Cuba March 2012

I realized that I'd promised to bore you with my vacation pictures, but that I hadn't done it yet. I started to go through them and just couldn't narrow them down to less than 50, so I'll split this into two posts.  Everyone has seen a pool and a beach so I'm going to try to focus on the other things that we experienced.

We stayed at the Sol Cayo Guillermo on Cayo Guillermo (duh), a tiny island above Cayo Coco.  I chose the hotel because people couldn't stop talking about how beautiful the beach was and the friendliness of the staff.  Many people return there year after year.  And the property was everything advertised.  Gorgeous pool, fantastic room, and there wasn't a staff member unwilling to help you. 

This was our room. Check out that vaulted ceiling. The wood was stained brown and then had a light whitewash over it. Spectacular.

We had to wait about 3 hours for our room to be ready - since the buffet wasn't open, we spent that time in the bar.  Maybe 3 hours was a bit too long because this was taken about 5 minutes after we got into our room.  Such a party animal. 

The bathroom was pretty cool.  The shower had a rustic ladder in the corner to hold our towels.  I want one of those in our bathroom at home.

We became friends with one of the gardeners and he would leave me a handmade gift every day.  Like this coconut and flower.

The coconut had a grasshopper on top.  A grasshopper woven from palm leaves. 

 Apparently he was an angry grasshopper.

The gardener also made a fish for me. It was on a long thin piece of palm leaf that looked like a fishing line.  He stuck it in the door lock and when I opened the door in the morning it swung towards me. Scared the crap out of me. Nevertheless it was a sweet gesture.

He also made a hat for Tom.  

We came back from an excursion and found this gift from the maid.

So we had to try it out ourselves.

I do have to show off the beach a bit - since it's the crowning glory of the area.  I gave you a taste with my previous post but just drink these in.  This is a beach north of our hotel called Playa Pilar.

Yep, I'm hot, I know. ;-)

This is the pier at the hotel next door.  During the day the tide goes out and it's so shallow that people would take their chairs far out into the water. We met some cute Canadian kids fishing at the end of the pier.

Amazing isn't it?  

That's probably enough for now. Next time I'll share with you the towns that we visited and horseback riding along the beach. Plus introduce you to some of the people we had the pleasure to meet.