Adios Cuba!

I meant to try and post pretty regularly during Cuba but when I learned that it was almost $8/hour for a dialup connection, I decided to forego it for the week.

We spent the week at Oasis Brisas in St. Lucia - about 1 hour away from Camaguey. The resort is rated as 4 stars but felt more like a 2 star resort. Although everyone was really friendly, and everything that you needed at a resort was present, the resort itself was just really run down. Cracks in the walls, doors, tiles, tubs, and ants and cockroaches inside the rooms made any stay in the bedrooms uncomfortable. Although truth be told, after a few cocktails, everything seems a lot better ;)

At night..

Daytime

When we booked the trip, we had learned that we would be travelling with a large group of university students from Montreal. And when I say large, I mean 49 students large. Most were engineers (funny how we could instantly tell) and a few were law students. Although first impressions were not all that postive, we met a group within the large group who were super friendly, super funny and super fun to hang out with. They introduced us to a game called E-Ha which, in my humble opinion, is the most messed up, confusing game of all time. I also now love this game and want to play it all the time!

Some of the Montreal kids

Tequila anyone?

We got into a pretty good routine - wake up, eat breakfast, lounge by the pool, eat lunch, lounge by the beach, siesta, eat dinner, lounge by the coffee bar, lounge by the main bar, lounge by the snack bar and go to bed. We played beach volleyball, took a merengue lesson, went snorkeling, played with the cute resort puppies and played a lot of Trump. We also went on 2 excursions. One was a dinner/show in Camaguey which was included in our trip and the other was a snorkeling/Iguana island adventure that was easily the highlight of the trip. This excursion took us via boat to the 2nd largest coral reef in the world. On the way, we saw flamingos, dolphins (!!!!) and the death of a big soul fish (the 2nd captain caught it and bashed its brains out less than 2 feet away from Liane and I - and yes, we were splattered in fish goo - ugh!). Afterwards, we stopped by Iguana island which, surprise, surprise, has a HUGE iguana population! Afterwards, we stopped by the coral reef again for more snorkeling before heading back to the resort. Definitely a great time!

Lounging poolside

On our way to the coral reef

Right before the bashing

Although sipping mojitos poolside for a week is always a great time, I was happy to leave by the 7th day. I just missed the feeling of being clean, eating great food and not walking around in my bathroom with my flipflops on.. All in all, despite everything, I had a great time! You can never go wrong with great company

Premier jour

So we made it into Ottawa safe and sound! It wasn't all smooth sailing though as the flight to Montreal was bumpy like heck* I almost upchucked my breakfast all over Mark and the lady next to me!! Also, when we landed in Montreal, IT WAS SNOWING!!!!!!!!!!! The heck! Snowing in late April?! And not just a few pretty flakes here and there, it was almost a blizzard!

The view from our seats. Not impressed

Ugh, thankfully, when we landed in Ottawa, we discovered that it was only raining lightly and windy - just like home! We met up with Lou/Rob, settled in, had a delicious pasta dinner and headed to Black Thorn Pub in the Market for some $3.70 Keiths and all you can eat mussels. It sounds like a good idea, and even tastes like a good idea at first, but burping up coconut curry bi-valves is definitely something I would NOT recommend.

Round 1...

Our first full day of Ottawa was really fun! Despite reports that it was going to rain today, we woke up and it was a beautiful, beautiful day! Not hot enough for shorts, but warm enough for sandals and a light jacket. We headed over to Parliament to partake in their free guided tour of the library and the House of Senate. Afterwards, we met up with one of Mark's old high school buddies and got the tour of Michael Ignatieff's office, the hallways around the Steven Harper's office and ate in the Parliament cafe. He also hooked us up with tickets to the House of Common's Question Period (in the Opposition's gallery no less!). Question Period was a lot less civil and organized than I thought it would be. MPs were yelling, jeering, clapping, hollering, laughing and shouting at each other. Gilles Duceppe (leader of the Bloc Quebecois) was even egging Harper on by calling him Rambo! Always interesting when grown men and women act like little children.

Parliament at night...

during the day...

In front of Peace Tower

Up until MacKenzie, this was the Prime Minister's office. Now, it's the Opposition Leader's war room.

Word to the wise, avoid the Pho at Parliament Cafe.

NBD

Afterwards, we headed over to the Market for candy at Sugar Mountain, gelato at Pure Gelato and beavertails at Beavertails. All this eating is definitely not helping my beach body. The plan for tonight? Dinner and drinks with a bunch of Lou/Rob's Ottawa friends at Hooley's for the Caps/Habs game. YUM... Beach body? What beach body!

and it starts!

10 hours until my 1st of 6 flights in the next 2 months!!!!!!!!

Not looking forward to a super early morning start but excited beyond belief to see Lou/Rob and relax on a beach.. I'll try and take some before and after pictures to see how cooked I can get my skin ;)

I was checking the weather in Ottawa and can you believe the CRAZY weather swings the east coast gets? Today it was sunny and 20 degrees but tomorrow, there are chances of flurries and 8 degrees! Thank goodness on the west coast you only get 1 weather type - rain, rain and more rain! Here's hoping for beautiful weather everywhere we go!

Hola Fidel

We finally got all the details worked out for next week's trip to visit Rob/Lou! Our schedule:

April 27: Fly to Ottawa
April 29: Drive to Montreal and fly to Santa Lucia, Cuba
May 6: Fly back to Montreal and spend a couple nights
May 8: Head back to Ottawa
May 10: Fly home =(

Definitely another whirlwind trip. Our resort in Santa Lucia is pretty baller and we got the whole week for a steal! Check out a few photos below:

Now compare this to our digs in Montreal:

Hahah, first class all the way.

Frequent flyer miles...

Anyone who knows me is well aware that I've been bit by the travel bug. It doesn't matter if it's only a weekend trip or a whirlwind tour in Europe, I love to do it all.

I've been blessed to have the opportunity to travel throughout my childhood but it wasn't until 2008 when I was able to really kick it into high gear. It all started with a trip to beautiful Punta Cana. My next trip was a week in sunny Puerto Vallarta. A few months later, I went to Hong Kong and managed a quick side trip into Macau and Tokyo. Las Vegas, London, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Miami, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten helped me end off 2009. (Yes, I love sunny vacays!)

So, what are my plans for 2010? I'll be leaving at the end of April to visit Ottawa, Montreal and a mystery sun destination. I'll be back in Van on the 10th of May...back just in time to unpack, do laundry and fly to Bali on the 14th! This trip will be the longest yet - clocking in at a whole 2 months. Before you become green eye(d?) with jealousy, it won't be all fun and games. I'll still be working full time, doing what I'm doing now. The only difference? I'll be sitting in a hammock on a beach under a swaying palm tree with a light breeze coming from the sapphire blue ocean..... instead of sitting in front of a desk. Not a bad trade at all.

Here's some photos from past travels... (Punta Cana, the lades in Puerto Vallarta, the fam in Puerto Rico, Trevi fountain in Rome, overlooking Hong Kong, just before sunset in Oia)