Re: Photos from my September trip

[bellagio]

I've just uploaded my photos from my last holiday in Cuba.   Unfortunately something went wrong with my charger and I was only able to take photos for the first week.
 
 Most of my photos are with my friends and much as I would love to show you them I feel it's not correct of me to put their photos online without their permission so it's landscapes only I'm afraid.
 
 Cuba - September 2006

[Milli]

:t:  Beautiful pictures Bellagio. Were they fumigating the car in an effort to control dengue fever?  Thanks for sharing your pictures and for showing us a bit of the Cuba we don't see as AI tourists.

[FredTracie]

Great pics Ken !
 
  How far from Guardalavaca is Gibara, Bayamo and Baracoa ?
 
                :1:   F&T

[bellagio]

All traffic in and out of Santiago is currently being stopped and the interior and underside of your vehicle is fumigated.   I regarded this purely as precautionary and had no problem whatsoever with it.  The car was also fumigated leaving Granma Province at Bayamo.
 
 Distances are deceptive because of the condition of the roads.  Guadalavaca to Bayamo is 135 kilometres, to Santiago de Cuba 220 kilometres and to Guantanamo 250 kilometres.   Gibara I would guess to be 100 kilometres because the safest way is via Holguin which is 60 kilometres from Guadalavaca.  Baracoa would be around 300 kilometres - all I know is it took 4 hours to drive there.

[millybess]

Really great photos Ken.  Will you be taking your laptap on your next trip so we can see more?

[bellagio]

I've taken my laptop twice but the second time only used it to transfer my photos.
 
 I rush around like a headless chicken in Cuba so there is little point in taking it.
 
 The screen quality of my old one is poor and I'm certainly not taking my new one.
 
 I was given a right grilling this last time by the Aduana as I was leaving Cuba.  They asked me about everything. Where did I stay, did I stay anywhere other than the hotel, did I have a Cuban girl friend (I mean at my age - get real!!), the usual - is this your first visit to Cuba?    They were very interested in a letter I was taking from one of the front desk staff at the PP to post to a female friend of hers back in the UK.  It wasn't even in an envelope and you would have thought it was part of the Official Secrets Act the way he was going on about it.
 
 My camera battery was flat so that didn't help either. I thought he might confiscate it. He asked me how many times had I visited Holguin on this trip, etc. Why would he ask a question like that unless he knew that I had rented a car?  I began to think I was going to miss the flight.  
 
 He was polite throughout though I'll give him that and explained it was just his job.  A sidekick was making notes all the time so I'm expecting a few problems when I go back on October 25th.

[debmich]

Nice pics Ken!
 I see you are talking in kilometers! LOL  Do you remember the handy dandy conversion?
 
 Debbie

[bellagio]

I'm taking the distances from the map that Cubacar provided that's why I'm talking kilometers.
 
 Multiply by 6 and drop the last digit
 
 ie: 8 kilometers x 6 = 48 so it's 5 miles
 100 kilometers x 6 = 600 so that's 60 miles

[millybess]

Originally posted by bellagio:
  I was given a right grilling this last time by the Aduana as I was leaving Cuba.....so I'm expecting a few problems when I go back on October 25th.

Hang tight, the rest of the troops arrive on the 29th!!!   :)

[MCB]

Thank you for the photos bellagio..beautiful landscapes.
 By the way..we have heard of other tourists being questioned about several visits within a year's time that they took.
 Hope on your next trip the questions (if any) will be few and you can enjoy your arrival and departure.
 Take care.
 
   :)

[flopnfly]

thanks for the photos Bellagio, they are great.
 
 The fumigating seems to be common place these days.
 They were fumigating the excursion buses when we were there.  One couple that did the Santa Clara excursion before us said that they had been fumigated on the way back to the resort.
 
 We managed to escape it when we went.  They said it was for the Dengue Fever.
 
 It was a bit of a worry for us because the mosquitos were really bad and we got hundreds of bites even with using bug spray.  
 
 What's on the agenda for your next trip?

[lunagirl]

Originally posted by bellagio:
 
 I was given a right grilling this last time by the Aduana as I was leaving Cuba.  They asked me about everything. Where did I stay, did I stay anywhere other than the hotel, did I have a Cuban girl friend (I mean at my age - get real!!)......

Copied this from last Sunday's Toronto Star:
 
 Viva Castro!
 
 A survey of  Cubans over 100 years of age  revealed that the majority of them consumed large quantities of coffee and cigars, drank alcohol and  enjoyed regular sex .  The results were announced at a workshop in Cuba this month.
 
 (my italics)
 
 And you are nowhere near that age !!!!!!
 
   :1:

[bellagio]

Originally posted by lunagirl:
  A survey of  Cubans over 100 years of age  revealed that the majority of them consumed large quantities of coffee and cigars, drank alcohol and  enjoyed regular sex .  
 
 And you are nowhere near that age !!!!!!
 
   

WOW!!!  Unfortunately although I consume large quantities of coffee I don't match up to ANY of the other criteria!!!

[Kimber19]

Thanks for sharing your beautiful pictures Ken.
 Kim