Cuba: 21 March – 15 April, 2011

…Part Two: Cienfuegos and Santa Clara.

Just to expand on the Cienfuegos comment from the last post: we went to Cienfuegos for three days, and unless you like water bottling factories and shipping ports, you won’t like Cienfuegos. Every Cuban we had spoken to about going there all said that the city was ‘tranquil’. Aburrido is the Spanish word for ‘boring’, so we’ve got no idea what they were talking about…

Cuba: 21 March – 15 April, 2011

…Part One: Food rations, quality healthcare for no cost, quality education for no cost, poverty, and old Chevy’s.

Cuba really is a country of contrasts. On one hand a population that largely earns less in one month than we do in one hour, but on the other hand receives top quality healthcare and education for absolutely no cost. As well as this, the cost of living is relatively low for locals: food is cheap, public transport is cheap, and entertainment (e.g., bars, museums, galleries) is cheap as well. If you’re a foreigner however, things are considerably more expensive.

Playa del Carmen, Mexico: 17 – 21 March 2011

…Spring Break!

Ah, the good old American “Spring Break” – a time when booze-guzzling university students terrorize various sunny parts of America and beyond, en masse and on holiday. In Mexico, they traditionally descend on Cancun. However, in recent times, they have started venturing further South to places like Playa del Carmen – and we were caught in the middle of it. Add to this St Patrick’s Day, and we were in a place like Schoolies Week, just without the 17-year-olds (but plenty of “Toolies”…).

Isla Mujeres, Mexico: 14 – 17 March 2011

…and let us introduce “Meester Wheeskar’s”

After travelling from Brisbane to Sydney to Los Angeles to New York to Cancun to Isla Mujeres, we were ready for a bit of a break – and thankfully we came across the beautiful Mexican destination of Isla Mujeres. The “Island of Women” is a 30 minute ferry ride from Puerto Juarez in Cancun (“Spring Break!!”) through the most turquoise waters you could imagine, and is only 8km long (North to South) and at most 800 metres wide (at its widest). The ferry had the Mexican version of Jim Morrison playing guitar and doing all sorts of The Doors and Rolling Stones covers throughout the short trip – so we knew early on that we were on a winner.