Today was our first morning at the campismo in Jibacoa, where I woke up at 07:00 by chance and then decided to go to the beach to watch the sunrise on my bill. While doing so I passed the security gate where the security guard was asleep. Great security! Anyway, I got to the beach and experienced a beautiful sunrise while still just being able to open my eyes. While I was doing so I saw a guy walking down the beach in my direction. Funny enough, it was actually the guy we met last evening while strolling eastwards down the beach. We were talking away and then out of the blue came Victoria walking down the beach in our direction. She must have guessed that I would be down the beach.
It soon struck 08:30 where breakfast was being served in the restaurant right next to us. We happened to be the only people there so we started wondering… are we the only ones who have breakfast included or are the Cubans eating somewhere else? Turns out that when we were snooping around in the evening we did indeed find another, much larger restaurant where the Cubans were eating in some kind of buffet manner. The Cubans do dine in another restaurant! We as “Non-Nationals” were being divided from all the fun and the real Cuban way. We did ask the guy if we could eat here but he opologised and made it clear that it was only for Cuban nationals. We did feel a bit upset about that as we did come to this particular campismo to meet and dine with real Cubans Its a real shame to be secluded to a lonely restaurant.
Anyhow, after breakfast we had a knock on the door from our friend on the motorcycle who offered us a Snorkeling trip to the local reefs for 2 CUC / person (€1.60). We went with him and even got a lift to the local spot on the back of his Chinese MZ motorbike. Quite a popular make here as the Chinese communist state often do business with Cuba. We got the gear and he took us about 100m out into the ocean where we had a look at the reefs there with its coral and beautiful fish. It was great! First time I’ve been to a real reef. Its like being in a completely different world altogether.
Post experience we found a really nice spot on the nearby beach where we chilled and picked fruits from the trees. We went back and made some sandwiches for lunch with avocado, Gouda. mini peppers and black pepper. Simple but tasty! Oh and to wrap them up we used some tissues and gaffa tape to seal them up. Another great use of the ever amazing super tape. More of those examples to come :)
