Ocean Varadero El Patriarca, Varadero, Cuba

Sister Sarah and I spent the week at the Ocean Varadero in Varadero, Cuba ... it was great to hang with her!  I got home this evening.

The Ocean Varadero promotes itself as a five-star all-inclusive resort and charges a five-star price ... I would rate it more at a three-star.

I've stayed at many three- and four-star all-inclusive resorts in Cuba, Mexico, Jamaica, Bahamas, Bermuda and the Dominican Republic over the years ... never a five-star so I was looking forward to it!  It didn't live up to my expectations. 

Because of its five-star price but three-star quality, I wouldn't stay here again. 

Here is the lobby.

There is a cost if you want to connect to the Internet.  If you use their computers in the Internet room near the front desk, it is 10 pesos/hour.  I brought my laptop ... it was 8 pesos/hour ($10) for WIFI that is only available in the lobby.  The speed of the Internet was great.

I was in building 62 ... Sister Sarah was next door in building 61.  We were about halfway between the main building and the beach.  The pool was next to us.

Varadero, Cuba - Wednesday

I had an early quiet night last night ... I shut the light off about 11:30pm after reading for a couple hours.

There is no clock in the room and the blinds do a good job in keeping the light out.  So when I wake up I never know what time it is.  You can imagine my surprise when I discovered it was 10:44 when I woke up this morning!!

I had missed breakfast so hung out in my room reading until it was time to go to lunch.

I'd gotten a lot of sun yesterday so spent the afternoon under an umbrella reading and snoozing and reading and snoozing and reading and snoozing.

When I went to my room later on, my towels were arranged very creatively.

Varadero, Cuba - Tuesday

The last couple days have been busy with the day trip to Havana on Sunday and the wedding yesterday so I planned on a lazy day today.

My big decision of the day was ... beach or pool.

I headed to the beach after breakfast and walked along it for a while.

Paulette and Curtis' wedding, Varadero, Cuba - Monday

The reason Sister Sarah and I came to Varadero is because her neighbours, Paulette and Curtis, were getting married here.

They have been together for about thirty years and engaged for about twenty ... so it was about time.  Ha!

The wedding was scheduled for 4pm on the beach ... but the photographer was delayed so it happened just after 5pm.

This is Erica, Paulette and Curtis' foster daughter.

This is Shannon, Paulette's daughter, who was her matron of honour.

Havana, Cuba - Sunday

Sister Sarah and I did a day trip to Havana today ... it's about a two hour drive.

Our bus was supposed to pick us up at 7:45am but didn't arrive to 8:15am.  Oh well!

Nelson was our host.  He was very knowledgeable and friendly.

Along the way, we stopped at a piña colada bar ... this would have been about 10am!

You get the piña colada and then you add the rum and cinnamon yourself.  Interesting way to start the day!  They were tasty!

Varadero, Cuba - Saturday

Today was a very lazy day.

I did a lot of this ...

Sister Sarah did a lot of this (as did I) ...

Varadero, Cuba - Friday

Though I was wide awake from 5:30am to 7am, I fell back to sleep and slept in ‘til 9am this morning. 

Once I had breakfast, I headed for the beach for a couple hours.

Varadero, Cuba - Thursday

Sister Sarah and I take a vacation together every year, usually the long weekend in May. This time we are meeting up today for a week ... in Varadero, Cuba.

Her neighbours, Pauline and Curtis, have been together a long time and are getting married on Monday here at the resort ... so it was a good excuse to take a vacation!.

About fifteen of them arrived from Halifax today (including Sister Sarah). I arrived today too and there are some more arriving from Toronto on Saturday.

I heard last night that there was a winter storm watch for Toronto for today. Oh no!

It had just started raining when I got up this morning at 6am. By the time I was on the plane ready to go at 10am, it had started snowing and there was freezing rain. The plane had to be de-iced so we were an hour late leaving ... but at least we left.  Yay!

Here’s the view of Toronto out my window on the plane as we were leaving ...

And here’s the view three hours later as we were arriving in Cuba ...

Much better!