Playa Larga and Playa Girón

For our first full day in the area, we had planned a scuba diving trip. Both Dean and I had done scuba diving once before, but none of us had real experience.

Our hosts put us in touch with Carlos, a young scuba diving guide and instructor who took us to a couple of places - Cueva de los Peces and Punta Perdiz - for 70CUC.

A colleague of him, Jorge, came with us during the first immersion, but I liked him less because he was a bit overwhelming and wanted us to feed the fish too much. Dean liked his attention, though.

We stopped for lunch at a small and simple sandwich place and Carlos told us he could take us to Playa Girón if we paid the driver a bit more. We did it and took the opportunity to change some money and visit the museum, which has some information and items about the Bahía Cochinos (Bay of Pigs) invasion. Of course the visit included a fair amount of propaganda, but it was interesting nonetheless and cost only 2CUC.

We did the second scuba diving immersion with Carlos, who I liked more. Dean got out of air relatively early and Carlos had to give him air on their way back to the shore.

I enjoyed the scuba diving trip a lot. The driver was also very friendly and we enjoyed chatting with Carlos, who was planning to travel Europe on a motorbike and told us he admired Donald Trump and capitalism. Funny enough, he was probably the first person I had met who was an open Trump supporter, but of course there aren't many of them in the liberal, urban, educated areas where I've lived in the US. Many Cubans, however, are tired of the restrictions of the communist regime, so I guess it makes some sense they may have an idealized view of American politics.

On our way back we stopped on the little stands that sold mojitos, churros, and fried plantain for 1CUC. We walked to the end of the tiny town and we went back through the beach, where the damn bugs bite me everywhere again.

Again, we had a great dinner at the house.Read more