I meant to try and post pretty regularly during Cuba but when I learned that it was almost $8/hour for a dialup connection, I decided to forego it for the week.
We spent the week at Oasis Brisas in St. Lucia – about 1 hour away from Camaguey. The resort is rated as 4 stars but felt more like a 2 star resort. Although everyone was really friendly, and everything that you needed at a resort was present, the resort itself was just really run down. Cracks in the walls, doors, tiles, tubs, and ants and cockroaches inside the rooms made any stay in the bedrooms uncomfortable. Although truth be told, after a few cocktails, everything seems a lot better 😉
At night..
Daytime
When we booked the trip, we had learned that we would be travelling with a large group of university students from Montreal. And when I say large, I mean 49 students large. Most were engineers (funny how we could instantly tell) and a few were law students. Although first impressions were not all that postive, we met a group within the large group who were super friendly, super funny and super fun to hang out with. They introduced us to a game called E-Ha which, in my humble opinion, is the most messed up, confusing game of all time. I also now love this game and want to play it all the time!
Some of the Montreal kids
Tequila anyone?
We got into a pretty good routine – wake up, eat breakfast, lounge by the pool, eat lunch, lounge by the beach, siesta, eat dinner, lounge by the coffee bar, lounge by the main bar, lounge by the snack bar and go to bed. We played beach volleyball, took a merengue lesson, went snorkeling, played with the cute resort puppies and played a lot of Trump. We also went on 2 excursions. One was a dinner/show in Camaguey which was included in our trip and the other was a snorkeling/Iguana island adventure that was easily the highlight of the trip. This excursion took us via boat to the 2nd largest coral reef in the world. On the way, we saw flamingos, dolphins (!!!!) and the death of a big soul fish (the 2nd captain caught it and bashed its brains out less than 2 feet away from Liane and I – and yes, we were splattered in fish goo – ugh!). Afterwards, we stopped by Iguana island which, surprise, surprise, has a HUGE iguana population! Afterwards, we stopped by the coral reef again for more snorkeling before heading back to the resort. Definitely a great time!
Lounging poolside
On our way to the coral reef
Right before the bashing
Although sipping mojitos poolside for a week is always a great time, I was happy to leave by the 7th day. I just missed the feeling of being clean, eating great food and not walking around in my bathroom with my flipflops on.. All in all, despite everything, I had a great time! You can never go wrong with great company!
Priscilla Chan 