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| A private beach at our resort |
Today is our last day of our Cuban holiday.
For the last week and more, things went much better than we have expected.
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| Staying at our resort, we enjoyed both the sun,beach and the cultural life of Cuba |
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| A quiet oceanfront sport for guests to relax at our resort |
We have had a fantastic time in Cuba and there were very few complaints.
Before we came to Cuba, we heard many horror stories from our friends and colleagues who visited Cuba before.
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| We bought an all inclusive package for our Cuban vacation. |
They always complained about the food, the lack of activities to do or being bored at their resorts.
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| An outdoor cafe in Old Havana |
Therefore, I was quite skeptical about how our Cuban vacation would go. I am happy to say that our Cuban holiday has gone far beyond our expectation!
We love history, architecture and learning about different cultures, therefore visiting museums, famous historical sites and places are important to us on our travels.
We informed our travel agent about our desire to experience both the beach and the cultural/ historical part of Cuba. Our agent did a great job recommending us a resort close to Havana.
Our holiday in Cuba was a great experience as we have experienced the best of both worlds in this beautiful country!
The other important part for us was spending a few days in Havana
and other region of Cuba.
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| View of Havana from a church tower |
We loved learning about Cuban history, its people and visiting some fabulous buildings and important architecture.
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| Visiting art studios and galleries are a must on our travel itinerary |
The best part about our resort was its close proximity to the city and its free daily shuttle bus to Havana - a city full of arts and history with so much to see and do.
Instead of being cooped up in a resort, we could visit Havana any day during our holiday within a 20 minute car ride, without any extra cost.
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| The free shuttle bus picks us up and takes us to Havana |
For retired people like us, the free shuttle service to Havana was an important consideration. It saved us a lot of time and money on transportation.
For tourists staying at a resort far from a city, each side excursion could easily cost between 50 to 100 pesos per person per day.
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| Magnificent architecture abound in Havana |
Though without any value outside of Cuba, the value of the Cuban peso is pretty high within its borders, for example, one American or Canadian dollar is worth only around .70 to .80 pesos.
When we exchanged a $20.00 Canadian bill at our resort, we only got back 14.00 pesos and some change.
We got a better exchange rate at the Cuban bank.
No wonder many of our friends and colleagues complained about being bored in Cuba.
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| Havana has many great restaurants and cultural activities |
It would have costed them between Can.$80- 150 per day per person to get out of their resort and go to Havana or somewhere else for sightseeing and other cultural activities.
We were glad that we made the right decision of staying close to Havana as we spent very little time and money on additional transportation or package tour charges.
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| We enjoyed the food at our resort, |
Today, being our last day, we thanked the resort recreational and dining room staff members who served us. We said good bye and expressed our appreciation through tipping to them.
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| Tipping is greatly appreciated in Cuba |
Those who got tips from us were grateful and delighted that their services were recognized and appreciated.
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Most Cubans make a meager monthly wage, therefore tipping is important to them to help supplement their income.
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| Outdoor cafe in Old Havana |
Unfortunately, some tourists from certain countries do not believe in tipping. Regardless what great services they have received, some would never give out any tips to service personnel.
I do hope that as westerners vacationing in third world countries, we would have an appreciation of how fortunate we are and compassion for the less fortunate in the countries we are visiting.
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| Beautiful buildings everywhere in Havana! |
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| We stayed at this beach resort and enjoyed the best of what Cuba offers |
It is my sincere wish that if we can spend hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars travelling, we can demonstrate a spirit of generosity to share a tiny bit of our wealth by tipping those working hard to serve us and helping us to have a good time.
R.T.
Cuba
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