Cuba is Growing Up

Hey guys! I got back from my second trip to Cuba last week. I had a great time soaking up the sun. I think it had been 8 or 9 years since my first trip to Cuba and I feel like things have changed since that time. It could be just that it was my first time being in a different culture last time and therefore I was more used to everything this time around. But I feel like there were more cars on the road (and newer cars) and less horse and carts. It could also be just a difference in the part of the island I was on too. I visited Varadero and Havana this trip and Holguin last time. Also, a lot of the Cubans had smartphones which I was a little surprised about.

Regardless of the changes, it was still a great trip. The first half of the week was a little disappointing because it was pretty windy and that made it too cold for me to tan on the beach. But the wind went away for the second half and it was so nice. We went on two excursions during our trip. The first was a bus ride into Havana with a tour guide pointing out many areas and giving us a lot of history on the country. Our second excursion was a Jeep Tour which included stopping to snorkel over some coral, swimming in a cave, and riding a horse all for the first time. Another cool thing about staying in Varadero was there is a bus outside of the resort that will take you into the town of Varadero where there are tons of vendors selling stuff. I’ve never really went off a resort on my own before so that was pretty fun.

Here is a video of some of the things I saw and did during my trip: