Cayo Coco, Cuba March 20th - 27th, 2010

Back in Dec 2009, Brian and I were having a casual conversation about all inclusive vacation with Henry and Grace. I really missed the white sand and clear blue water, it had been a long time (since 2006) Brian and I went for an all inclusive vacation since the Bahamas. So we casually agreed to go this year not thinking that it would actually happen ;) We booked it in Feburary when our friend told us that the price seems pretty decent. It was a much needed one and we were glad we went.

Day 1
We arrived at Cayo Coco at around 8pm that night and were welcomed by the warm and humid Cuban air with a strong fume of the engine exhaust when we walked down the plane with the ladder that they had set up outdoor. It took less than 30 minutes for us to get ready and head out to the shuttle bus for our hotel. I was glad to find out that our hotel was only 15 minutes away from the airport, on our way to the hotel, we found a lot of wild horses and cows (like the squirrels and raccoons we have here in Toronto) We stayed at Tryp Cayo Coco. The resort was nice not fancy like the ones in the Bahamas but the main lobby and bar were very airy with a pleasant aroma of java :) We were starving by the time we have checked in but unfortunately the restaurants were already closed and our only option was ham and cheese sandwiches at the snack bar (better than nothing)

Day 2 Sunny
After breakfast, we rushed to the a la carte reservation desk to make our reservation, we read online that we should do that first thing before spots gets filled by the Sunday guest checking into the hotel. We booked 4 different a la carte restaurant, 1 cuban, 1 international, 1 grill and the last one being seafood. We spent most of the day exploring the resort and walking at the beach. We walked by a seafood restaurant and decided to try out some local restaurant food. They had lobster for 15US so we ordered one to share amongst the four of us. The lobster was quite over cooked to a point that it almost had a rubbery texture. YUCK!! That night, we had Cuban cuisine. we start to notice that everything were pretty overcook, greasy and salty there. We was warn about food in Cuba so we were not shock, it actually already tasted better than expected.

Day 3 Rainy
Brian bailed at breakfast to I decided to go on my own since I was already up. After breakfast, I met up with Henry and Grace at the main bar to chill, we didn't head to the beach that afternoon because it was raining on and off. We started drinking from 10 AM and never stopped lol.. Brian showed up at 1:30pm and by then we were all pretty buzzed. We had all sort of drinks, we even asked the bartender to make us fresh pinacoladas. Our favourites were the Spanish Coffee and the Mojitos. We went to the international cuisine for dinner that night and enjoyed the second best lobster dinner we had in Cuba and also really good wine. I think the 4 of us drank 2 bottles of white wine, the wine was so tasty that we had asked the waiter to give us a new bottle to take with us to our room. We had so much wine that day that I started having rashes on my body. eeek

Day 4 Spa Day
The four of us headed to a spa near the hotel on Day 4. The spa was gorgeous, its situated on a rocky cliff overlooking the ocean. we chose the mud therapy package where we enjoyed a nice steam room session followed by body mud mask and one hour massage. I love the outdoor setting of the spa, service was also excellent.

Day 5 Tour of the Island & Horseback Riding
We took a town tour in the morning where we visited the bat cave and a local beach. I was a little dissapointed with the cave, It lost a lot of the natural cave look that I was looking for since the cave had been converted to a night club for tourist. Brian did however took a really cool picture of the bats in the cave. :) That evening, we went on our horseback riding tour ($30 per person including lobster dinner) It was really fun. I enjoyed the ride although it got really tiring towards the end. I am sure the boys were dying on the horses. I almost fell off the horse once when another horse starts to attack the one I was on. My horse is quite the competitor, he always needed to be in the first three place in the pack so he would randomly gallop. Brian's horse however is almost like a drunk horse, he kept tripping up as he stroll down the path. Grace's horse loves to gallop hahaha
The lobster dinner was really gross at the restaurant.

Day 6 Snorkeling and Private beach
We signed up for a snorkeling trip on day 6. it was almost a 45 minute drive to the place. Snorkeling wasn't that exciting this time, we didnt see any stingrays, sea turtle or sharks. However, I got bitten by the fishes when I was trying to feed them bread. They are quite aggressive!!! The highlight of the trip were the starfish and conch we found. I couldn't really tell you what other fishes we saw since I don' know any names. I think i saw Dora (from Nemo) The beach there was really nice, it had a long stretch of shallow water and the were minimal wave at that beach!

Day 7 Chill day
We spent our last day just chilling out at the resort, tanning at the beach. By day 5, Brian was already badly burnt so he was trying to avoid the sun so Henry, Grace and I went on the paddle boat. We brought bread with us to try our luck, we managed to fine quite a few fishies. We were trying to take advantage of the unlimited mojitos that day =) i missed them already!!!


All in all, it was a fantastic trip!

Scores
Lobster Killed: 13
Coconut Consumed: 15
Mojitos Drank: countless
Spanish Coffee: daily doesessss
White Wine: 5 bottles