Cuba Trip - 3/24 Day 7

This morning, after breakfast we arranged to rent a motor scooter and took this for a ride around Varadero.

It was lots of fun for me, but Janet was on the passenger seat which really wasn't a seat at all and made for a somewhat uncomfortable ride. We went east on the Varadero land spit as far as the road would go and on the way back managed to find the Plaza Americas shopping mall.

We looked through these stores but didn't find anything to buy except a bottle of water.

Next we went into the town of Varadero and toured the 15th Street flea market shopping area. This was quite good, we seen lots of interesting stuff.
We ended up buying a couple of carved bull horn sculptures. One of a crocodile (mine) and the other was a combo turtle, fish and dolphin jumping. These pieces were really very well done and for what we considered to be bargain prices. Janet also bought a wooden bowl made of various colors of wood and lathed into a useable bowl.

We then took a few side trips down adjacent roads and seen all manner of vehicles, bikes, scooters, kids on school grounds, parks and roadside cafes. The amount of garbage really wasn't much and some people looked friendly, and others not so much. We went back to the resort for a light lunch and then out to the beach for the afternoon.

This was really the first time we had spent a few hours on the beach. I went for a long swim / walk in the waves a long way up the beach. When I finally got out of the water, I had a fair walk back. By the time I walked back in the sand, I had to go back in the water to cool off again.

When I walked in the ocean this time, I managed to look away at the wrong time (Note to self - don't turn your back on the ocean) and when I turned around to face the water again, a huge rogue wave smashed into me. A face full of salt water that nearly knocked me over ! Unbeknownst to me, Carmen and Steve were fairly close by on the beach and she said to Steve " Some idiot out there just got slammed in the face by a huge wave !" , laughing her face off. Then she said " I think it might be my Dad, Yes, it is my Dad !" They were both laughing there asses off over that.

A little more sunbathing and then off to the room to clean up and get ready for dinner. After dinner we have a date planned. We are going out tonight to the Buena Vista Social Club to see a concert by the 5 Legends of Cuba.

Part of the premium package was to get driven to the show in an antique car. I think ours was a 1947 Chevrolet Bel Air. It really looked great and had been refitted witha diesel engine and automatic transmission that worked beautifully.

When we got to the venue, we had a hour to spare and it was arranged that we had a drink in the adjacent bar and to particapate in a "meet and greet" with the musicians. Lots of smiles and handshakes but the Spanish vs. English thing didn't work out too well for conversation.

In the performing hall, our premium package gave us front row seats. How cool is that. The musicians were fantastic and it was definately a highlight of our Cuba trip.

A professional dancing pair also performed 3 times during the show in different costumes and it really was spectacular dancing. We really enjoyed it.

We got back to the resort about midnight and it didn't take long for sleep to take hold this night.