Fifty Degrees

Today was the travel day home. We didn't need to leave the hotel until about noon, so we had some time to have a pretty leisurely breakfast, and I had wanted to go for a swim one last time.

Actually, in spite of the bad reviews the Brisas del Caribe got from other travellers, we slept pretty well, but we were both up about five, and decided to wander down to the beach to see if we could catch the sunrise. The waves were luminescent, the area was quiet, and some stars were visible between the clouds. We had our hopes up for a good sunrise.

Unfortunately, the calm was broken by a large tractor pulling a beach rake to smooth the sand, coughing up its black smoke and preceded by bright lights on its way along the water's edge. And there were the artificial lights of the resorts in the area as well.

In the end, the sunrise was not very good, so we went back, had our breakfast, and I was ready for a swim. Got a text from Darlene that it was very cold in Dundas, so we were not looking forward to re-entry to Canada. And we asked her to try and book us seats with Westjet, which she kindly did.

I went back to the beach after breakfast for my swim, but found that there was a red flag up, so swimming was not possible. Took some pictures instead, had a nice shower, and checked the packing.

Richard had arrange for a taxi, which turned out to be a 1950-ish Chevrolet coupe, pretty well fitted out. He took us at high speed to the airport, so we were in fact there in plenty of time.

Check-in was uneventful, aside from forgetting that we needed to pay the government money to be able to leave the country! And a glitch in their computer which said our flight was delayed by six hours (in error).

It was about 30 degrees when we left Cuba, and below minus 14 when we arrived in Toronto. We put on most of what we had that was warm, waited for the shuttle, and got back to the smart car. Fortunately, there was not a lot of snow to clean off, and the car started easily. So we made it home to our respective warm houses in pretty good time, and to waiting wives.

A pleasant end to a very pleasant vacation.

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Location:Varadero