As I settled in with a cup of tea to begin a blog update, I discovered that I was two vacations behind in posting, meaning.....you haven't heard about the Upper Canada March Break adventure or the past six weeks in Cuba. So here goes:
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| Ripleys Aquarium |
enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate and some downtime in the cafe) and then we headed over to Little Italy. We explored a bit and found a restaurant where we enjoyed a great pasta supper, including an unexpected twist.
In 1972 I had participated in a school trip (total cost $400) which included flights to England/Italy for a Mediterranean cruise on the SS Nevasa with students from our high school, Saint John, NB, St. Johns, Nfld and Birmingham, UK. One of the Newfoundland students and I corresponded for a few yrs and reconnected on FaceBook a couple of yrs back (she having recently retired as a Disney manager and heading to China on a trade mission this spring). When I posted a photo from Toronto I received a message from her saying she lived in Port Credit, would meet us somewhere and quickly made her way to the restaurant so.....after 45 yrs we had a great catchup. We both agreed that the cruises we take now are decidedly upscale compared to a WWII troop carrier with dormitories and trays of unidentifiable food in the cafeteria. A lovely bonus included her driving us back to the AirBnB.
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| Toronto Zoo |
Monday we packed up, took the subway downtown, stored the bags at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) and joined the hordes of kids spending March Break there. So many levels, so little time. Everything from dinosaurs, ancient civilizations, climate change...you name it. Days would be required to do it justice. By 2 pm we had to retrieve the bags and take the subway back to the VIA rail station for our commute to Ottawa. A relaxing trip as we rolled past industrial cities, farms and lakes while the steward served us sandwiches and drinks. Nice to have legroom and be able to move a bit vs plane seats. In Ottawa by evening and a quick Uber ride took us to the daughter's apartment in Gatineau. We weren't long calling it a day.
Tuesday meant the daughter became a working girl again, heading across the bridge to the restoration of Parliament Hill project she is hired for. The out of town guests enjoyed a leisurely morning then navigated the bus system over to Ontario, toured the (free) Bank of Canada museum and were joined
after work by the hostess. A wander across Parliament Hill (even saw a motorcade) past the eternal flame, through Byward Market and supper at a BBQ restaurant completed our day. Wednesday the lad and I figured out the bus system and made our way across Ottawa to the Museum of Science &Technology as did throngs of families. It was a looonnngggg day but an extremely interesting one. I was a tad disturbed to find exhibits from my childhood (black & white TVs, crank party line telephones etc) representing vintage topics though. Thursday was sunny and milder (first day it didn't snow) and we walked to the Museum of Canadian History in Gatineau which is a fantastic place - really worth a visit if you find yourself in the capital. The large exhibition hall of totem poles overlooks the river and parliament buildings. We spent the entire morning in the Kids Museum - creating and
starring in a play, travelling the globe, stamping our passports, unloading a ship "nah Nanak, I don't want to swab the deck, I'm the captain" he says from the bridge :) pretending to cook/serve food in the restaurant, jumping in the activity room, learning to juggle and be a clown with the circus instructors, checking out the first nations displays, finally stopping for lunch. We made our way through the special exhibit about the Franklin Expedition which was very well done as well as the Dreamworks interactive exhibit. We wandered through the national exhibit hall (wonderful etchings) and briefly toured some of the Canadiana exhibits before stopping at a Peruvian restaurant for supper - yum! Friday morning we did a tour of Parliament Hill and were suitably impressed with the Peace Tower and Memorial Chamber (sad to think of need for such large books to record all those fallen soldiers) As the bells rang out at noon and O Canada was played my grandson and I sang the anthem on the steps and I have never felt more patriotic. The afternoon took us to the Canadian Nature Museum which is housed in a gorgeous historic building and contains some amazing displays. I especially enjoyed the arctic exhibit. Saturday was a road trip and we drove an hour towards Montreal and Parc Omega in Montebello which is a 12 km safari park of Canadian wildlife. You can feed deer, elk, goats, wild boars, turkeys etc from your vehicle and watch more dangerous animals such as bears, wolves, coyotes in fenced areas. There were signs to not feed the bison (clearly ignored as they were NOT
impressed to be deprived of carrots) and even muskox! The hoofed animals would put their heads into the car, lick your hair and slobber on the vehicle as they chomped carrots - definitely need a post visit car wash. It took at least five hours to make our way through the roads and additional time for visiting the sugar shack to have a maple candy treat / hot chocolate, a visit to the trappers cabin and courier du bois display, a stop for grilled cheese sandwiches / carrot soup for lunch at the cafe, visiting the lodge with play area, decoy display, gift shop and we could've stayed longer but they were closing the gates. A good plan would be to arrive as the gates open at 10 am as the animals are looking for carrots and there aren't many vehicles. A stop in Chinatown for takeout noodles completed a perfect day. Sunday morning our hostess made us a great breakfast and dropped us at the airport for our trip home and yes...there were a few tears. What a wonderful time we all had!
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| Parliament Hill |
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| Kids Museum |
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| Parc Omega |
There were only four days separating the Ontario trip and departing for Cuba, good thing the wardrobes were significantly different. Especially as I came home to find that the sewage pipe was blocked, thus the washer had flooded the mudroom, no plumber was available and if the septic tank needed pumping the weight restriction on the roads would prevent their visit. I was unable to do laundry (including the mountains of soaked towels from cleaning the flood) run the dishwasher, take a shower, drain the tub etc. Monday involved the shore captain excavating the lid of the septic tank, borrowing a snake from the pumping service, asking me to drain water then yelling "whoa, whoa" as it came up through the drain in the bedroom closet and mudroom. I was not impressed! Although he managed to free the blockage, I was two days getting the mess cleaned up before I could think of packing. And then...we had a major snowstorm on March 22nd as we were heading to the airport which changed the plan from taking the car without snow tires to the 4wheel drive. What an awful drive it was! Certainly made us appreciate heading to the warm.
We caught a charter flight to Holguin with a plane full of all inclusive guests (only six of us non reseort passengers) had a nap enroute then were quickly processed on the ground. We were met by (as arranged by our son-in-law) a host in a taxi and after a quick stop at the cadeca (money exchange) we were off to our casa particular which was located near the city centre, had a great breakfast and was immaculately clean. We spent a couple of days enjoying the city as we visited the museum, ate great BBQ, spent an hour in line to buy wifi cards, hung out in the square online, and took a day trip to Gibara (a small fishing town) in a 1948 Oldsmobile - imagine travelling in a car older than us! Lovely museum, cathedral, square, male con and friendly people. We met some NS tourists there and they recommended a great paladar (restaurant) called La Perla where we shared a terrace lunch with our cabbie. Gibara would be a nice spot to spend a couple of days. A cab over to the Viazul bus station and we made our way to Camaguey.
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| courtyard |
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| resident feline |
enjoyed being tourists. The casa was a lovely colonial home with a wonderful courtyard, large rooms, a friendly family, great backyard for doing laundry and fantastic breakfast (fruit plates, yogurt, ham/cheese paninis, eggs as you ordered, bread, natural juices, and coffee) for $3 and best of all kitties! One little fellow made himself right at home, forgetting completely that kitties are not allowed on the furniture here! We were sad to leave in a cab to the bus station.
The overnight bus from Camaguey to Havana was (as are most red eyes) manageable with a pillow and headphones. Stops along the way but a quiet group of passengers and we arrived early am in La Habana. A cab to Habana Vieja, but after being welcomed and offered coffee at our recommended historic casa, we were delivered in an elderly Lada to a casa a few blocks away. Turned out to be a good spot to spend the night as a few blocks from the Malecon where we watched the vintage cars cruise, quiet, exceptional breakfast and a recommendation for a great local supper.
A 50s cab to the airport - thankfully the shore captain riding shotgun managed to yell “WHOA” at the cabbie looking at chicas in a vintage convertible, before we rear ended a truck! Whew. A full bus of tourists out to Pinar del Rio / Vinales for the two hour trip. On the bus full of foreigners we were the only two passengers exiting at Pinar del Rio and were approached by a man asking if we needed a casa and escorted to a great bungalow where we actually stayed three days vs the one we’d planned. Great host with exceptional English, large room/bath, huge/delicious supper available for $8. Pinar del Rio is an historic, less touristy area than Vinales and we had a great cab driver (Rodolfo who was retired military intelligence) for a few days. He expertly transported us to the Hector Luis tobacco
farm where Cohibas are made, took us to see the fishing fleet, checked out the beautiful beaches, shared lunches with us and delivered us to Vinales. We stopped at a lookout at Los Jazmines which has a view of the mogotes in Vinales (the classic hills/valley you see on postcards) and it was complete with tour buses of foreigners with guides, a band playing salsa music, a brahma bull to pose with for a photo and souvenirs for sale - standard tourist stop. There was an attractive, petite, fit senior lady from Montreal enjoying the view and when I commented that it was amazing, she agreed. I said “I take it this isn’t your first trip to this country?” and she smiled and said “I’ve been coming to Cuba for over 50 yrs” and I said “15?” but she clarified that she had “first visited when Batista was here, was only 24 yrs old and didn’t know that you could lose in the casino” and I said “bet you found out quickly you could” and she smiled again and said “oh no, in those days you just paid the croupier
and always won”. I commented that she must’ve seen a lot of changes over the years and she said “the more things change the more they stay the same”. I agreed when she told me that “you leave a piece of your heart here” and told her we’d been visiting since 1997, had a daughter who attended Universidad de Oriente, now had a Cuban son-in-law and shared her love of the country and its people. How wonderful to still be travelling at age 88! We stayed at a great casa in Vinales which was almost a small hotel as it had five rooms. Lovely breakfast, great supper and amazing views of the mogotes. We took a cab out to the prehistoric mural (painted in 1960 - go figure) and hiked the hill then headed to the Cueva Santo Tomaso (caves) and a two hour tour complete with helmets with headlamps and a guide. Striking formations, large rooms, dark and cool, big eyed toads, bats etc. Vinales itself is a tourist town with more foreigners than locals so not much reason to return. An early morning walk to the bus and we were off to Cienfuegos.
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| tobacco in the barn |
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| Cueva Santo Tomaso |
We were well treated by the people of the city, had lovely casas with a great chef who made us fantastic suppers and enjoyed a jeep excursion to the botanical garden and beach at Rancha Luna but…..the city of Cienfuegos is really dirty! Garbage everywhere, smelly, open sewers in the streets and really grubby! No intention to return there either. Deposited by 1958 jeep at the bus station and a quick trip to Trinidad was next.
Trinidad is a Unesco world heritage site and we were met at the bus station by a bicitaxi sent by our hostess so we bumped along the cobblestones to our casa. Our hostess was a dentist who welcomed us with perfect English, advised we could access the wifi in the house with our tourist card and suggested a restaurant a few doors down. We had a wonderful supper (so good we returned the second night) at a courtyard restaurant / casa - a five course meal and even a glass of Chilean camenere to accompany it. We explored the city and it was historic, clean, had lovely parks, cafes and friendly people. We opted for a cab to Playa Ancon to spend the day and it was a beautiful beach, with palapas, exceptionally warm ocean, bar with chair delivery and only a handful of European tourists (Luxembourg and Germany next to us). Ahhh. An early morning walk to the bus station and we began our day long trip to Santiago de Cuba.
The regional buses in Cuba make meal break stops (the drivers get fed even if you don’t want to eat) but it was long day as we made our way through Sancti Spiritus, Las Tunas and then finally on
through Bayamo. Along the road heading out of the city, although we were over an hour behind schedule, both drivers got off the bus to shop for peppers at an ox cart with vegetables. And….a little further along, a guy is standing by the side of the road holding up two bottles of salsa so of course we stop, he hops on with the sauce, drives to the next bus stop about 10 minutes away and gets off, leaving the salsa as payment. A wild thunder and lightning storm developed with torrential downpour as we made our way through the hills, finally arriving in Santiago de Cuba in the dark. Our son-in-law met us at the station in his father’s green WWII motorcycle with sidecar and whisked us off to a friend’s house to spend the night and we caught up on the news.
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| Got any peppers? |
We took a cab down to Chivirico the next afternoon and settled into Cayo Damas for the remaining three weeks. The furthest we travelled was in to Chivirico to use the wifi in the park and visit friends and family. Swimming every day, great drinks and meals, enjoying the seven puppies on the island which were all given away by our final week, practicing Spanish with a plan to do some more in-depth studies - yes after all these years! Investigating the possibility of doing four weeks of languages at university in Santiago de Cuba this November, finding a room within walking distance, heading down to Chivirico on the weekends for a visit and a friend has already raised the possibility of coming along. Must be meant to be.
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| Not TUMS! |
Early morning run to Holguin with the only stop being to buy bananas all around from an old guy holding a bunch up on the side of the road near Palma Soriano. Early check in, although the travel partner lost his scissors (he was warned) and razor blades. I noticed a familiar face in the downstairs departure lounge and realized it was the Sun Life agent who handles the shore captain’s investments. I tried to convince him to go upstairs and tell him that he’d had to come in person to advise the portfolio had disappeared. He was horrified and firmly stated “that is NOT going to happen” apparently money isn’t a joking matter. They were heading home from a last minute getaway. Uneventful flight and as I told the shore captain “we had more turbulence on the drive to the airport”. On the ground for supper with the city family (granddaughter is getting very grownup and able to say Gwamp well, but still working on Nanak) a bit of a visit, then on the road.
Returning to a cool house as we'd turned the infloor heating off (the cats have fur coats after all) we added some extra quilts and crawled into our own bed. Ahhh. Picked up the grandson the next morning and it was sure good to have him for the weekend. I did loads of laundry while he ‘helped’ his grandfather in the barn. I noticed them practicing archery at the edge of the driveway and when they came down for lunch the shore captain shared the ‘situation’ that had occurred. Apparently the lad lost his arrows and chose not to search because of the ‘bushes’ so his grandfather was searching unsuccessfully in the underbrush and called back “go over there and show me where you shot it” and he hears the whistle of an arrow going by his ear as the archer took the instructions literally! I called him William Tell, and reminded him of the various ER arrivals I’d seen over the years, but he was not amused. I said “I would have to explain to the Sun Life rep that apparently the claim was because to quote the grandson ’he told me to shoot an arrow at him’ highlighting the need for clear communication”. We spent some time playing Northopoly (a northern version of monopoly that I got with Canadian North points) and he was most impressed to find a square of paper with Asian characters. I suspected it was an inspected by #4 in Mandarin slips as everything is made in China now isn’t it? However, the grandson insisted that he’d won a trip to Japan and offered to take me, since he was so generous I quickly agreed. His math skills with the finances of the game were good for grade 2 but as he disclosed to his Grawmp “my favourite things in school are gym, recess and snack and I can do math ok” so I’m pretty sure there’s a genetic component carried on those Y chromosomes down that family lineage. He visited his great grandmother and after eating multiple pieces of apple pie and cookies, still managed to eat supper before ball practice - must be that hollow leg. On Monday morning we went to the bus stop at our old house, where new owners last summer with school aged children brought the stop back to walking distance. I had a nice chat with the lady of the house about the history of the property. original owner and some of the grounds etc. They love the house the way we did and it was a wonderful deja vu moment reminding me of raising our kids there.
Nice to get back into the home routine (if only briefly) and I walked in the spring sunshine to the mailbox and caught up with neighbours along the way. Picked up a few refundables but will have to remember a Sobeys bag in my pocket next time, what a mess in the ditches….people are such slobs! A friend and I ‘did lunch’ and then walked the beach in the warm sunshine, even ran into a nursing school classmate to catch up. First BBQ of the season for supper so getting all the spring activities in. I am supposedly heading back to work (in the community I did the job share in) for an eight week contract on Wednesday, but my ticket hasn’t arrived yet. I’m told that things are very different with casuals (apparently as I always had my ticket a few weeks before heading back) but regardless, it’s a fly in community so….at the moment I am using it as an excuse to procrastinate from packing although I have lined up a few things which can’t be procured at the very last minute. Showing my priorities that includes supplies to do crochet play food for the grandchildren and my Spanish books to study. Dragging the northern gear out of the barn and provisioning groceries next week will finish the project. Now, whether the announcement of the new regional manager as having a Master’s of Science in Space Studies from the International Space University, Strasbourg (France) and being the project and logistics manager for the Mars Institute has anything to do with it is up for discussion. Stay tuned.
The teacher daughter’s convocation for her Master of Education is being held on Saturday and I’m pretty pumped to be watching her head across the stage again. Lots of hard work, especially as the studies were en francais! Wasn’t going to miss that by being away.
So…..going to hit post as I’ve subjected you to a much longer than usual post. Looking forward to avoiding the ticks in NS, the foggy/rainy weather and seeing some old friends so the next update will likely be from north of 60.
