Cuba and Varadero - My first week

As I said in an earlier blog, these posts from Cuba will be short and without much in the way of pictures.  Internet is slower than you can imagine and I can't even download attachments to emails. 

I have a nice blog written on my offline blogging tool, ready to upload when I get back to the land of wifi and probably will have quite a few ready to upload by the end of my time here.  So a bigger better blog of my Cuban encounters will come, so be patient.

So here goes the Coles notes*

• spent Thursday last week doing all my errands in Havana, bus ticket to Varadero, courses lined up at the University and trekked all around town, clocking 11.5 miles in my sandals and one tiny blister on my baby toe. 
• spent the last 6 days lazing on the beach and walking up and down the strip in downtown Varadero, which reminds me a little of Daytona beach, but with a little more Latin temperament.  I have been clocking 5 miles per day walking and pretending like it is training for my Spain Camino walk - but it really isn't since it is just a stroll up the avenue without hiking boots or backpack.
• Met  two friendly Russian 20-something girls and one late 30s Winnipeg Canadian guy and they all left today.  The place isn't hopping - quite a crowd of late 60's and 70's Canadian and Russian snowbirds here and they are not really a rambunctious crowd.  But I had fun with the friends I met.

I am headed back to Cuba tomorrow and start classes next Monday.

* If the term Coles notes are before your time it just means the abbreviated version of the full story.