Crash back to reality

Hi All,

Today as the title says was my crash back to reality!! Back at work.

Thank you to everyone that read my little blog, and those that worked out how to leave comments and did so thank you very much . . .i think i will have to be giving some comment leaving lessons before my next trip to Beijing!

So back to reality for a little while

Love to all and Take care

Cara

Last night and Day in NY

Hi All

Well I can't believe it is the last day, it has gone quickly but not that quickly that i feel it has flown by!

I have got to see and meet many people and have some great times . . . and things i can look back on and laugh as well :-)

Last night I went out for a few drinks to a place that I went to before in Brooklyn, it was a bit quieter this time being a weeknight so i didn't really talk to anyone but that kind of suited me as well. I got home about 12ish then stayed up for awhile on the phone and email . . .my aim was to not get much sleep so that I will be tired for the plane.

I got up this morning and organised the shuttle to the airport, checked for an email from the travel agent confirming my flight into Perth, and emailed Will to say i will be seeing him soon (he's in KL).

Then i walked to the Mesuem of Natural History and met a friend of Anelys, named Luz who is in town at the momment as well, we all met on the same forum board. A great time was had, we walked around, saw the space show thing . . .look lots of pics and had a very nice lunch in their foodhall, INFACT i ate veg and salad stuff oh my goodness my body is going to go into shock i think hehehe

I just got back from there, I walked home in the sunshine it is a nice day today and ate an icypole very nice.

I am nearly all packed up, just the things that i need to shower and put on ect . .

THe box is packed with Fragile and arrows scribbled all over it hehe

Not sure if i am looking forward to the long flight . . .however I am pretty tired, also i have two books and my nintendo ds is charged and ready as is my mp3 plus you do have the screens on the backs of the chairs.

Love to All and will see most of you soon.
Cara

2nd Day in Amish Country

Hi All

Just think soon you won't be having to read this anymore, then what will you be doing everyday!! :-P

I had a late start to my day as I got stuck into a book that I couldn't put down and didn't turn out the lights until 2am woops but hey I am on holidays!

After having some yummy french toast for breakfast and doing a few things online, i hit the road and just drove with no purpose or direction, it was fun. I ended up in Delaware which is aother state (I think) hehe
Drove back to my hotel via . . . WALLMART a huge one with food shopping as well as clothes and EVERYTHING. . . .now I know some of you will be rolling your eyes, but I was very mindful that I didn't have any more space for things so i only got a few little things that i wanted, including a bargin buy sweater which cost me $5 I have it on now :-)

I also bought a box to put the stuff that I was going to send home, however now I think I am just going to check it on my flight and pay the excess cause its actually cheaper i discovered.

Came back to the hotel to freshen up then went out for dinner to a place called Good and Plenty, it is oldstyle family dining where we all sit in long tables and they bring out food that we all share and just pass up and down the table YUM. There was crispy fried chicken, slices of fresh ham, fish, chicken pot pie (like a chicken noodle dish), mash potatoes, corn. . . . .I think i am forgetting some stuff. Then desert, jelly with peaches, a disgusting looking peanut butter pudding, shoefly pie, blueberry pie, and home made icecream . . .
NO one on our table could move and they were constantly asking if you wanted more and more aaahhh hehehe

I somehow got myself behind the wheel and came back to my room to relax and read the next book in the series :-)

Got up this morning about 8.30, had some breakfast and am waiting for some laudry to dry in the drier before i pack up my room and head on back to NY via a target that I spotted not far away.

So not long now and I head on home. . . .WOW it has kind of gone quickly and kind of not.

Love to All
Cara

PS. There are lots of pics of course, i will try and post some in NY.

Amish People

Hi there All

I have to be quick, I am using a computer in the General Managers office of the hotel I am staying in here at Lancaster Country.

SO since I last wrote. . . . .

Cuba I didn't do much else at all, I just did a bit of walking around but not much, i was tired and hungry but no food to eat argghhhh

Sunday (yesterday for me) I got up very early at 5.10am ready for my shuttle to the airport which didn't turn up ggggrrrrrr so I grabbed a cab cause there was NO WAY i wanted to miss the flight!!!!
The flight and airport was all okay, you can still smoke everywhere in the airport over there which was a tad annoying however all was good even if we were half an hour late to leave for NO reason hehe

Got into DR and Anelys, Ernesto and the girls were waiting for me, they spent about an hour with me in between flights, luckily this time the line for meto check into my next flight wasn't long at all and i managed to avoid paying entry and departure fees too woohooo

A sad but quick good bye and I ran for my plane, okay so I left it a little late but i was not the last to board hehehe

Arrived in JFK about 7pm I think it was, cleared immigration and customs no problem, got to the other side of the airport and picked up my PT cruiser rental car that was a shock to see what car it was!!

Drove for 3.5hours or actually a little more . . . . wow it cost a lot to drive on the roads here, i think by the time I got here i had payed close to $15 for toles just to drive on some hwy's. I got into Lancaster and my GPS got a little confused, i finally gave up on it and just found myself a holiday inn, by then it was 12.30am and i was stuffed. . .

I would like to announce that I slept in a double bed last night this is the first time since I left home that I have slept in anything larger then a single!!!!!!!!

Switched on my mobile which felt oh so good, just as good as the bed . . . . okay well maybe.

Woke up this morning at 8.27am, had a nice egg and bacon breakfast here at the hotel before deciding to stay here for tonight as well.
I hit the streets of Lancaster Country and beyond in search of Amish, quilts, gifts ect . .

Today has been a lovely day all in all, I have bought lots of things, gone on a bugger ride, descovered lots about the amish comunity, though I would love to learn heaps more. Just had a late lunch early breakfast of Fried crispy chicken mashed potatoe, veg and followed by a local pie here called Shoefly pie YUM!

Not sure what I am going to get up to now, i might ask in reception what is around for things to do at night, though being a Monday ngith I am thinking not too much is on . . .

I did see a ghost tour in my guide book hehehe

Tomorrow I have got to get to the post office while I have a car and send myself a parcel home, especially after today. . . then I am not really sure where I am going to head to. . . I have the car till Wednesday when I head back to NY, seeing as I am leaving Thursday night.

Okay better get off this computer so the lovely kind man can have his office back. :-)

Love to All
Cara

PS. Thanks for all your kind thoughts, sms's, emails when I was sick and your continued reading of my holiday rants and thoughts.

Thursday, Friday in Cuba

Hey All

WEll nothing too exciting to report this time, I am feeling better but still a bit drained and I guess it makes it harder when there isn't really anything that I can eat here.

Nope DV there is no fast food here!!

Thursday I did manage to get to a good cigar factory, and also I think like the main shopping strip here, but really didn't find much to buy. . . .

Yesterday wasn't much of anything a bit of a walk around, but the weather has actually been a bit rainy and lightning, thunder ect. . .

So all in all pretty quiet and nothing to write about, today I might try and lay by the pool a bit and I have to work on re-packing my suitcases. . . .as my pick-up is at 5.55am tomorrow morning. I think that getting through the airport lines here might take awhile, then i get to claim my luggage ect in DR and go through more lines to get on my other flight back to the US.

I have been doing some research into my car trip, and I think Sunday night after I arrive and pick up my car I will head for Lancaster Country in Pennsylvania. . .and take it from there.

So I should have mobile coverage again by Monday morning for most of you there in Oz YAY hehe

HOpe a good weekend is being had by all.

Love to All
Cara

Cuba so far

Hi All

So far feeling a bit better today . . .fingers crossed that it stays that way.

Okay so I owe you all some stories of my time here so far.

This is going to be pretty long so settle in and get comfy.

I arrived on Sunday late afternoon . . the flight was okay, the line though at the airport in Santo Domingo was huge so it was a quick goodbye to Anelys, Ernesto and the girls. . .which was probably a good thing!

I sat next to a guy from Cuba on the flight so he gave me some pointers on what to see and do here. . . .

Found the transfer very easy at the airport to my hotel, the hotel is ummmm not fantastic, the room i have is on teh street side which make it very noisy . . the staff are not to helpful either.

So on that first night, I was standing near a pay phone and asked a girl where she got her phone card from . . her name was Paulo and she was from Brazil and also traveling on her own, we decided to meet up in half an hour and hit a club that she had heard about.
The club was exactly what you see on movies with Latino clubs the music live and awesome and the dancing out of this world . . .needless to say we didn't try and dance hehe

I had mentioned that I was going to try and get to Venales and a beach near there and was going to hire a car, Paulo was up for that thank goodness as she speaks portgegues, spanish and english . . how I ever thought I would get around here with out spanish is beyond me!

So we set of Monday morning after i hired a car, having to pay more as i needed an auto. . . . now in my lonely planet guide it does say, the roads are terrible and the signage non existant . . well they weren't joking about that!!
We set off with some fairly extensive instructions from someone, which went out the window after the first few corners . . after driving for a few hours again with no signs and going through numerous towns with terrible roads, we could have done with a 4wd!!
Somehow instead of ending up going to the left of Havanna we ended up below Havanna hehehe we had stoped and asked numerous people for directions including picking up a few female hitchhikers we still weren't going the right way. . .
Hitchhiking is a way of getting around here, the streets are lined with people needing lifts . . .

We did manage to get to the autopistol (highway) and finally at 5ish getting to Vennales . . it took us 6 hours instead of 2.5hours!!
We stoped at the info centre and met a french couple who wanted to do the same things we were going to do . . .after organising a afternoon tour for the following day a man at the info centre found us a casa which is a house for us to rent a room, it is very popular here to stay in them instead of hotels. . . the room was fine and bathroom clean plus it was only $25 for the both of us for the night so we took it.

Then after dumping our bags we headed out to some caves which was really nice and teh mountains i can't describe, i just hope the pictures do it some justice. We had a local drink at a bar in a cave then went for some dinner the 4 of us. . . .

The following morning I was awake really early as nearly everyone in the neighbourhood we were staying had bunches of CHICKENS and ROOSTERS they started about 3am I think!!
WE met up with Pierre and Azaza and went off to an amazing beach the name I can't remember at this stage, it was 1.5hours away and amazingly signposted. . . . we were the first ones there, got eaten alive by swarms of mozzies. . .
Did a 2 hour boat tour, which saw us stoping a few times to snorkle and see some lovely fish and coral. We went to a little island and the water was so clear and blue and white sands. . .

From there we had to get back to Venales for our tour. . . ummm we got a bit lost and got there 1 hour late ooppps!
This tour was off another huge cave with a swimming area inside, i declined the offer to swim, getting into dark water in a cave is just NOT my thing!! We had a bit of a hike to get to the cave and back on a tobacco farm, I had to cross planks of wood to get accross water. . . so I was way out of my comfort zone!!

After that part we went to see a Mural before we did a tour of a tobacco drying area and the home of a worker.
They wanted to charge us money to get in and see the Mural which we decided we weren't going to pay, so i backed up and then reversed to get around . . .ummmm well the back of the car made a sudden drop . . .quick thinking by Pierre saw all off them getting out except me who was driving. . .the tires were just spinning, well the front ones that were on ground . . .luckily a van load of Cuban men came past and they all got out, made Pierre get in the drivers side and they lifted and pushed the back end and we got out!!!!

There are pictures of this which I think I am getting sent from Paulo gee thanks!! hehehe
The tour of the drying and cutting of Tobacco was interesting, I wasn't overly comfortable with going in to someones house and just sitting there, they did sell some natural cigars to a couple of people.

Finally it was the end of a very long but fun day. . .Paulo and I still had to get to Havana though and now it was getting dark . . .I am proud to say we found the Autopistol and got very close to Havana when the highway just suddenly came to a stop and I was driving into grass and small shrubs . . .as I was doing about 100km it took awhile to stop but no damage was done . . . .
We did eventually find our way back to the hotel via the bank as we had no money between us . . .this is a country run pretty much on Cash alone!!

This is when we ate the pizza which made me sick . . .

Yesterday morning I woke up and didn't feel good at all, however I had to return the car and meet up with Paulo to say bye cause she was moving on to Verado. . . .I got to the car park paid for my car to get out, got to the door of the car then started being sick eeeewwwwwww one of the man came out after awhile and saw the state I was in, I was ushered into their office where i had 4 guys trying to ask if i was okay, did I need a hospital, one of them faning me, one of them gave me his hanky . . it was very sweet. I managed to get up and return my car, said a quick bye to Paulo and went back to my room which is where I stayed till I came out to email.

Okay I think that has covered it all . . .there might be small things I am missing . . .

Today I am going to try and get to a cigar factory, and maybe see some artwork. . . .still feeling a bit weak/tired so it won't be a huge day maybe some laying by the pool as well.

Love to All
Cara

Alive and Kicking in Cuba

HI All

FINALLY

Sorry I know that I haven't written for ages, it is very hard to get internet and phones here . . plus staff in the hotel aren't overly forthcoming with imformation.

This is just a blog to say I am alive . . i have had heaps of adventures to write about, some funny and some I will get lots of hassel about hehehe

Today however I am sick . . I think it was a pizza that I ate very late last night when I got back from the country . . .I have been throwing up all day . .am finally trying to slowly sip some water, and I had to get out of bed my back was aching . .

PLEASE don't worry though I am sure that it will pass, I got some lemonade with my water just before and will try and sip some of that tonight as well.

Thank you for all the emails and comments, being sick it has really made my day to come to the computer and find them.

I will hopefully feel a bit better tomorrow and be able to write some of my adventures out . . . some thoughts to ponder though, the roads are really bad . . pot holes, ditches . . signage is nearly non existant . . .

I have seen some amazing beaches and marine life, met a lovely brazilian, and french couple . . and walked through a few caves.

Love to All

Cara

PS. ClayMel I nearly lost my water bottle, its what I had to get up out of my sick bed for as I left it in my rental car . . It was found though YAY.

PPS. DV my bathroom bag is excellent

PPPS. JM my clock is still coming in so handy

PPPPS, Thanks for the pics Mum

xoxoxoxo

Alive and Kicking in Cuba