My vacations at Mercure Playa de Oro in Varadero, Cuba - Part 1

I came back from my trip in Varadero last week. Going back to work in the snow, rain and slush was quite rough and it seem like I saw nothing yet because a big snowstorm is about to hit Montreal tonight. My portfolio is doing better now than before I left. My non-registered portfolio is now at a good $130 024.33. I should definitively go to Cuba more often! I have to say, during my week in Varadero, I went to Havana one day and there touch the water from a so call magic water fountain next to a church. And I sadly wish it all about money... but it seem to be working!

Here' the fountain:

I was in a hurry, with a tour guide, and some pictures are... dancing. But its all very authentic.

Vising a communist country where people live poorly and have access to barely nothing was never in my plans, and I am still against the principle, but my mother really wanted to go to Cuba, and I was the only one who could go with her. By visiting massively Cuba, foreigners encourage the current system. Cuban people are just too nice and sweat to begin a revolution and fight against their poor living conditions. They don't know anything else, but they are perfectly aware of what they don't have and don't have access to. This being said, Varadero and Havana seem to me like being 2 very safe place to visit. Cuban are poor, but there's no sign of any aggressiveness in them. They are happy people, but they are struggling to survive and to make ends reach. Havana is very magical and despite everything, I think we should all visit Havana at least one time in our life. I visit once, but it wasn't enough. I would like to spend a 5 days in Havana, maybe for a next trip, now that my portfolio is doing better. 

The good thing about Cuba is that trips in all inclusive resort are cheap. For a 7 days at Mercure Playa the Oro with Air Transat, I pay $929 + an $80 for insurance. So this was quite cheap in my sense. If I would had book one week earlier, I could had pay only something like $850.

My father suffer from severe asthma, so I didn't push for him to go with us. I had no idea how he could react to a hot environment and sincerely, if you are not in perfect health, don't go to Cuba, Mexico or any south destination. Since the environment is not the same, someone who is more vulnerable physically may catch some other type of germs to which him or her could react badly in reason of an existing sensibility. One thing for sure if you go to Havana and anyplace else in Cuba: don't drink any water. Asked for drink with no ice. Eat moderately. Water can be easily replace by Crystal beer or any delicious alcohol at any time of the day while being at the resort. And bring a thermo cup, coffee cup or something similar to keep your drink free of any sand.

I stayed at Mercure Playa de Oro located in Varadero Cuba for one week. The hotel was nice. Our room was actually nicer than the one and a half apartment I have in Montreal. I was in the room 1237. No hotel room was a direct view to the sea, even if the sea is about 5 minutes walk from the hotel. When we enter in the room the first day, a strong humidity smell came out from the room. We quickly open the patio door. After what, I check the bathroom - everything was fine. Toilet and shower in very good conditions, like new. We had a safe in the room, which was descent. The door of the room closed perfectly. We had to leave a towel on the ground while taking out shower because water was going on the bathroom floor, no matter what. There was a lot of humidity. Nothing would dry. We left the patio door open during out stay. Also, probably because of the strong humidity, we had some very small insects on the bathroom sink, but on the bathroom sink only. Not very much, but still noticeable despite being very small, maybe 1 mm. So we never left our toothbrush or anything in the bathroom.

Here are some pictures of the room 1237 of Mercure Playa de Oro:

The safe that work with the room card.

We had a nice TV in our room, we had a US and one French Quebec TV channel. But of course, we didn't watch a lot of TV. We were there for the beach! The beach next to the Mercure Playa the Oro was very nice, very clean. And when we hit the beach, usually, there was one hotel employee who asked were we wanted our chairs and brought it where we wanted. A real princess treatment.

The beach was very beautiful and the sea was nice.

However, there must some days had some beach bugs or something because I had some irritation at some points and I got a few bites on my sexy thighs. I no longer suffer from irritations but my skin is quite dry. During our first few days, it was really windy, I couldn't even wear my cute little beach hat. The sea was quite violent too. At the end of our stay, the earth elements finally became more human.