Home from Cuba

We spent an evening in Havana,
 taking in the Tropicana show.

Lori and I usually go away for Christmas at the Cabin with our friends John and Elaine.  Originally, a cabin just outside of St. John's was enough of a retreat from the holiday hustle.  Lately we've been finding cabins farther and farther afield.  This year we took "Christmas at the Cabin" to Cuba.  It was my first time in the country.  In fact, it was my first sun vacation ever.  I tried snorkeling for the first time, we made a couple trips to Havana, I bought a hat from a blind weaver and his wife who sews them, we picked up a couple pieces of art, I had the best Pina Colada's in Cuba, and read four books.

I don't know what kind of fish this is, but we called them "Banana Biters", because they went crazy for bananas.  They could smell the bananas on you fingers and would swarm all over you nipping at your fingers.  They were pretty intimidating at first because they are the size of footballs and a a dozen or more will appear out of nowhere and start a banana feeding frenzy.

The Tropicana, Havana

Our resort was about an hour east of Havana in a beautiful rural area.  A lot of the small farms were worked with cattle or horses or by hand.  This man would greet the tourists with fresh coconuts and sugar cane from his fields.

This was my first time snorkeling and I think I'm hooked.  It was incredible, I have hundreds and hundreds of photos to sort through just from the underwater camera, never mind all the pictures from Havana and the countryside.  I'm sure I'll put up more photos from the trip over the next few weeks as I get back into my workshop and office routine.

Photo Credits: Tim Rast