This blog post would normally have been about my honeymoon trip to Cayo Santa María, Cuba.
Beaches of Cayo Santa María, Cuba
It would have mentioned the great all inclusive resort stay we experienced at the Sol Cayo Santa Maria resort and shown you some lovely photos of the resort and its splendid facilities.
Reception desk at Sol Cayo Santa Maria resort, Cuba
Pool area at Sol Cayo Santa Maria resort, Cuba
Pool area at Sol Cayo Santa Maria resort, Cuba
Typical suite at Sol Cayo Santa Maria resort, Cuba
Main dining hall at Sol Cayo Santa Maria resort, Cuba
Reception Lounge at Sol Cayo Santa Maria resort, Cuba
Yumm!!
Lounge singers at Sol Cayo Santa Maria resort, Cuba
I would not tell you that this dude is a super super chick-magnet among tourists and staff alike! Id leave that for you to figure out on your own, dude.
And I of course would have shown you some behind the scenes photos of the village of Caibarién just outside our resort enclave.
Local Tavern at Caibarién, Villa Clara, Cuba
(NO! THATS NOT DAVID HASSELHOFF)
Local transport at Caibarién, Villa Clara, Cuba
Town of Villa Clara, Cuba
Town of Villa Clara, Cuba
Uhn Uhn! I ain’t sharing any stories and pics about my trip there. You can just imagine it yourself.
Oh! and I would have concluded my post with the main highlight of my trip – a visit to the Town of Santa Clara, the reported burial-place of the famous Enersto Che Guevara
Che as a child
Source: http://www.thechestore.com/Che-Guevara-full-biography.php
Apparently, I looked like young Che above myself as a kid. So I was told.
Mausoleum of Che Guevara in Santa Clara, Cuba
Mausoleum of Che Guevara in Santa Clara, Cuba
The one and only high rise building in Santa Clara
Inspired by Miami Art Deco style
Teatro La Caridad Santa Clara, Cuba
Streets of Santa Clara, Cuba
Cuban Cigar stash
Nope this post ain’t about all that stuff.
What it IS about is about the most sinister thing that can happen to tourists when visiting the resorts at Cuba.
It is the Canadian Tourist!
So while Tourism Canada wants all non-stupid people residing outside its borders to visit Canada, the nation’s stupid people are traveling down south to Cuba.
Let me explain.
We were on our bus tour of Santa Clara and other villages and towns. The tour guide was explaining about the daily rationed life of the Cubans and that the highest paid profession in the country are doctors and they earn the equivalent of $300 per month.
However, medical service and education and basic welfare is free.
So there was this loudmouth Canadian lady in our bus who kept complaining how pathetic everything looked around, how they could not desire for a better life like she had in Canada, how can the Cubans put up with this nonsense and yada yada yada…….
Man, somebody give this lady her daily dose of maple syrup! Like seriously. Nothing to ruin an immersion tour as the snarky passenger at the back of the bus.
Now the bus was full prior to that and when we had originally boarded our bus at the resort, there was a couple who didn’t get adjoining seats so they had to split up. Ok. So me and wife got off at one point from the bus to explore one of the stops. We left behind our water bottle on our seats. Upon returning to the bus, which was almost full, we realized our seats were taken by that same couple. They had moved our water bottle out and left it on the floor. Now we kindly requested them that we were seated there earlier.
The woman yells out that the seats are not designated and they were split up earlier and so now they want to be seated together. So to not make it an embarrassing situation for both of us, me and the wife decided to split up and had to sit that way for the rest of the way. Imagine our state of mind. And where was this couple from!
From Canada!!
And don’t even get me started on the Canadian family at the dining hall, the Canadian kid at the pool and the Canadian couple at the bar.
After all that I wanted to go Sparta on these folks! Seriously!
So there! The snarky rude obnoxious Canadian idiot tourist is the most sinister thing to happen to you in Cuba. Be warned.
“Until victory always”
-Enersto Che Guevara
That’s so funny, thanks for sharing your story. I try to avoid those all-inclusive hotels and I stay with families in Casa Particulares, that way I get to live with Cubans, be part of the family, get to know about their life and not meet so many other tourists.
That is the ideal way to do it.
I went to a resort on Cayo Santa Maria in March, it was gorgeous! Most of the other tourists were all French Canadian, so I got to work on my French while there. Luckily I don’t remember anyone being overly obnoxious!
Yes we had several French Canadians as well when I was there. The rude couple on the bus in this story were also.
Oh that’s not cool! Almost everyone else at my resort were French Canadians, they were all pretty cool though.
It’s tough traveling with a group. We had a family who always had to sit in the front seats wherever we went, complained about the food and the accommodations. After a while, all the other people on the bus were rolling their eyes every time one of them was late getting on the bus which was daily. Geesh! ps Your resort looks beautiful.
Yes the wonders of mixing north American clientele in a developing country (leave aside a communist one that too) and the all-inclusive affair and you got a recipe for disaster.
I presume you were also on a guided tour then.
Yes the resort is beautiful and people were generally friendly and helpful.