Varadero: white beach and ...a walk before the rain!! :(

I know, I know...Varadero is touristic...it is not the real Cuba...etc..etc..
This is what you will hear from some Cubans, from tourists and what you will read in the guide..
Well, it has a fantastic 22 km of white beach..I did not need any other reasons for going  there :) (and actually, it is the best beach I have been in all Cuba).
Varadero has been my first stop in Cuba, and it was outside from the group trip, which would have started only three days after.
At 6:30 I was awake, still with the Luxembourg time in my body..
So I opted for a long power walk (1 hour, 7 km) on the beach...
Me, my I-pod, my compact camera ..
So, see below what is Varadero... I loved it!!

 

 

The time to go back home, have a shower, and breakfast, and the weather was completelly changed!!! :(

One cannot have all in life!! ;)

The man with blue eyes who was reading

What I remember of him are his blue eyes. And that we spoke. He in Spanish. Me in Italian. 

He told me his age. What he was reading. 

I liked his soul, and his love for the life.

Malecón, Havana, Cuba - 2016

Let's begin from the END ;) (of 2016!!)

Well, who knows me knows that no, I normally do not do touristic things ;).
Who also followed my Trip to Ireland blog knows that I try to not put photos of myself...
But let's make some exceptions!!!! :)

I claim myself (and I love the idea that this could be true and trying to act to being like that) to be a traveller: I like discover cultures, interact with locals, knowing the history of a place, etc, etc...all respecting the people and places where I go, and no acting as a stranger with a credit card but trying to create relationships with people I am encountering.

And I love photography.

If I have to choose between spending 2 hours drinking mojito in the terrace of a luxury hotel or two hours going around the city to discover new places, new people, and shooting them (photography speaking ;)), you know where you can find me: I rather prefer my legs hurting and maybe being dirty and dusty, but with the heart (and the memory card ;) ) a little more full.

But I do touristic things sometimes ...

And moreover when you are in a group is democracy which counts ;)...and anyway.. it was New Year's Eve....and the program was not too bad at the end...;)

Also a lot of things to celebrate....let's call this year the YEAR OF AFFIRMATION....finally (with one year of delay, but better later than never,..;))....the promotion! (Yep!!)...with 4 years of delay a lovely apartment all for myself....very quiet ;)....the trip to Cuba and other personal achievements..

So, why not? :)

Just let me entering the 2017 in a Barbie mood ;)....

Dinner was at the Hotel Riviera, highly frequented by the mafia before the Revolution...O_o....below some photos of the hotel, the restaurant and the dinner...

And the show at the end...

Well, a nice way to enter in this new year...if the 2016 has been the year of the affirmation,  let's make the 2017 the YEAR OF THE ACTION....10 kilo less would be a nice thing, a guy to love and be loved would be...someone for whom I do not have space in my life ;). :P ;)...but ok, I can make some order...:) ;)
Flying back from Havana to Amsterdam I saw the new film of Bridget Jones...so,,...if she managed,...;)

I know I am not very credible like that, but HAPPY NEW YEAR!! :) :) 

CREDITS :) 
- for the Barbie photo in the pink car...@Dave, a good photographer who goes around with only the mobile phone (why not the Reflex?? ;)) ...which at certain point became my favourite personal photographer...:)
@Jo for the dress and shoes: as I am in the travelling/photo mood, she saved me from going to a 4 stars hotel dinner in jeans and running shoes...grazie bella!
@Nina for this fantastic last photo! :)

 

The Hall and the restaurant

Tuna salad

Pork

The dessert

The silence

First night in Luxembourg after 25 nights slept in Cuba...
I could not sleep...
I was tired...24 hours awake,
I was excited and with high adrenaline levels in my body,...as after an important event,
I was not used to my matress anylonger....too soft (I should change it soon or later ;)),
and there was silence.
There was not one single noise.
No one single light.
After having slept for so many nights with the background noises given by chattes, cars, dogs, cocks, wind,....as the voice of a Nation who never really sleeps....I was overwhelmed by the weight of the silence...
This never happened to me before,....me, that I sleep with earplugs because the single noise awakes me, that I sleep with an eye mask if it is not completelly dark in the room...I could not sleep..


This is what Cuba does, takes your beliefs and changes them...just open your heart and be ready to accept what it different from you, do not be afraid of the apparences, this Nation has too much to offer to you if you are ready to accept it...do not let your first impression to stop or scare you...




PS: at the end, I slept with the small light close to my bed on! ;)