In March, Chris and I planned to go to the Caribbean in November for his birthday.  So as planned, we scored an amazing deal –$462 for a week all-inclusive at a 4star resort, Be Live Brisas in Santa Lucia, Cuba. Four of our friends joined us on this trip, Chi, Adner, Chauncey & Olivia and it was so much fun!

Day 1 – Saturday November 20, 2010

We arrived to the resort at 3am and I crashed but the others wandered to find the 24hr snack bar. Unfortunately, we woke up only to see cloudy skies. We had our first buffet lunch and the food was very good! I had expected bland shitty food as other have said but we enjoyed the food a lot!

We wanted to hit the beach but it started to pour. So we went to the pool instead and swam until it was dinner at our first ‘a la carte’ seafood restaurant. Holy jeebus! The fish was SO tasty. It was reallyyyy good. I really didn’t understand why everyone says Cuba food sucks because this fish was great!

After dinner, we saw the nightly entertainment, which was Miss Brisas and my friend, Olivia went up. Sadly she didn’t win but it was fun to watch.

We chilled at the snack bar, where we met some other travelers and Chi ended up having a drinking war between them and boy, was there a lot of alcohol…  Next, we went to the disco, where Chi danced with some locals (totally jokes!) and we partied it up that night.

Day 2 – Sunday November 21, 2010

Another cloudy day but we ventured to the beach regardless. Tasted lots of salt water and then hit the pool to play some volleyball and European handball

We watched the fashion show that night. One of our traveler friends, won a dress and it was so funny because he is so homophonic, and under no condition would he kiss another guy –for million dollars, for 100 hot girls or even if he had to choose between a kiss or rammed in the ass with all the NFL players. So we had a lot of fun joking and making fun of him that night.

We chilled at the snackbar again, which became our local nightly hang out area with other travellers. The hamburgers and fries were great and I also get a Pina colada!

Day 3 – Monday November 22, 2010

This was our first excursion to Playa Bonita Beach, ride a catamaran and go snorkeling. We spend the morning at the secluded Playa Bonita Beach, which was beautiful, much nicer than our beach –clear blue water, white soft sand and no seaweed along the coast. It was perfect and the sun was out too.  We had a good seafood buffet lunch here and drank fresh coconuts.

We rode the catamaran to the coral reef, Adner was the first to lie down on it and then I followed him. It was so trippy because you’re rocking on the waves facing the sky, not knowing when you will hit the waves and splash you.

Snorkeling was SO hard since the waves were high and water kept going in our goggles and tube but we saw lots of fishes. We fed them bananas and they came right up to us.

The captain of the catamaran also let us touch a starfish and take photos with it. It was so spiky and hard… like a durian!

We ended the evening back at the resort with our second a la carte dinner at the Cuban Restaurant and the chicken was SO flavorful. It was delicious!

Day 4 – Tuesday November 23, 2010

Our next excursion was a full day trip to Camaguey City. The tour was very interesting and eye-opener. I learned some interesting facts; Camaguey was originally on the beach coast but too many pirates would attack so they moved inland. The city is built like a maze on purpose to keep pirates out and be easier for the habitants to defend the city. In Cuba, each family has ration cards to redeem for food and education is free!

Our first stop was an abandon sugar mill. Sugar was once Cuba’s main industry, but now its tourism.  At this sugar mill, a local Cuban invited us into her farm/home. Wow, it was literally a shack and I was amazed at these living conditions. Makes you really appreciate Canada!

The next stop was a rum factory. Unfortunately, we couldn’t see the factory line but we saw their barrels of rum in storage.

We had lunch in he city. The beans side dish was so flavourful and delicious… I think it was the best beans I’ve ever had!

Next, we explored the city for an hour. There was really nothing to buy because their stuff was like non-name dollar store (not dollarama or the nice dollar stores) quality for $5+.  The funniest store was this DVD + Accessories store, that was literally 3 cables on a table.

There were some beautiful Italian-built buildings and colourful sites to see. The streets might have been rundown but they were clean –much cleaner than Toronto.

We chilled at café where we had live music and mojitos. Then we wandered the night in the city some more and stopped a couple of stores. We had dinner in the city and watched a traditional night show. Since the resturant ran out of sprite, they suggested pineapple soft drink and it was SO good! I wanted to buy some back but it was hard to find.

Day 5 – Wednesday November 24, 2010

It was another beach day!  I went for a quick jog and the guys played ‘ninja’ in the water – a game where you take turns for one-second moves to hit the other players’ hand. We also rented a pedal boat out and pedaled around until it started to spit.

That night we had our last excursion, which was to watch the sunset at coco beach, enjoy some latin dance and then enjoy a lobster dinner. The sunset was beautiful and the salsa, mambo & cha cha dancing was lots of fun.

Next, we wandered outside drank fresh coconuts by a bonfire. The lobster meal was delicious –so chewy and juicy.

After dinner, we stared into the darkness on the road we took to get to the beach and then looked up to see a million stars. It was so beautiful and I’ve never see so many stars in my life. It was simply breathtaking.

We went to see the nightly show, which was some professional latin dancing before we hit the snack bar and bar again. Boy, we enjoyed did we enjoy those burgers and fries.

Day 6 – Thursday November 25, 2010

This was our last full day, so we wanted to pack as much in as possible. We had breakfast, then rented bikes and rode it around. Cha and Olivia were learning how to ride… yea, they don’t know how to ride a bike! We wanted to rent scooters but they were all rented out. We walked to the next resort and checked it out. Nothing special, they did have flamingos and a giant crab statue. In my opinion, it wasn’t as nice as ours.

We went to the beach of course. Chi had a spider on him for a bit and his pants ripped. Haha.

We also saw a cowboy in the sun… we were like “omg it’s the old spice man!” We dipped into the pool and saw a rainbow!

This was our final a la carte dinner at the Italian restaurant and it was not bad but not as good as the seafood or cuban.

Chris and I wandered away and had a romantic stroll on the beach and we gazed at the moonlight and stars. We then joined the group at the snack bar and had burgers and fries one last time.

Day 7 – Friday November 26, 2010

We checked out early and I got one last Pina Colada.We headed to the airport and also picked up some souvenirs, it was a great trip and I miss the sun and warmth!