russia: september, my first month in moscow

I moved to Moscow, Russia!! The move sortof fell into my lap, it was something I'd thought about vaguely ever since moving to Kyiv, Ukraine, but hadn't pushed for in any way.

I arrived in Moscow at an airport, my employers had booked a taxi to pick me up and drop me off at a hostel in the city center, not too far from school. My very first afternoon/evening in the city I went for a walk, since I was temporarily staying in the city center. I wanted to go see Red Square, because I now lived in Moscow. Unfortunately, when I got to one of the entrances, I found security, and a ticket booth. It turned out that an annual military band show takes place around this time of year, so the square is blocked off.

Even though the square was blocked off I got to watch one of the international bands in town for the show, as they stood around in an informal practice session. Bagpipes galore, what a welcome to the city.

I also stumbled upon a changing of the guard ceremony just outside the Kremlin walls. It was fun to watch, I don't know how often the ceremony happens, or how much the uniforms change throughout the year.

The next evening I went for another walk, I got to see the sunset, which was lovely. I was already discovering that Moscow has quite a few lovely skyline views. During this walk I crossed a bridge over the Moscow River, I love bridges. Just on the other side of the bridge I spotted one of the so called 'Seven Sisters,' (which is how foreigners know the buildings, locals have a different nickname,) the one now known as a Radisson Hotel. It used to be called the Hotel Ukraine. All of the Seven Sisters look generally the same, the shape of the buildings is rather iconic.

During the first few days we had meetings at school, and I figured out accomodation.Taking a chance, I decided to live with another teacher at the school. She had just moved to Moscow as well, after living in another Russian city for four years.

We figured it would be a bit cheaper for us to live together, and we hoped we'd get along. (I already have one story of a bad flattie, I hoped she wouldn't be the same.)

The first weekend in September, we moved into our new flat. Moving meant bringing my pack, purse, and day pack. I'd sent everything else by post from Kyiv, I just hoped it would arrive, and soon.

The worst part of moving is the time it takes to get settled into your new accomodation: figuring out where to put things, where to find a grocery store, where to find public transport, etc... When you find a grocery store you have to do the first buy, which always ends up costing a fair amount, as you have to buy things like salt and pepper. 

They don't cost a lot, but all the little costs add up, and when you first move somewhere you don't typically have a lot of money laying around. At least I don't.

Obviously, I went for a few walks in my new neighborhood. I had a fantastic view of Moscow State University from my bedroom window, I wanted to see what the rest of the area looked like. Much of Moscow State is in one very very very big building, it's more than a little impressive.

I walked to and from school a few times in the first month. The walk was under two hours, and the weather was good, so why not? A chance to burn calories and see more of the city.

During the month some of the stuff I'd shipped from Kyiv arrived, yahoo!! I got notifications at school that there were packages waiting for me at the post office, so I went there after school one evening. I had to order a taxi to bring everything to the flat, thankfully the four big bags fit in the trunk.

I was very used to the main post office in Kyiv, which is very grand; the post office I went to this time was not at all grand. It actually took me a while to find, as it is in a building behind the building on the street. 

That probably doesn't make any sense, but I was the same amount of confused in finding the office. At least it wasn't too far from school.

My school schedule this year gives me Monday mornings and Wednesday afternoons off. I intended to make use of these half days off to see the city as much as possible.

One of the Wednesday afternoons in September I walked to an area called Moscow City, which is basically a business center. A whole bunch of office buildings, with modern architecture. The weather involved low clouds, which covered the tops of the buildings, I loved the way it all looked.

During this month I got to see a number of beautiful sunrises. Absolutely gorgeous. These views made me fall in love with the city pretty quickly, and it's always good to love the city in which you live.

Another Wednesday afternoon I walked from school all the way to a museum reserve area called Kolomenskoye. It was originally a royal estate, now mostly open to the public. I went into a couple churches on the property, watched a sunset, and realized I'd only seen a small portion of the estate. Royals in Russia used to have quite the life!

On several of the weekends I got caught up in watching tv shows until late each day, but managed to get myself out of the flat for evening walks. One of those walks I went back to the university area, as the building is lit up at night. There is a big pond on one side of the building, I liked seeing the building reflected in the black water.

This side of the building was not too far away from an overlook giving an amazing view of the city. I could pick out some of the Seven Sisters, I could see a convent, I could see the river, and I could see a sports stadium. Awesome.

Another nighttime walk I went in the other direction, ending up at Park Pobedy, (known in English as Victory Park.)

Many parts of the park were lit up, and I had another city view. There was a museum on one side of this area, something military I think. I was way after closing hours, but I hoped to return and see the museum at another time.

There were several fountains still running, with lights making the water different colours. I loved the way everything looked. Even though I felt like it was fairly late on a Sunday evening, there were still plenty of people out and about, enjoying a great city at the end of the weekend.

Even though it was only September, the view from my bedroom showed me how quickly fall comes in Moscow. The leaves started to change colour pretty quickly, I had the best view possible for watching it happen. There was a park directly across the street from our flat, so my bedroom view showed the trees. Sooo pretty.

I love Moscow, I can't wait to see more!

traveling and moving: chicago to frankfurt to kyiv to moscow

My flight from Indianapolis to Chicago left on time, and arrived on time. I took an uber to Kelley's house, then relaxed. By relax I mean I spent the rest of the day on the couch. The only time I moved was to bake a really really yummy blueberry pie Kelley had in the freezer for me.

I even slept on the couch that evening, hee hee.

The next day I stayed on the couch for a bunch of hours. It was really nice to relax and not do anything in particular. I made sure to eat, and watch TV I wouldn't be seeing once I left the States. Of course the food included more slices of the blueberry pie, drowned in whip cream.

Since Kelley and Jon were on a diet that did not allow for carbs, I felt it was my duty to eat the entire pie, so they had no temptations once I left.

I walked to the post office to mail some of the envelopes of post cards I hadn't handed out during the summer. I'm not sure the postal clerks believed me when I said the envelopes had only postcards inside. I've never met anyone who buys, writes, and sends postcards like I do.

That night, I slept again on the couch, after eating more pie.

Is it bad to eat pie for more than one meal in a row? I had the last slice for breakfast the next morning, after sleeping on the couch again.

Eventually I managed to get moving, then walked again to the post office with the last of my envelopes of post cards. The postal clerks from the day before remembered me, and were surprised again, since I had more to send. It's a habit that costs me more money than I should spend, but I know how much I love receiving real mail, so I want to do that for other folks.

That night Kelley and Jon and I went out to a nice dinner at a chain restaurant called Beni Hana. They cook food on a flat top in the middle of the table with customers sitting all around. It's part show, part meal. Good food, great company.

After dinner we stopped by Walmart so I could stock up on a few things I knew I'd want after leaving the States. I might have bought 2kgs of mini Reese's Cups. Soooo good, and soooo unnecessary. Swiss Rolls might have ended up in my basket too. It's a good thing my pack was only so big...

The next morning I finished packing, shoving everything in to make it fit. Kelley drove me to the airport, I arrived in plenty of time to check in.

I was able to get my bag checked all the way to Kyiv, even though that wasn't the normal policy of the airlines; this is because I had a really long layover in Frankfurt.

I landed in Frankfurt early the next morning, after connecting in Atlanta. Since I knew I had all day, I stayed in the airport for a while, relaxing and using the airport wifi to keep in touch with the world.

Eventually I took public transport into the city center, so I could walk around and see a new place. It was only a day layover, but a few hours is better than no hours. I also thought that keeping moving during daytime hours would help me get onto European time faster than just laying around all day.

The s-bahn ride into the city was fast (only 20 minutes or so,) and easy. I'd downloaded maps while on wifi, so I had a clue where to go once I landed at the train station. Since I had just a few hours to explore, I figured I would walk along the water, toward the old school city center.

The walk was nice, part of it took me through a local festival taking place along the riverbanks. I went over part of the bridge, and got to watch the end of a canoeing race, which was fun.

From there I continued walking, all the way to the old city center. The contrast of the old area with the new area was quite startling. Think modern, geometric buildings across the street from stately, grand, classical old buildings.

I wandered through a couple churches, neither of them very big. I watched people everywhere I went, as there were heaps of people out enjoying the festival and the good weather.

I saw the platz in the middle of everything, which is quite picturesque. The photographer side of me wanted a photo without people, but that definitely wasn't going to happen; not even with the patience I've gained while waiting for the exact photo I want. The sides of the platz were filled with tables for cafes, they were mostly filled.

I walked through a part of city call, making note of the skylight in the ceiling. That passageway took me to another church. I was only able to go in the entryway of the church without paying, and since I didn't have euros on me I didn't/couldn't buy a ticket. Oh well.

When I got back to the train station I bought ice creams and water and juice. Of course it was too much to eat at once, but since I was super thirsty and hungry my eyes were way bigger than my belly. The next s-bahn to the airport came quickly, it was a lot more crowded on the way to the airport than when going into the city.

I waited at the airport for a few hours, made even longer when we boarded late. Not too long after we boarded, there was an announcement made that said we wouldn't be able to fly since there is a curfew at the airport and we were too late. In other words, we all had to deboard. Sigh.

It was supremely frustrating when I realized we had boarded at 2230, and the curfew was at 2300. No flights are allowed to take off after 2300. In what world did they think there was even a chance of everyone boarding and getting settled and taking off within 30 minutes? Argh.

I was lucky that my passport allows me entry into the country of Germany without a special visa, as it allowed me to deboard, go through the airport, pick up my voucher from the Lufthansa desk, and check into the hotel across the street from the airport. People who didn't have the ability to cross through borders like I do had to stay the night in the airport.

Anywho, I got to the airport and checked in (at nearly midnight,) then ran down to the special buffet room they had set up for all of us. I ate as fast as possible, then went back to my room to try to sleep. Since I was still on time zones from the States it didn't really work.

My alarm went off waaay too early, and I raced back down to the food room to grab a bit of breakfast, then race back to the airport. Fortunately, that flight took off on time.

When I arrived in Kyiv I discovered my bag had not made the journey with me. In other words the effort of checking the bag all the way through back in Chicago ended up costing me waaaay too much time and trouble. ARGH.

To make it even better, the guy at the luggage counter told me the bag wouldn't come until the next afternoon or evening, which was awful timing for me. My flight out of Kyiv departed the next day, in early evening. In other words, I couldn't wait that long.

I ended up having to take a taxi back to the airport early the next morning, to pick up the bag. Then race home again, pack up my entire life in just a few hours, and take it all to the post office.

My taxi driver in Kyiv was awesome, as he helped me fill out all the forms needed (in triplicate!!) to mail all my stuff to Russia. Then he drove me back to the airport where I started my move to Russia!!

I spent that night in the airport in Riga. Since I'd been there before I knew exactly where to find chairs to doze on, and which ones were close to a plug. I also knew there was free wifi, so I wasn't too bored.

The next day just after noon my flight took off, and a few hours later landed in Moscow.
My new adventure awaited!!

the states: an eclipse in my hometown

I had three more days in Bloomington, I mostly took it easy.

I got the chance to spend time with my sister and nephew, which was lovely as always. Since I don't have a stable life it was very different from my normal. Plus, it was time with my sister, which is always awesome. At one point we left her house and went for a walk along one of the public trails through the city. I hadn't walked it before, so it was nice to see what I've been hearing about on social media for years. It was hot and humid though, so we ended up stopping into a cafe for drinks, and to cool down. 

Another afternoon was spent at the IUOP (Indiana University Outdoor Pool,) a place I used to work. It's not fun paying an entry fee into a place I used to enter for free, but oh well. I love the IUOP. Plus, I got to chat with people I hadn't seen in years.

That night I had dinner with Mom. Decent food, great company and conversation.

The next morning I got to have a massage I'd booked. I'd been looking forward to this all summer. My massage therapist is the mom of a dear friend, it was nice to catch up about our lives. I felt amazing when I walked out.

From there I walked to a fast food restaurant, Arby's. I'd made plans to visit with one of my high school swim teammates, and eat a giant roast beef sandwich. I haven't found roast beef sandwiches outside the states, so I wanted to take advantage while I could.

21 August was an important day for people who pay attention to eclipses. This eclipse was a huge deal, because it was going to be a total eclipse in many areas, and would cross across the entire continental United States. Media companies had been mentioning it for a while, more and more leading up to the event.

My hometown was supposed to have 96% totality. In other words, it wouldn't get completely dark, but the difference in light would be very noticeable.

After eating sandwiches Melissa and I moved to Steak n Shake, so I could have a (totally unnecessary) shake. While drinking our shakes we watched people. The entire eclipse took a while, with the most covered time being just a few minutes. The employees of Steak n Shake shared pairs of eclipse sunnies, taking turns going outside and looking up. I had a pair of the exclipse glasses from Dad, so I had my chance to look up and be amazed.

After eating, Melissa drove me home. I packed up everything and put it all in the car. We drove up to Indianapolis, stopping at a pancake house along the way. I'm a sucker for diners, even when I'm not super hungry.

My flight to Chicago left very early the next morning, and Dad had an early flight to somewhere as well. We stayed in a hotel near the airport, which made everything convenient.

As long as I have family in Bloomington, I'll keep returning.

As long as I live, I'll keep returning to the States every so often. For those of you who ask regularly or wonder, I have no idea if I'll live there again, but it will always be a possibility. 

cuba: the end in havana

Amazingly enough, my bus from Vinales to Havana arrived 30 minutes early!! This even with a 30 minute stop for food in some random place built just for buses going through. Not many of the people on our bus ate, as it was still too early for lunch. I think we also gained time because there were a couple possible stops to which the bus didn't go, I assume there were no ticketed passengers.

Anywho, it was lovely to arrive early. I walked out of the bus station and found a cab (who first tried to tell me that the price I wanted was too low. I was ready to walk away, and started to, before being called back. I checked into my new accomodation, (the same place I'd stayed in Havana just a few nights earlier,) dropped my bag, and started walking.

Even though this was my third time in Havana I still took numerous pictures of cars, and general life on the streets. Old cars definitely exist where I live now, but these classic american cars typically only show up at car shows.

My first sight was a museum, the museo Napoleonico. There was a 3 CUC entry fee, and no photo fee. I even asked, just to make sure. The building itself was awesome, regardless of what was in it, with one downfall: no air con, and no fans. If there were fans, they weren't turned on. It was slightly cooler inside than outside, but I could feel the sweat pouring off me.

Everything in the museum was about Napoleon. Everything. All 7000+ items were collected by Julio Lobo, a sugar baron, and Orestes Ferrara, a politician. His clothes from different battles, a representation of one of his dining rooms (which was quite possibly one of the ugliest rooms I've ever seen, with lime green curtains,) his bedroom, and various weapons used in his battles.

A library of books, all about Napoleon. There was also a terrace/patio on the top level, beautiful tile decoration, and great views in several directions. It was also the only place with a breeze, which felt amazing at that point.

Not too far from the museum was the University of Havana. The campus was really pretty, at least what I could see of it from the bottom of a giant set of steps. For whateva reason, the steps were blocked off by a rope, so I couldn't go any further. There was absolutely no shade anywhere near the steps, so when I sat in the middle of them to take a photo my bum was very toasty very quickly.

The benefit to the steps/campus being roped off was that no one else was in my photo.

From there I walked all the way to the tourist center of Havana, back in Havana vieja. It was an easy walk, almost entirely straight down one street, but it was long. This walk took me to something I'd wanted to see previously, but had been closed on the day I showed up. A theater.

This theatre used to be two buildings, not connected to each other. The National Theater and the Galician Culture Palace. Due to a recent renovation, (it had only been open a year or so when I showed up, after being closed for 3 years,) the buildings are now connected, and part of the same tour.

My entry fee was 5 CUC, again without a photo fee.

At first I was the only person in the tour. Then someone else came, and after a bit longer, a few more people. Most of the tour was in English, which was obviously convenient for me. When necessary, the guide tried to speak in Italian and French.

There are two grand entries, the guide said at one point all the columns I could see had been marble. Now, only two of them are still marble, the others are painted to look as if they're marble. I have to admit I wouldn't have known the difference if the guide hadn't said anything.

The theater itself was gorgeous. It was very similar to a classic European theater, very grand. As we walked in, the guide told us it was the oldest operating theater in the Americas, with many notable performers through its history. I imagine watching a performance from one of the box seats is quite an experience.

On the side of the Galician Cultural center, the main steps were absolutely fantastic. I could've stood there and stared for a few minutes. Absolutely gorgeous.

The whole complex is named for Alicia Alonso, a well known Cuban ballerina.

The tour ended at the cafe on the top floor of the cultural center side. Sitting in one of the seats near the windows offered a great view of the Capitol. Also on the top floor was an art exhibition, including some photos. Nice to wander around for a few minutes.

Next I walked along a street trying to find a restaurant named in the guidebook. I couldn't find it, and walked all the way around the entire building. Eventually I found it, mostly because there was a small queue of people. I wanted my turn, and was thrilled when the host told the people trying to cut in front of me that I was next. (I'm soooo used to people doing that, it's annoying.)

I was not terribly impressed with the restaurant. First, it was very dark inside, even though it was only 1600 or so. I get the idea of mood lighting, but this was waaaay too dark. There was one candle at my table, but it didn't help much.

After I ordered, my food came REALLY fast, which told me it had been preprepared, and had been ready even before I ordered. The shrimp was mushy, which told me it was frozen when it entered the kitchen, not fresh. It was so dark I could barely see my food, argh. When the bill came, it took them foreva to bring my change.

For tourist prices, it was a decent price for the amount of food. Compared to the few meals I'd eaten out during this trip it was not worth it.

On my way back to my room, I decided to use my last wifi card, since it was my last night. Thankfully there was a public park on my way, it was a wifi hotspot. After I used up my wifi time, I continued sitting on the bench just to watch people.

My original plan for the evening was to walk to the malecon for a last Cuban sunset. Unfortunately, just as I was about to go out and walk, it started raining. Pouring, actually. I ended up staying in, nothing exciting.

The next morning I packed up and checked out, and out on the street at 0845. It was easy to flag down a taxi to go to the airport, and when the driver said his price I was shocked. He offered only 10 CUC, which was less than half of what I expected. I double and triple checked, he confirmed the same number each time. The ride was smooth and got me to the airport in plenty of time.

I ended up paying him 25 CUC, which was the price I had originally expected to pay.

I looked for postcards at the airport, but didn't buy any since they were all priced at 1 CUC. There is no way I"m paying that much for a postcard, unless the city was absolutely stunning.

My flights back to Indiana were smooth, and on time.

I would love to come back to Cuba, to explore more of the island. Next time though, I'm not visiting in August though, it is waaaaaay too hot and humid.

cuba: vinales and cayo levisa

Getting from Havana to Vinales was easy, though not on time. I caught a taxi to the bus station in Havana, then waited. The bus was a bit late pulling in, and it was behind another bus. For a reason unknown to me, there is only one lane for incoming and outgoing buses at the main bus station of the capital city of a country. In other words, when one bus is late, or slow, or has a problem, it affects every other bus. Argh. Eventually, we boarded, and the bus ride itself was fine. Cold, as expected. I knew ahead of time to bring my malong with me on the bus.

There was a lady waiting for me as we pulled into Vinales, holding a sign with my name. At this point in the trip I'd really come to appreciate the system of casa particulares owners having 'friends' across the island. I never had to worry about finding a place to stay.

It was an easy, short walk to the house. Part of checking in was a glass of fresh juice, and a sandwich. Since I'd just come off the bus I wasn't hot so it felt good to eat.

Vinales isn't a big town, and is almost entirely dependent on tourists. It exists because the area around the town is gorgeous.

There are limestone karsts sticking up everywhere, and the locals grow nicotine for cigars. Visitors come to town, then book day trips and multi day tours to explore the surrounding area.

There are several tour shops on the main street of Vinales, but all were closed except one. Well, another one was open, sortof. There were a couple people sitting at deks in there, but neither was allowed to book tours, if I understood them correctly. What is the point of having a shop where only one person can take money, and that one person is out to lunch?

I queued up with everyone for the one place that was open, and settled on two options. One three hour walk through the nearby valley area, mostly to see some of the families and farm operations. I think it was called a culture walk, or something along those lines. I would've preferred a hike/trek through the limestone karsts, but that wasn't an option. I also signed up for a day trip out to an island with a pretty beach.

After getting my tours sorted I went back to my room, changed, and filled my camelbak with water. While on the bus into town I had noticed a sign for a national park. I knew I didn't have time to get into the park, but I was hoping for a couple pretty overlook spots.

I walked out of town following the main road, which went up a hill. The hill kept going for a while, a lot longer than I expected. Since the road wasn't straight, I was never sure when I would finally get to a place where I felt like turning around.

I finally decided to turn around not long after coming to a restaurant where the tables were built on decks of a sort, designed to take advantage of the beautiful landscape view. I took a few photos with my tripod, but I was covered in sweat, yuck.

From there I walked back home. I didn't feel as though I'd done or seen very much but Vinales is a small town, and I didn't find it easy to get out and explore outside of town.

The next morning I was up in time to have breakfast before meeting up with my tour. Breakfast was what I'd come to think of as standard for my entire trip: fruit, a big pitcher of fresh fruit juice, eggs, bread with meat and cheese slices, and tea.

I went back to the tour office, and met up with everyone who had signed up for the same walking tour.

It ended up being a small group, just me, a father with two of his almost adult kids, and two irish chicks on holidays. (I loved the mix of English accents, though I think it surprised our guide.) Our guide gave us some introductory information about the area and what we would be seeing, then we started walking.

The entire town of Vinales is surrounded by tobacco farms. The trails we followed took us through and around several of those farms. Our guide knew everyone it seemed, and had plenty of information for us about all that we were seeing.

We passed one family that was cooking a giant pot of stew to celebrate one of their sons coming home from army basic training. We watched one man roll a cigar. Another man was happy to pose for photos on the porch of his home. We saw kids riding horses all over.

We saw all kinds of fruit trees. We saw a giant cart full of corn that hadn't yet been husked. We saw pigs in a barn, they 'greeted' us by almost climbing the walls of their pens.

At one point we sat and had a drink from a little bar that catered entirely to tourists. Since it was hot and humid, all of us appreciated the break.

While sitting and drinking we all got to talking. Since one of the adult kids in the group was studying international relations at university, I took the opportunity to ask his thoughts on current world geopolitics. It was a really good conversation.

Eventually it was time to walk back to where we had started in town. Everyone said goodbye, and I took the opportunity to go to the baseball stadium we'd just passed. Baseball is the national sport of Cuba, I was a bit gutted I'd missed the season. Then again, attending a game in this weather didn't sound very appealing.
I found an open door, so I took the chance to walk around the field, and pretend throw a couple pitches. The view the players have from the field has to be one of the best I've seen from any baseball stadium: they could see several limestone karsts. Very cool.

From there I went back to my room to lay down, cool down, rehydrate, and relax.

Later in the afternoon I decided to go see the one sight in town: the municipal museum. It was tiny, just three rooms. I was the only visitor, and there wasn't much to see, so it only took me about twenty minutes to stroll through looking at everything.

Even though I wasn't really hungry, I decided to get dinner at a local restaurant. I saw a menu listing ropa vieja, which I'd enjoyed in Havana, so I opted to try again. The listed menu wasn't the same as the menu they handed me, so I asked about the difference. The waiter said there were 'lunch' and 'dinner' portions. It isn't normal for me to want a smaller portion, but this time I did. Even so, I was pushing myself to clean my plate. When I got the bill I noticed 10% had been added to the bill, a tactic which annoys me. I didn't recall seeing this on the menu, but I wasn't in the mood to ask.

After eating I wanted to walk off the full feeling in my belly, so I decided to walk through town. It took all of 15 minutes, so I did it again. And again. Like I said earlier, Vinales is not a big town.

Since I was finished with everything I could do in town, I decided to use one of my internet cards for an hour. It dropped out twice within thirty minutes, so I gave up, and saved what was left of the time on that card for another day. This is what happens in a country with state controlled internet access.

That night I arranged with my landlady to have breakfast earlier the next morning (0700) so I could eat before boarding my tour bus. It worked out really well, and I made sure to eat and drink everything she fed me. I don't think there is a thing as too much fresh fruit juice.

I boarded my bus on time, at 0820. It took off, and almost 90 minutes later we got to a small port. I guess it wasn't really even a port, just a single dock. Since we'd arrived early, we had to wait for our boat to arrive. The queue developed at the end of the dock, there was absolutely NO shade. I was surprised that people stayed pretty quiet, and very well behaved.

When the boat came we all boarded quickly, and it took off. It was a double decker ferry, which took us to Cayo Levisa. There is nothing to this island except a resort, with a beach and mangrove swamps. To most people that probably doesn't sound exciting, but I was thrilled to have another day to spend on a beach.

I found a chair, and got myself sorted. I put my camelbak under the chair, so it was sortof protected by shade, and I spread my malong over the chair so the plastic didn't get too hot. I went in the water, which felt amazing. White sand and blue water made a happy me.

I spent the rest of the time laying out, flipping over every 30 minutes and going into the water each time I flipped. I spent an hour eating the lunch that was included in the price of the excursion, which was okay but not great.

I did get burnt, but it could've been much worse.

I queued up with everyone else to get back on the ferry boat, and made sure I sat in the shade. Being somewhat burnt made the cold bus ride back even colder, but I didn't mind. I didn't eat dinner in town that night, as I'd already eaten two meals that day, which was a lot for me by my Cuban standards.

The next morning I ate breakfast even earlier, at 0630. Then I paid for my room, and walked back to the bus stop. If I ever come back to Vinales I want to make sure I get further out into the valley. I want to explore/hike the karsts in particular.