December 09 – Playa Giron and the Bay of Pigs

Today we are driving to Playa Giron on the way to Havana.  The drive took us through some lovely countryside and along the coastline.

There were a lot of small wagons and carts being pulled by horses.

We drove on through Playa Giron to our first stop, lunch in Playa Largo.  Was a lovely, open-air place…

right on a small inlet 

with lots of colorful boats…

and we got to watch fishermen out fishing, casting his net from the small boat.

After lunch we headed back towards Playa Giron and had a stop at Cueva de los Peces.  This was a cenote…an open air “cave” with a lovely pool for swimming.  

Donna and Nancy went swimming…

Tara dangled her feet in the water for a while. 

The water was very clear and we could easily see the fish.

The rest of us sat and enjoyed the ambience of the place.

We were visited by the Cape May Warbler

and a northern Mockingbird. 

Right across the road was a swimming place in the Bay of Pigs.  No beach but several jumping off rocks and there were a few people swimming.

Back in Playa Giron we visited the Bay of Pigs Museum.  The Cuban story of the Bay of Pigs invasion is very different from the story we got as kids (surprise).

We settled into our rooms.  Albert, Caroline and Florence were in one small “hotel” and the rest in a place a couple of hundred yards away.

From there we walked down to a nearby restaurant for dinner.  We were visited by a crab during dinner.