honeymoon pics

[Splidz]

Well Torque has been encouraging me to post up pics of my honeymoon, which I got back from about a month or so ago, so here goes. I've been meaning to get around to it but haven't yet. But yeah, I got married and went to Cuba and we had a blast. Here are some pics for ya.

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This is in Varadero, where we were staying. We had just befriended this dread-locked Jamaican Bob Marley-lookalike dude who attends school in Cuba, he gave me that hat I'm wearing (says CooYah on it or some shit) as well as another gift that we were grateful for.

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We went on this tour where we drove this little Suzuki off-road vehicles, Casie (my wife) did the driving cuz I don't know how to drive standard. I know, I know, it's brutal. I've never had a standard car. We were with this British couple who were really cool, but they let her drive first cuz they are used to everything being mirror-imaged in the car, due to driving on the left (wrong) side of the road.

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Casie in front of the Suzuki.

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Me driving a little speed-boat down a gorgeous river.

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This crazy cave where you could swim, you had to go down about 100 feet to get into it, and the water is really really deep. Lots of fun to go swimming in a cave though. All these Cuban kids swim there and they climb the walls and do crazy dives.

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This is Havana. We took a bus to Havana and decided to just trek around and see the sites.

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This is the beginning of a semi-sketchy road in Havana that we walked down. This is right before these two dudes on a bicycle snatched Casie's purse, which had nothing of value in it except for both of our pairs of glasses (we were wearing contacts and brought the glasses as back-up). I had all of our other valuables in my pockets cuz I didn't trust the city. Should have had our glasses in them too I guess. :) There goes two pairs of $400 glasses. Pricks!

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Me posing in front of a statue in downtown Havana. We had a lot of fun that day in spite of losing Casie's purse, we didn't let it bother us. Havana is full of beautiful buildings and sculptures (including one of Lincoln, oddly enough) but many buildings are in a state of disrepair.

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Havana architecture.

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A day or two later after our glasses were stolen, Casie ripped the lens of the only contact lenses she had with her. And she can't see very well. So she was forced to watch TV like this (she was also rather inebriated, as we were about 90% of the time). Eventually she started using a spare pair of my contacts, which helped but made her a little dizzy.

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Drinking at the bar.

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Sunset.

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Casie hamming it up before we got on this sketchy turboprop airplane and flew to an island in Cuba called Cayo Largo, the nicest beach I've ever seen. This trip included the best lobster I've ever had, bought right from a fishing boat in the ocean and cooked up on the boat we were on in sea water. Amazing!

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Part of the trip I was just mentioning involved going to what they called "the island of the iguanas". This interested me because I like nature-related stuff, so I was excited to hike around an island and see iguanas. Well, we pull up to this island, which is all coral or volcanic rock, very sharp. Casie and I walk down this path, along the way seeing a couple of iguanas, medium-sized ones. We turn a corner and what do I see...a table set up with chunks of bread and crap on it, and some paunchy Cuban who is feeding this flock of decrepit, overweight iguanas. Instead of a nature reserve, it's an iguana feeding frenzy. Fat British tourists are tossing them cookies and crackers and oohing and aahing. I was disappointed and disgusted. I likened the experience to if people were to come to a Canadian national park to see bears in their natural habitat and there was a park ranger feeding burgers to a pack of obese bears. Brutal.

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LOL, these are people we met on this trip to Cayo Largo. This guy, Juan-Jose from Brazil and Myriam from France on the right. Juan-Jose couldn't speak a word of English but he communicated through Myriam, who spoke English, French and Spanish (she was really cool). He cracked me up. Wearing this godawful speedo...he's a lawyer, believe it or not. At one point he pulls out this pack of condoms and informs us that he's going to Havana that evening and he's gonna use them there. Since I got back we've traded a couple of emails, which are mostly like "HOLA AMIGOS CANADIAN!!!! [INSERT PORTUGUESE GIBBERISH HERE] LOVE, JUAN-JOSE YOUR BRAZIL FRIEND"

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Chillin on the catamaran. Love those boats. The couple on the right is the British couple I mentioned were with us in the jeep. We made good friends with them.

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The reason speedos are not a good idea. This was some guy on the catamaran from the last picture, we got a good laugh out of this shot.

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One last picture of us.

Hope you enjoyed... :D

[Torque]

lol the speedo cracked me up. Splidz you always look buzzed whatsuuup with that. I'm sure that can't be it :)

Looks like a great time. Not sure how long Cuba visitations will be around. Did you feel safe?

Thanks for posting bub. Nice seeing your shots. Looks like Cassie is a good sport and fun.

I would post shots of me catching fish, but it seems like my two fishing buds just kept on fishing rather than stop and grab the camera.

[Stang]

:lol: That is why speedos should be banned. And why is it that only chubby guys wear them? :lol:

Every bar shot you look buzzed :). Must of been having a ball and I bet the bartenders loved you :D.

Glad you guys had a good time, nice to get away and see other places. Thanks for sharing :).

[Ardamir]

I thought Americans were banned from going to Cuba...wait your Canadian....looks like you had a ton of fun and I wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors.

[Levo]

Looks like a sweet time. I've been to "Git-Mo Bay" as us jar heads called it.
I know for a fact that Cubans don't like US Marines..Can't say they gave me any good vibes as well. Of course we were trained to hate Commies. Feel so sorry for the people of Cuba and I know why now why 3rd world countries hate the US. We have everything and choices

[Splidz]

There was a total lack of Americans everywhere I was. I didn't meet a single American the entire time I was there. Unheard of for any vacation I've ever been on.

[Spinning Hat]

Yeah, it's illegal for us to go there. And, the Cubans would deny us entry into Cuba if we did manage to get there, so We kinda miss out on the opportunity so see it in person.

[Splidz]

I don't think they will deny you entry. From what I hear, they will let Americans in that are travelling from Canada or Mexico. However, what you have to be careful of, is if they are feeling crabby or pissed off with you, they will stamp your passport. If you get a Cuban stamp on your American passport, you can get in trouble coming back to the States. But they did not stamp my passport when I visited there.

[Ardamir]

I beleive 1st and 2nd generation Cuban-Americans are allowed to fly their from Miami aside from that I think Americans can visit Cuba but only under very strict guidlines. When Castro, who is not as bad as we Americans are taught, dies im sure there will be radical changes economicly. Alot of the rice farmers around here used to ship stuff to Cuba before the embargo :/ Srry I ramble on...reading the Democratic and Republican national platforms.

[Stang]

:usa: