We are currently cruising at 34,000 feet on our way to Cayo Coco! We got a pleasant surprise when we checked in at the airport... we were bumped up to first class! Oh, we also got free beach bags which was nice too! Air Transat's "Club Class" is pretty nice; we've got extra leg-room, free snacks and drinks, and free headsets (people in economy class have to pay $1.00 for headphones)! It also looks like we're going to have a pretty nice dinner! As soon as we boarded, we were given welcome cocktails; we each got a free glass of champagne! I could get used to this! The movie Racing Stripes is playing. It's pretty brutal; it's a lot like Babe but worse... oh well!
12:45 a.m.
Checking into our room was a bit of a challenge. When we had signed in the woman at reception gave us our keys and said, "Down to the right". So we grabbed our bags and went down the ramp to the right... only to find ourselves in front of the pool and the whole resort and its 14 separate buildings in front of us with no indication of where to go (later on we found large maps posted, but these we not evident in the dark). So we wandered around until a staff-member flagged us down. He grabbed my suitcase and off we went! The room is pretty nice; a little sparse, but comfortable. We're on the second floor so we have a nice balcony.
Anyhow, the first thing we did after we settled in was begin exploring... we found the 24 hour bar/snack bar! We got acquainted with the pina coladas. Our thermal mugs are going to be of great use to us this week, I can tell! We also got some sandwiches while we were there, since we missed dinner dur to our late arrival. The sandwiches are a bit like paninis but they're made with hamburger and hotdog buns! Afterward, we walked around the resort for a while, but again, there was not much to see considering it's dark out. We also noticed this strange guy at the bar. He was so drunk that we couldn't figure out if he was Scottish or Australian! Anyhow, he was talking to this girl, saying things like "I'm an animal" and "I'm trying to procreate"... Yeesh!
We had to get up early this morning to attend a briefing with the "Tours Mont Royal" (TMR) representative. She gave us a rundown of everything we need to know about how the resort works, the available activities, etc. During this little presentation, the rep also told us that Cayo Coco is an island reserved for tourists and native Cubans are not allowed on the island unless they are employed at a resort (I think there are 7 resorts on the island). Even then, they have to present a valid work permit and they are never allowed to come to the island for any reason besides work. All that to say, we were told that we could feel free to go anywhere on the island because no one would bother us.
After the briefing we exchanged our Canadian dollars for Cuban convertible pesos and then we reserved for the "Jungle Tour" (snorkeling excursion - we're going on Thursday) and for our two a la carte dinners. After attending to all of that business, our next step was the beach! So we picked up some towels and then one of the animators (staff at the resort that entertain the "guests") immediately accosted us to play some pétanca. It's kind of like lawn bowling, but in the sand. Mike and I already knew the rules (he taught me how to playa while back and now we always play when we go camping) so the game was on! We played to 15 points. It was a close game but Mike won. We don't know what his prize is yet: he has to go up on stage tonight to accept his prize! But he says he doesn't want to go: he says they'll make him do "something ludicrous"... we'll have to see if he gets up there tonight!
1:15 p.m.
The ocean is really warm and the water is incredibely clear. While we were swimming we came upon a school of fish! They were all around us and it was fun until I felt an awful stinging on the top of my foot! It felt as bad as a bee sting so I got out of the water and went back to my beach chair. The top of my foot turned red and formed some little bubbles; pretty gross if you ask me!
Here's my giant foot. You can kind of see the redness and the bubbles... eew!
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12:45 a.m.