Urban Umbrella's 100th post: Reminiscing on past travels: Cuba 2011

This past year I went to Cuba with a few of my girlfriends. We basically stayed on the resort the whole time and just hung out on the beach drinking mojitos all day, everyday. I loved having the getaway with my friends but Cuba had some major down falls for me that make it so I will never return.

I had heard quite a bit about these issues from a friend of mine who visited Cuba earlier in the year but to be honest, I thought she was being a bit picky and I figured it couldn't be that bad. I will now take people's reviews a bit more seriously when choosing a place to vacation. I have always thought that because I am not a very well-travelled person that I would love anywhere but this trip proved me wrong. 

The Bad: 

1. It smells like smoke everywhere. This really shouldn't have come as a surprise to me as I do know that Cuba is known for it's Cigars but it was a bit brutal to wake up and smell them every morning and as someone who chooses to not smoke - ever - I just found the scent overwhelming.

2. The food was awful. I am not kidding you, it was terrible. It's not like how people say the buffets in Mexico are bad because they lack "variety" - these dishes lacked taste, and made you sick. Not a single one of us was able to avoid the dreaded food poisoning.  The drinks were fairly terrible too, basically straight rum mixed with water - though the mojitos were okay.... Tip: Do not try and find "better" food outside the hotel, you're basically asking for a express-pass to the bathroom.
This is the first time ever that I returned home from vacation weighing less than I had started.

3.  5 stars? Really? The resort we went to was one of the highest rated resorts in Cuba - it was supposed to be really modern and beautiful but when we arrived we were less then thrilled. I am not saying I was expecting to live in a lap of luxury but I did think that a 5 star hotel would be clean & comfortable which is completely opposite to what it was. The hotel was filthy, the walls had stains, the beds had stains, the floors were chipped and the bathroom had rusting in the tub & sink. We had thought maybe the rooms were the downside to the hotel but that perhaps the pool area & dining area would be a bit nicer - wrong again, it was just dirty - we saw a dead lizard and I figured it would be cleaned up or something in the next few hours - after a week of being there that lizard still laid baking away, dead, in the sun.
The hotel also constantly ran out of towels so if you didn't bring your own towel you basically had to air dry which did get a bit old by day 5.


The Good: 

Of course it would be a lie to say the entire experience was all bad. There were really beautiful aspects to Cuba that I am glad I experienced such as the unbelievably beautiful beaches & incredibly kind people. I have never seen beaches quite like these, even the ones in Mexico couldn't compare to the stark contrast of white sands, ice blue water and green palm trees of Cuba - it was like paradise.

Also, the people at the resort were all incredibly nice people and really loved little knick-nacks that they were given. Because Cuba has very limited imports giving small items like makeup or children's books are really appreciated and the best way to tip all the services throughout the hotel. So, every day we would set out gifts for the cleaning-service people and they would show their thanks in neat little ways around the room like setting up our room towels to look like swans or giving us an extra bottle of water in our mini-fridge.

Plus the company I kept, my great friends, made the trip fun. We spent a lot of our time just hanging out and joking around, it was a great way to spend some quality time together which we otherwise wouldn't have because we all lead such busy & different lives. It's hard to have a bad time when you're surrounded by such wonderful people! 

I hope we can all do a trip together again in the future!

By the way, this is my 100th post - very exciting!! 

The Urban Umbrella