Tourist Tree

December 17, 2005

Buenos dias amigos!

You know, I love it here. To all of you who said that I'd wish I was here for two weeks, you were right. I really really am not ready to go back on Monday. The resort is beautiful, the people are wonderful, the food is good, the sun is out (there has been no rain, except in the evening, thank you for all your positive weather thoughts, I've been having them for you too!), there is so much still left to do and I'm not going to be able to. But what I have done has been great, so I'm going to have such great memories of this trip.

Yesterday I did get up early enough to get to the yoga class, but it had been moved to 10:30, so I went on the hike instead. The resort is surrounded by hills - that are called mountains - and the hike goes up one of them so you get an amazing overview of the property and the ocean. It was a good hike with a few stops to learn about some of the flora along the way. The first stop was at a Royal Palm, the symbol of Cuba. It's fruit is only used for animal food though. The next one was at the Tourist Tree. It is called this by the resort staff because it is red and peeling, just like the tourists! I really liked that one.

After the hike, I headed straight to the beach with Harry Potter and had a wonderful quiet day there. It was a good beach day because it was windy, so it never felt too hot. I only went in the ocean once, because it was cool enough, and I'm afraid that the wind will bring the jellyfish back, and they're scary.

I went back to my room and read and watched some tv for a few hours, then got ready for dinner and headed to the restaurant. I joined Agnes and Leigh for dinner, and we had such a good time. They're from Vancouver too, and have been here for two weeks, so know many of the staff, who were very happy to take the opportunity to entertain us. I have to say that Cuba has been very very good for my ego and self-esteem (are those the same things?). Everywhere I go, I'm getting called a beautiful girl by the men, and it's been so very very easy to make friends with people here. I know the vacation resort life is totally artificial, but I wish real life was more like this.

After dinner we watched the show, which was hilarious. They got four couples from the audience to compete against each other for funny money for the auction, and for a bottle of rum. We all laughed so hard at this.

After that, it was off to the disco. There was no one there when we walked by, we were going to the lobby bar, but the two staff there were waving us in, and we felt so sorry for them, we went in and started dancing. It turned out to be great fun in there! Because we were there, more people started coming in, so it turned out to be a fair crowd. One of the bartenders came out to dance with us, and I got to do a merengue with him. His name is Odietty and he's so cute (in a sweet kind of way)! I'm definitely getting his photo before I go home. I actually got to sit down and chat with him for a bit, and it was very interesting to get a sense of his life in Cuba.

Anyway, after that I hung out with Jenn and Agnes in the lobby bar for a bit, stopped by the hot tub to chat with David, Paige and Erin, and then headed home at about 2:30.

For some reason I woke up at 8 this morning, and although I'm tired, I couldn't sleep anymore, so I thought it was a great opportunity to come write again.

Today I'm going to do yoga at 10:30 for sure, then off to the beach for a few hours, then the scooter tour. Hopefully it will be another fun and exciting evening, as it's my last :o(

I hope everyone is really super, and I look forward to seeing you all when I get back.

Ciao! (I know that's Italian, but I don't know how to spell hasta luega properly, or even say it properly for that matter!)