MONDAY 31st

What a night – lovely comfy bed, deep sleep and phone calls at 1am, 4am and 6am when I left the phone off the hook. Ian (Architect) had 7 calls before they retired for the night and so unplugged their phone. We shall do that tonight. Reception apologised and said there had been a fault on the line.

It’s a beautiful day, the sea so calm there is a wonderful reflection on the surface. Having had breakfast we had time to spare before setting out for the morning’s adventure so a few of us wander across the road to the sea area in front of our hotel and where I noticed a couple of people fishing. I was in front and just about to step further into the road when there was an explosion from the back of the parked bus. I saw the person inside run quickly down the aisle and people in the street running in all directions. Smoke poured out of the back where the engine is located and once it had cleared we could see the powder presumably from the fire extinquisher underneath the bus. By now men were looking into the engine, including our driver Enrique so we may learn more about the incident later but I was personally more interested in getting my photo of the fishermen.

10am we set off for an hour's trip around the bay but not before we had our passports checked by an official, but he soon got bored and cleared off. Ellen and Mary Jane took up positions at the front of the boat to get in some sun bathing. I guess Mary Jane has seen the view more times than she has had good breakfasts! Keith joined them as he thought it a good place for filming as most of the boat was enclosed, well that's what he told me! As Bob pointed out it was not really a tourist boat but it served its purpose although I think most of us would have appreciated a breeze blowing through. Still with a calm sea and some nice landscape and plenty of pelicans diving into the water we were kept amused, especially by the ones that failed to land gracefully. (Someone kept insisting the cormorants were black swans.) Plus there was the cocktail bar so mojitos all round! The only person missing was Christine (Journalist) who doesn’t do small boats.

As we returned to the hotel jetty we noticed lots of small jellyfish just under the surface but we had already been advised not to swim in the sea but to use the pool.

Hotel Jagua

We had 10 minutes to powder our noses before setting off to do the city tour beginning at the 19^th Century 'Thomas Terry Theatre' where Mary Jane had told us to be discreet when using our cameras as we had to pay for the privilege of using them. Keith made his way up to the balconies and when I saw the ‘guard’ disappear I mimed for him to start shooting. When I saw she was returning I made my way out of the auditorium stopping to speak to her about the weather. She escorted me out but only to inform a colleague that I needed to pay for using my camera. I informed her I had no money and would have to get it from my husband but didn’t let on who was my husband and kept away from all the men!

We looked at the nicky nacky noo stands in the area and watched the wood carver at work. I took a liking to a wall plaque of a coffee pot and cups with wooden hooks allegedly constructed in different coloured woods that will make an ideal key holder so left the bargaining to Keith. The price was 5 CUCs – no bargaining.

We had time to explore the pedestrian area on our own and called in at the rather grand ‘Union’ hotel with a lovely swimming pool in the pleasant courtyard. Our small group had hoped to have a drink but the service was so slow we abandoned the idea and returned to our coach on time.

Everyone has been very good about being on time which has helped Humberto with his organisation of getting us from one venue to another. Today we were so good we arrived at the Yacht Club too early for lunch noting there was already 6 tour buses in the car park. Tables outside, bar inside, mojitos all round! We were having a lovely time watching the fish and admiring the few boats in the marina, some of which were flying foreign flags. One lady was doing a photo shoot with a teenager and a smaller child models whilst their Mum watched holding no end of plastic bags. They got into trouble when they crossed the rope barrier to take some shots by one of the yachts but with the woman using a small pocket size digital camera it hardly looked a professional shoot. We didn’t have long to wait to be called in to our tables. Again we had a a buffet lunch but some excellent choices such as the fried fish which Mary Jane had recommended earlier and we had most of the dining room to ourselves before the next tour bus arrived.

Whilst most of our group returned to the hotel in the coach a few of us lingered outside with another cocktail. We were allowed to walk so far out onto the jetty to our right and watched shoals of small fish swim around the jetty legs but the real entertainment was two pipe fish that appeared to be performing a mating ritual around each other. These fish are slightly different from the ones I have seen whilst snorkelling in Crete in that they have several pairs of fins each pair being a different colour – yellow, pink and bluey/grey and they seem to prefer to swim backwards before shooting off into the deeper water.

Arriving back at the hotel most people were lazing by the pool but with a free afternoon Keith and I set off to walk back into the city. It took us about 35 minutes to reach an area of nicky nacky noo stalls that had been set up in another part of the pedestrianised area. With chance to look in the shop windows we saw just how limited stocks were and the few items on display looked very unattractive. Walking by a large hall with a row of lilac curtained windows swung open into the pavement I saw this was the hairdressing salon where chairs lined three sides and several Cuban women were having their hair done using chairs close to the open windows. We returned to the Theatre area stopping at a bar for a mojito before returning to the hotel. A student came and sat with us and began chatting to us but we could see where the conversation was leading so kept quiet for a while when he then moved towards a group of locals sitting by the musicians. Once again we were pestered to put money in the hat for the players and although sitting under the bar’s verandha we still had pregnant women begging for 1 peso for their unborn child.

We walked back to our hotel in the late afternoon sun briefly stopping to watch a made wading up and down in waist high water catching prawns in his large net. We had time to shower and change before cocktails at 6.30 where Mary Jane had arranged a happy hour in the bar by the pool.

7pm time for dinner and the group sitting on the sofa by the entrance pushed their way in with our group confusing the Maitre D. Again the choice of food was excellent and Keith came back with a plate of sliced pork that he thought was turkey. Tonight’s entertainment in the lobby bar as a wonderful mixed ‘barber shop’ choir who had been invited to attend an International Competition to be held in Alicante, Spain, in July so were desperate for funds. As with the guitarists they seemed to do well with sales of their CD. (It has been a long time since I saw anyone using a tuning fork but the female conductor used it all the time.)

We were all dressed up tonight as most of us were going across the road to another hotel for a Salsa lesson. Because the choir performed encores we were late getting there and so our tables had been taken. The staff were brilliant though and brought out chairs for us as we ordered our drinks. The resident dance duo were performing – a bit wooden compared to our 'BBCs Strictly Dancing' programme – but they showed us how to Salsa. I gave up with my two left feet and got out the camera. Ellen didn’t like being told what to do and so did her own thing which was hilarious and Keith threatened he would put it on UTube! Angela, along with Ivor and Marion, had a great time and in true SAGA style Keith and I not forgetting Angela were the last to leave.