Start Slide Show
Page:     Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next

Day 3:

Ah, paradise! Every day you wake up and the sun is shining. That's quite a treat for a Minnesotan, even in the middle of a mild winter.

This morning, we packed up "old bessie" (our rental car, which we HOPE will make it the whole week) and headed off to the north point of the island to Arashi Beach. We parked just below Arashi, saw that we were on a lot of rocks & headed north to a more open part of the beach. Mike headed back & got the car, and then we unpacked on a patch of grass, as the few palapas were already taken. No worries - we were there for snorkeling. We all hopped in with bread and/or waterproof cameras. We saw some INCREDIBLE fish - white, blue, yellow, name the color, we saw it! We tried some underwater filming and photos and got some great results & some not so great results. But hey - two of the camaeras were brand new and the other was borrowed, so we're still learning!

Mike got some great on-land pictures of some lizards, including various ones in turquiose and a big green guy with a beard & striped tail. We also got a few good shots of a couple Aruban Orioles (I think) who were hopping about and singing away.

It is a bit warmer today - like the day we got here, but hardly any difference from day to day yet, other than there were less clouds today. As we left, we drove up to the California Lighthouse (named for being near the wreck of a ship called the California) then back to the condo to wash up and download some pictures.

That evening, we headed to the capital city of Orangestad. We walked through some shops & cashed in our "spend $5 get a free Del Sol bag" coupon. It's a store where all the products change colors in UV rays. Trina & Jim got a bag like this years ago in Hawaii, and it still changes colors so we thought it would be a good deal. Greta got color changing nail polish & Trina got some shirts & things.

After a few more shops looking at jewelry & such, we headed to the harbor and watched the sunset. Mike made a video of the sun dropping into the sea - all 2.5 minutes of it. We walked back and ate at Cuba's Cookin'. It was GREAT! We got garlic pork bites for an appetzier and they were outstanding! For entrees, we all got something different. Trina got the appetizer empanadas with a side of fries & a salad. Jim got the Mahi Mahi Special. Mike ordered braised skirt steak & Greta got pork stuffed with a blend of olives, capers & onions (VERY VERY tender). The meals came with sides of black beans, rice & fried plantains. All our food was outstanding and different than anything we've eaten before. We were much too full for desserts, but mojitoes (we tried the mango, coconut & original flavors) were a nice sweet offset to the food. Cuban food will definitely be something that Greta would like to try cook in the future!

We then stayed downtown to see the Carnival Lighting Parade. We heard first it would start at 8 pm, but our waitress told us it would start closer to 10 pm. By 11pm, we gave up and went back to the condo. There were people EVERYWHERE and the police (spelled POLIS) walked up & down the street to keep the peace. It was pretty calm everywhere we went (we walked a good mile up & down the street waiting for the parade to begin) but with all those people, you could see that chaos could break out pretty quickly. With as late as it was, it was amazing to see all the kids around - a lot of them just on their own. By the time we got back to the condo, we saw some of the parade on the TV - it didn't seem like much but maybe you had to be there. Even then, it supposedly can go all night and it is nice to be "home" again.

Everyone else is watching some apocolypse movie, so Greta is typing up the day's events now & dreaming of more Cuban food!

img_0069.jpg 02/11/12 08:06:36 (large image)	img_0070.jpg 02/11/12 08:06:48 (large image)	img_0071.jpg 02/11/12 08:07:40 (large image)	img_0075.jpg 02/11/12 08:47:12 (large image)	img_0076.jpg 02/11/12 08:47:22 (large image)
tosh0021.jpg 02/11/12 09:13:36 (large image)	tosh0024.jpg 02/11/12 09:14:16 (large image)	tosh0029.jpg 02/11/12 09:18:50 (large image)	tosh0038.jpg 02/11/12 09:21:42 (large image)	tosh0039.jpg 02/11/12 09:21:48 (large image)
tosh0040.jpg 02/11/12 09:22:04 (large image)	tosh0041.jpg 02/11/12 09:22:12 (large image)	tosh0047.jpg 02/11/12 09:25:58 (large image)	tosh0048.jpg 02/11/12 09:26:04 (large image)	tosh0055.jpg 02/11/12 09:30:20 (large image)
tosh0071.jpg 02/11/12 09:43:24 (large image)	tosh0072.jpg 02/11/12 09:44:28 (large image)	tosh0073.jpg 02/11/12 09:44:32 (large image)	tosh0074.jpg 02/11/12 09:44:50 (large image)	tosh0076.jpg 02/11/12 09:45:02 (large image)
tosh0078.jpg 02/11/12 09:46:00 (large image)	p2080003.jpg 02/11/12 09:50:54 (large image)	p2080004.jpg 02/11/12 09:52:56 (large image)	p2080008.jpg 02/11/12 09:55:30 (large image)	p2080009.jpg 02/11/12 09:56:00 (large image)
tosh0090.jpg 02/11/12 09:56:10 (large image)	tosh0091.jpg 02/11/12 09:56:14 (large image)	tosh0093.jpg 02/11/12 09:56:38 (large image)	tosh0095.jpg 02/11/12 09:57:24 (large image)	tosh0096.jpg 02/11/12 09:57:30 (large image)
tosh0097.jpg 02/11/12 09:57:38 (large image)	tosh0098.jpg 02/11/12 09:58:12 (large image)	p2080023.jpg 02/11/12 10:01:42 (large image)	p2080024.jpg 02/11/12 10:01:52 (large image)	tosh0102.jpg 02/11/12 10:02:02 (large image)
p2080026.jpg 02/11/12 10:02:14 (large image)	tosh0104.jpg 02/11/12 10:02:24 (large image)	p2080027.jpg 02/11/12 10:02:26 (large image)	p2080030.jpg 02/11/12 10:05:14 (large image)	p2080033.jpg 02/11/12 10:06:16 (large image)
tosh0110.jpg 02/11/12 10:17:20 (large image)	p2080034.jpg 02/11/12 10:19:10 (large image)	p2080036.jpg 02/11/12 10:19:36 (large image)	p2080042.jpg 02/11/12 10:22:02 (large image)	p2080044.jpg 02/11/12 10:22:16 (large image)
p2080047.jpg 02/11/12 10:23:38 (large image)	p2080048.jpg 02/11/12 10:26:28 (large image)	p2080049.jpg 02/11/12 10:26:34 (large image)	p2080050.jpg 02/11/12 10:26:56 (large image)	p2080052.jpg 02/11/12 10:28:22 (large image)
p2080053.jpg 02/11/12 10:28:28 (large image)	p2080054.jpg 02/11/12 10:28:54 (large image)	p2080057.jpg 02/11/12 10:29:26 (large image)	p2080058.jpg 02/11/12 10:29:42 (large image)	tosh0008.jpg 02/11/12 10:34:54 (large image)
tosh0009.jpg 02/11/12 10:34:58 (large image)	img_0077.jpg 02/11/12 10:51:14 (large image)	img_0078.jpg 02/11/12 10:53:12 (large image)	img_0080.jpg 02/11/12 10:54:50 (large image)	img_0995.jpg 02/11/12 10:55:12 (large image)
img_0996.jpg 02/11/12 10:55:22 (large image)	img_0997.jpg 02/11/12 10:55:52 (large image)	img_0082.jpg 02/11/12 10:56:00 (large image)	img_0998.jpg 02/11/12 10:56:00 (large image)	img_0089.jpg 02/11/12 11:12:32 (large image)
img_0090.jpg 02/11/12 11:16:58 (large image)	img_0999.jpg 02/11/12 11:58:30 (large image)	img_1000.jpg 02/11/12 12:00:04 (large image)	img_0102.jpg 02/11/12 12:02:52 (large image)	img_0103.jpg 02/11/12 12:03:00 (large image)
img_1004.jpg 02/11/12 12:05:42 (large image)	img_0104.jpg 02/11/12 12:11:14 (large image)	img_1007.jpg 02/11/12 12:11:36 (large image)	img_1008.jpg 02/11/12 12:12:12 (large image)	img_1012.jpg 02/11/12 12:17:28 (large image)
img_1013.jpg 02/11/12 12:17:42 (large image)	img_1019.jpg 02/11/12 12:19:22 (large image)	img_1020.jpg 02/11/12 12:19:34 (large image)	img_1024.jpg 02/11/12 12:28:16 (large image)	img_1029.jpg 02/11/12 12:29:52 (large image)
img_1033.jpg 02/11/12 12:30:48 (large image)	img_1034.jpg 02/11/12 12:31:20 (large image)	img_1035.jpg 02/11/12 12:31:34 (large image)	img_1039.jpg 02/11/12 17:19:50 (large image)	img_1040.jpg 02/11/12 17:19:58 (large image)
img_1041.jpg 02/11/12 17:20:08 (large image)	img_1042.jpg 02/11/12 18:18:24 (large image)	img_1043.jpg 02/11/12 18:18:32 (large image)	img_1044.jpg 02/11/12 18:18:58 (large image)	img_1045.jpg 02/11/12 18:19:08 (large image)
img_1046.jpg 02/11/12 18:20:58 (large image)	img_1047.jpg 02/11/12 18:21:22 (large image)	img_1048.jpg 02/11/12 18:29:32 (large image)	img_1049.jpg 02/11/12 18:30:22 (large image)	img_1050.jpg 02/11/12 18:30:46 (large image)
img_1053.jpg 02/11/12 18:32:20 (large image)	img_1055.jpg 02/11/12 18:33:46 (large image)	img_1057.jpg 02/11/12 18:37:06 (large image)	img_1060.jpg 02/11/12 18:39:34 (large image)	img_1061.jpg 02/11/12 18:39:46 (large image)
img_1062.jpg 02/11/12 18:40:02 (large image)	img_1063.jpg 02/11/12 18:40:14 (large image)	img_1065.jpg 02/11/12 18:40:40 (large image)	img_1067.jpg 02/11/12 18:41:34 (large image)	img_0141.jpg 02/11/12 18:43:49 (large image)
img_1069.jpg 02/11/12 18:45:20 (large image)	img_1073.jpg 02/11/12 18:46:52 (large image)	img_1074.jpg 02/11/12 18:47:02 (large image)	img_0146.jpg 02/11/12 18:47:05 (large image)	img_1081.jpg 02/11/12 18:49:04 (large image)
img_1082.jpg 02/11/12 18:49:20 (large image)	img_0154.jpg 02/11/12 18:49:53 (large image)	img_1084.jpg 02/11/12 19:23:38 (large image)	img_1085.jpg 02/11/12 19:23:58 (large image)	img_0161.jpg 02/11/12 19:25:19 (large image)
img_0163.jpg 02/11/12 19:25:53 (large image)	img_0165.jpg 02/11/12 21:17:23 (large image)

Page:     Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next

Start Slide Show

---

Last updated: Sun, Feb 12, 2012.
Copyright © Mike vanMeeteren, 2012.