There's music everywhere in Cuba!

The day we got in I went out in the evening for supper and to explore. Most of the restaurants in Havana had their own live band at night! The restaurant we went to had a Latin band that was amazing. Havana looked a lot like the European countries that we had visited in terms of architecture. We walked a lot that night exploring the streets and squares. There were a lot of nice parks hidden in the city. There was another tall ship docked right next to us. It was a Swedish school ship! There were about 45 students our age who were sailing on the ship for two months. They did school by correspondence while being a part of the program. We talked with the students on gangway for a long time. They were really great and we wanted to tour their ship and they wanted to tour ours. The only problem was that Cuban immigration laws are really strict and since technically our ship is Norwegian soil and the Swedish one is Swedish soil the Cuban authorities wouldn’t let us see each other’s ships. It was really too bad.

The next day I went out for another day exploring the city. It was a relaxing day spent walking, going to a market and restaurant hopping. We went to so many cafes and restaurants! We would go have coffee then
walk around, and then we’d want to sit down so we’d go for a snack then we’d walk around more and this continued past our second supper. It was a good day though. The next day was very similar to the one before. More walking and food. The only problem was that I got my wallet stolen! It must have been while I was in the market because I bought something there and then ten minutes later when I was trying to buy cigars I realised that I had no wallet. Everything’s fine though. My passport (which we had to carry around to get into the port) was hidden somewhere else. I’m getting a new Visa and debit sent to Bermuda. My parents were so quick at cancelling cards and getting new ones ordered. Thanks mom and dad :)

That night we had a port program that went past midnight. We all thought that it was supposed to be a Cuban dance show but it turned out to be a Cuban themed Parisian cabaret! We still had fun even though it wasn’t what we expected. The next day we got up really early for a port program. We took a two hour bus ride to Veradero Beach. We spent the whole day at the beach. It was a great day! The sand was white, the water was turquoise and there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. We swam a lot. I also rented kayaks with a friend and we went sea kayaking. It was so hard to get into the kayak! I was trying to jump in while the waves kept throwing me out and washing me up on shore. I finally got in and paddled away from where the waves were breaking, slightly sandier and saltier than before. We rode the waves back in like we were surfing. The next day we left Cuba. We got shore leave in the morning though. My watch went for a  breakfast. We bought about a million pastries and ate them in the park. We then went for final internet.

coco taxi!

there were lots of old 50s cars on the streets

view of the square

kayaking

Back to the boat in Belize

I got back to the ship from semester break on the 26th. It was really great to be able to see everyone again. There are a lot of new kids. So far they all seem to be very friendly. I got a bottom bunk this semester which made me very happy. I’m in watch 4 this semester and my watchdog is Ms. Williams again! It’s going to be a great semester.

On the 27th there was a port program that all the students went on. We drove for about an hour to get to a river. At the river we got into boats. Like we don’t spend enough time in them already! It was really cool though. We were in the jungle so we saw spider monkeys, crocodiles and a huge snake. We rode the boats to Lamanai, a Mayan ruin. It was the longest occupied Mayan site. We got a tour to all the different ruins. Everyone climbed up to the top of a bunch of the temples. One of them was huge! We also got a traditional Belize lunch of fried chicken, rice with beans and coconut milk and potato salad. It was a really cool port program. After we returned from the port program a bunch of us went out for supper in Belize City.

The next day was full day shore leave and I went scuba diving with some friends. We did two dives. It was incredible diving. We saw lionfish, rays and turtles. The coral was also some of the most beautiful coral that I’ve ever seen. The dive instructor was also tons of fun and really good so it made for a great day. For supper we went to the Radisson and then went swimming in their pool so that we could make use of their showers. Our water maker broke so we can no longer make water until we get parts in Dominican so no fresh water showers for two weeks!