasted all day (being turned manually for over six hours!). Again, it was excellent, uh … I mean, muy bueno!

All in all, it was a great week. I really wasn’t sure what to expect from Cuba but, simply put, I loved it. The weather was fantastic, the scenery was beautiful, and the rum was plentiful. The music and entertainment was excellent. The people were very friendly. And, as a side note, I even got to try windsurfing. That’s right. Me. In the water. Windsurfing. Not particularly successfully but not bad for my first ever attempt.

And despite the narrow roads (with no shoulder whatsoever), I would definitely consider returning to Cuba for a cycling tour. Of course, that will take a bit more planning than my current tour as there are are some logistical factors that would have to be investigated but I think cycling in Cuba would be great. Challenging. But great.

I’ll wrap this up with a bit of a warning. There are more than a few photos in the Photo Gallery. Then again, I guess that’s to be expected since there are several days of photos included.