Cuba (Part 7)

7 July:

There's a match tonight against a Cuba select. Some of the guys who played for Havana a few days ago will be playing. Our boys were embarrassed when they were found so wanting physically in the previous match. They are determined to be ready this time, so very little drink for the "players" last night and no drink at all, except water and soft drinks today. The non-players, however, can make up for them. There's no need to confuse the hotel bar with an unexpected reduction in turnover, is there?It's a good game, we win, mainly because of better discipline, the Cubans give just too many penalties. We're joined at the match by a girl from the British Embassy; we've all got a formal invite to a reception at the Ambassador's residence. Proselytizing rugby, it seems, deserves official notice. Also, (I've only just learned) Glasgow and Havana are twinned !!! The BBC's new correspondent (all of three days in-country) has come along, not believing that he would see a game of rugby in Cuba. He's a Leicester Tigers man and thoroughly enjoys the match. He comes back to the hotel with us, taking interest in our Club and our reasons for choosing Cuba to tour. I take a mental note to remember "Our Man inHavana" as I'm sure we'll be hearing him report on momentously historical events in the near future. As he says, "Why do you think I tried so hard to get the post?".

Cuba (Part 6)

6 July:

Today was sight-seeing in Havana; Ernest Hemingway's drinking shops (of course). La Bodeguita del Medio, known for best making mojitos and La Floridita, claimed to be the “birthplace of the daiquiri”.

Before we reached these waterholes, we'd walked a fair distance and our proverbial tongues were hanging out. We were all on the lookout for an appropriate bar. I spotted a promising looking sign that was hanging over an establishment at the far end of a cul-de-sac. I confidently persuaded the whole group that it was what we were looking for. I was heavily fined at the next morning's court when it turned out to be a Baptist Church (of all things to find in Cuba!).We were also running a sweep on how many minutes would it be before we were accosted by "Guantanamera" (played live). It seemed to be the sound track of the whole tour. My roomey won when it was played by the band in La Floridita (although we suspect some foul play when he was seen to pass some cash to them after he'd received his winnings).

Then to the Capital; pretty impressive:


In the evening we (and the rest of the hotel guests) were entertained somewhat bizarrely by the "tour virgins" (don't ask!)A full set of my pics of the tour can be found at Flikr

Cuba (Part 5)

5 July:

Today we went to a tropical island in a catamaran. A picture can replace a thousand words:
A full set of my pics of the tour can be found at Flikr

Cuba (Part 4)

4 July:

For the next two days we all went to the holiday resort at Varedero. This is where most of the sun and sand type holidaymaker would go for a week or two, maybe taking a day trip to Havana or one of the other cities, but otherwise completely insulated from the real Cuba!

The journey there in our smooth air-conditioned coach was really interesting as we travelled through an ever changing countryside, getting a brief impression of rural and small village life.

We stopped at a road side "taverna" for a pina colada. When the barman handed us the bottle to allow us to add our own measure(s) we thought we'd died and gone to heaven. Our type of bar. (The band in the pic is playing Guantanamera, of course!)




We passed through Matanzas. The tour rep on our coach told us that it is called the city of bridges. There are seventeen crossing the three rivers that traverse the city. For this reason it was referred to as the "Venice of Cuba." It was also called the Athens of Cuba for its poets. I've got to say that the little we saw from our coach made this comparison very difficult to accept.

He also told us that the name Matanzas means "massacre or slaughter" in Spanish. Named in memory of the wholesale slaughter of the inhabitants by the Spanish in revenge for 20 of their soldiers drowning in the harbour during a raid when their boat flipped over and their heavy armour dragged them down.

The archipelago at Varedero has over 20 kilometres of the finest beach in the world. The all-inclusive hotel complexes that line the beach are very well run, full of pools, bars and restaurants. A very enjoyable day (and night) was enjoyed. Could it have been otherwise with the wall to wall drink and food? (Lost passport lad arrived and proceeded to try and catch up; mistake!).

A full set of my pics of the tour can be found at Flikr

Cuba (Part 3)

2 July:

After court (if you've been on a rugby tour, you'll know what I'm talking about), where our particular "badge of ignominy", which is a "yellow jersey" entitled "poof de tour" is awarded. This morning, quite unusually it was jointly "won" by two of the younger lads. The jersey, which is only laundered BETWEEN tours, has to be worn at all times by the recipient (except in bed, on the rugby pitch, or swimming). It was therefore not a surprise to see both lads in the one jersey. (The temperature was 30 C)

Later that day, we all went to Havana for a game of pub golf (don't ask!). Everybody took it very seriously, but it had the inevitable conclusion, everybody got very, very drunk. (It transpired later that there wasn't even anyone sober enough to collect the scorecards).

3 July:

There's a game scheduled today against an Havana select, KO 5.30. All the "players" are having the day off drink in preparation (the over-indulgence of the day before is really of no consequence they say .. yeah). We older guys are quietly pleased to get a chance to re-charge the not so sprightly batteries. (although you'd never get any of us to admit this).

The very high temperature (and very high humidity) and the 4 day bash the lads have been on takes it toll on the pitch and the surprisingly well organised, and fit and strong locals hold us incredibly to a 0 - 0 draw.

You don't get many of them! I'm trying to explain the game to some locals and without a score to show them, it was pretty difficult to demonstrate the point of the game, although they really appreciated the athleticism and physicality.

A full set of my pics of the tour can be found at Flikr

Cuba (Part 2)

1 July:

With the change in the clocks, we've got 5 extra hours. First full day; we chose to check out Havana; went to the Museum of the Revolution (of course); fantastic building, the contents unfortunately were very depressing.

The taxi journey into town had been jaw droppingly interesting, but not for the reasons you'd expect. Very very little in the way of building seems to be younger than 1960; and some are in a pretty poor state of repair.

The extreme lack of traffic, the huge age (and quality) difference in the vehicles, from 1950 Chevvies, through 1980 Ladas to brand new Mercs catches the eye. The public transport is the same; brand new tourist coaches to 50 year old overcrowded buses that are belching black fumes. We see old Dutch buses that still have Amsterdam livery and, believe it or not, the original dutch terminii on the destination boards.

After an eventful ride in a horse and cart (with 6 "big" guys, average 14 stone, the horse needed a bit of help over the potholes) we ended the day with a mini pub-crawl that, with the excellent company, raised everyone's spirits (literally).


A full set of my pics of the tour can be found at Flikr

Cuba (Part 1)

I joined my rugby club from Glasgow to tour Cuba for 10 days:

30 June:

Waiting in Gatwick for our 6 hour delayed flight, with images of burning vans being driven at Glasgow Airport on the TV, it was a chance to meet some of the new faces among the 50 odd tourists.

We are a very disparate club and the tour party reflects this; all ages, background and professions. It's the strength of the club, I think. [There is 5 pairs of father and son on tour]
All had gone really smoothly up to now; only one lad had lost his passport (drink had been taken the night before, we suspect) and was on his way back to Glasgow at serious expense to get a temporary replacement, and would not join the main party until day 4 in Cuba.

1 July:

Our hotel was well appointed. My roomey and I were among the first to check into our rooms (at about 2.00 am local time) and unsurprisingly were first to find the pool bar.
It seemed almost within moments of being told it was open 24/7 that we were joined by 50 pals. It was quite a few hours later (and a few "fan-heaters") before bed.

More to follow.

A full set of my pics of the tour can be found at Flikr