Blog po polsku/in Polish: http://ontario-nature-polish.blogspot.ca/2015/12/tydzien-w-hotelu-club-amigo-w.html
Our
first trip to the Club Amigo took place exactly 2 years ago and now
we were going to visit this hotel for the second time (and Cuba for
the ninth time). We left Toronto on January 4, 2015 on a Can Jet
flight, getting, for the first time, front row seats (well, my client
happened to work at the check-in counter and I have to thank her for
this extra perk!). This allowed us to chat with flight attendants-and
stretch our legs! Incidentally, we got the same seats on our way back
and even met the same flight attendant. The flight took less than 4
hours and we arrived in Cuba on time after 9:00 pm. Once we cleared
the customs, I proceeded to the departure area to exchange money (no
queue!). There was a guy selling cold beer, 2 cans for 5 CUCs — I
figured out that instead I could buy it for just 1 CUC at the bar in
the departure building or the kiosk in front of the airport, but
unfortunately, both of them had run out of beer (or the beer vendor
had bribed them to put it away so that he did not have any
competition!). Our bus had a built in cooler which carried cans of
Cristal beer — for sale by our tour rep. There were a few takers,
but I preferred Bucanero.
We
arrived at the hotel before midnight. Several weeks earlier I had
contacted the hotel via email, asking for a specific room in the
Villa section. Lo and behold, we got room number 8213, the same we
had two years ago!
RESORT
The
resort had not changed much since our last visit. It was clean and we
saw a few familiar faces. However, we immediately noticed that there
were much more tourists than two years ago. Almost every day the
lobby was teeming with people (and their numerous pieces of luggage)
waiting for the bus to the airport and it was often quite a challenge
to walk across the lobby, we had to maneuver among all the waiting
tourists and their suitcases and backpacks. The store in the lobby
had mineral water, beer, rum, liqueurs and souvenirs, but due to a
water leak it was closed at the end of our stay-when I needed it the
most!
 |
| View from our room |
The
beach between the Amigo and Brisas was just a two minute walk from
our Villa and we stayed on it every day. However, it was quite
difficult to find a beach chair as it was crowded. And we were always
able to sneak into the Brisas’ restaurant to get beer! Security
guards were posted everywhere, some spoke passable English and were
quite eager to practice it — after all, it must be a very boring
job! Catherine managed to act like she had a villa at the Brisas and
toured the entire property one afternoon while I went to the market.
 |
| Hotel Amigo Guardalavaca as seen from a nearby village |
There
were several horse-drawn buggies around the hotel and their
drivers/owners incessantly kept offering us sightseeing rides or to
private homes serving lobster dinners. One of them was telling us
that in addition to his buggy, he also ran a casa
particular and was
involved in selling souvenirs to tourists.
“Usted
es un capitalista”,
I said.
Smiling,
he replied in broken English, “Si
senor, people in Cuba capitalists now”.
“So,
donde estan los communistas?”,
I asked him?
He only
burst out laughing.
Adjacent
to the main hotel building was a market where Cubans sold plenty of
craft, carvings, hats, leather belts, toys and other stuff. I bought
several leather belts, but it would be possible to find some original
Cuban souvenirs.
ASHLEY
CAFÉ
On
Tuesday evening, while in the lobby of the main building, I heard
very nice piano music, so I followed its sound and ended up in a bar
on the second floor called “Ashley Café.” It was named after a
Canadian girl, Ashley Anna Schlag (March 12, 1995-August 28, 2012,
www.ashleyscholarship.org).
According to a commemorative inscription on the cafe's wall, “Ashley
was full of life, greeting everyone with her amusing smile and making
friends wherever she went. She enjoyed spending time with her family
and many close friends at Club Amigo, the place she called her
'home'”.
Sadly, she died in a car accident in Canada over 2 years ago. What a
terrible tragedy! And as I was writing this review, I suddenly
realized she would have been celebrating her 20th birthday today…
 |
| Ashley Cafe |
There
was an old piano at the café and a Cuban lady was playing various
well-known music pieces, some from famous musicals or movies. We
spent over one hour in the bar, enjoying her performance. Since she
was going to play again on Friday, we went
to the bar immediately after dinner and sat there, enchanted by the
piano music. We had brought from Canada a box of delicious Belgian
chocolates “Godiva” and I was happy to present them to the
pianist in appreciation for her wonderful performance! There was also
a different piano player each night in the aforementioned location
and Catherine enjoyed his music too. Catherine did complain about the
use of the energy saving lights used throughout the entire building
which cast a glaring romantic-less light.
FOOD
For the
first few days we had our breakfast at the a
‘la carte Benny
More Restaurant. As always, I had yogurt (unless they ran out of it,
which happened most of the time), fruit plate and eggs.
Unfortunately, not only did it take very long for the staff to take
our orders and bring food, but there were also line-ups to get to the
restaurant.
 |
| Enjoying our meals |
The only good thing was that while queuing
up, we struck up a
conversation with a very nice couple from Toronto, with whom we
subsequently had a few other meals at the hotel and enjoyed
stimulating conversations. On the third day we went over to the 24
hour bar just across from the Benny More Restaurant (which served
breakfast in the morning), but we were quite disappointed in the
level of service too. One day we waited for over 30 minutes before
the server showed up; a Cuban family that had come before us was
treated exactly the same way and eventually the husband stood up,
said ‘vamos’
and they left. Another day we even went to the breakfast buffet in
the restaurant upstairs in the main hotel building (Las Acadas, I
guess) — but there were so many people lining-up outside the door
that we immediately left and just skipped breakfast.
 |
| A'la carte dinner |
For dinner we
invariably went to the “1720” restaurant (in the bungalow
section). Again, we had to line-up for a while to get in, the place
was full — from then on we were arriving very early in order to
avoid queuing. The food was very good and varied, we had a few
glasses of passable red wine and there was a lady preparing mixed
salads which I loved! We had one a ’la carte dinner in the dining
room adjacent to this restaurant. It was good, yet we still went to
the main restaurant to get the salad.
 |
| Piano player at the Ashley Cafe |
The 24
hour bar served quite good food and drinks. Again, it was often
jam-packed with tourists and it often took a while to get a drink.
Since I did not like such drinks-I found them too sweet- I only had
cold beer; a big bubba mug came very handy! Catherine stuck to the
occasional red wine which was decent.
BIKE &
BUS TRIPS FROM THE RESORT
There
were many bikes, free to tourists, and we took advantage of this
great deal. Several times we rode to the apartment building complex
across from the hotel. Just behind the apartments, up a rutted dirt
road, we saw a farmhouse and the family invited us in. We talked for
a while and took several photos of them. Later we had the photos
developed and delivered them to the family. We also rode to another
house nearby and spoke to the farmer who showed us around his garden,
full of various trees and plants. We also rode past the Brisas, over
the bridge, until we reached a dilapidated and half-destroyed
monument. We were told it was dedicated to the Cuban Revolution…
how ironic!
 |
| Cuban family living in a village just across from the hotel |
Of
course, we also took the tourist bus that first went to the Museo
Chorro de Maita and a 15th century Arawakan Indian village. We immediately proceeded up the
rural road and soon struck up a conversation with a very nice Cuban
woman who invited us to her house. Her kids were in school and seemed
to be rather lonely. The view from the place was amazing-we could see
the ocean and a few massive
ships. She cut sugar
cane which we slowly chewed, it was delicious!
 |
| Cutting sugar cane |
Next we visited a
fellow and his family whom we had met two years ago. Unfortunately,
he had not received any of the photos I had sent him. His mother gave
us black & sweet coffee. I left some gifts — this time I
brought a bunch of brand new shirts, with price tags of $39.99 still
attached-it was a great idea as Cubans loved them-I managed to get
them for a tiny fraction of the
retail price and they
were of superior quality. Catherine did not have any gifts, so she
gave a generous cash donation to the mother plus the bag she was
carrying to the married daughter. She was a little taken back when
the daughter asked for cash too, but she figured if she were in their
position she would have also asked for money. Then the bus took us to
other resorts and back to the hotel-at least we got a feel what the
other hotels looked like.
 |
| Cuban woman |
OUR
VILLA (THE 8000 SECTION)
It
was the same room we had in 2013 (#8213) and nothing has changed
since then: we had hot water, small fridge kept our drinks cool, TV
had a lot of channels and we could watch Canadian and international
news: it was during our stay the terrorist attacks took place in
France ('Je suis
Charlie'), so we
actually did watch TV! The room also had a spacious balcony facing
the ocean where we spent a lot of time. We did not spot one insect in
the room. The maids did an excellent job keeping our rooms clean and
tidy.
 |
| Hotel propaganda |
One
night, around midnight, while we were already in bed, there was a lot
of screaming and commotion outside our room, we even heard somebody
calling for help (in English). It went on for about 5 minutes and we
called security. Supposedly somebody had fallen and also had some
heart problems… but we thought there was much more to this story
than we were told. Catherine talked to the 20 person extended
Canadian family the next day, almost expecting an apology, when
suddenly another crisis occurred and one of the inebriated uncles was
'stuck' in the bath tub. Luckily they seemed to move out soon
afterwards. It seemed that both incidences were alcohol related.
 |
| Cacti at the hotel |
The
last day we paid extra 20 CUCs so that we could stay in our room
after the noon check-out time and our room cards (a.k.a. keys) were
supposedly updated accordingly. As we were packing, we suddenly
encountered a big problem: the magnetic cards failed to open the safe
(where we kept our passports, money and jewellery… just kidding,
only cameras!), even though we were assured they would be working. We
called the reception and were told to bring the cards. Catherine
walked all the way to the lobby and managed to talk to a hotel
employee, which was not easy, as there were plenty of people lining
up. She got the magnetic cards updated… but then not only were we
unable to open the safe, but the cards would not even open the door!
We called the lobby again and were told that somebody would come to
help us. We waited and waited, called twice more and eventually one
guy appeared with a special device that opened the safe. Whew, it was
a close call, as our bus was leaving for the airport in less than an
hour.
 |
| Colon beach, where we had spent a lot of time the previous year |
Two
years ago, while we were about to leave and take our luggage to the
hotel, we were told that somebody would come and drive us to the
lobby, but despite a phone call or two, nobody showed up and we had
to do ourselves. So, this time we did not even bother calling asking
for such service and simply dragged our suitcases to the main
building.
TRIP TO
THE TOWN OF BANES
Although
according to TripAdvisor’s forums Banes was not a very interesting
town, we still wanted to go there. We took a taxi from the hotel and
when we were dropped off near the main square, an English speaking
Cuban guy approached us.
 |
| Our Cuban guide |
We started talking and eventually he became
our guide. He claimed to be an ex- boxer who had visited the USA semi
professionally and he seemed to be in good shape for his 60+ years.
His English was very good too and it turned out to be a pleasant
experience, well worth the 10 CUC he politely requested so he could
buy a pair of shoes he had been saving for several months. We also
gave him a shirt, which he appreciated very much.
 |
| At this church Fidel Castro married his first wife in 1948. He received a gift of $500 from Fulgencio Batista |
He took
us to the church of Nuestra Señora de la Caridad and even got the
custodian to open it for us. It was in this church that on October
11, 1948 Fidel Castro married his first wife, Birta Díaz Balart (and
divorced her in 1955). Her father was a prominent Cuban politician
and mayor of the town of Banes. We had a photo taken at the altar,
exactly where the future leader of Cuba was solemnizing his marriage
over 66 years ago. Ironically, Cuban president Fulgencio Batista was
born in Banes in 1901 and he gave the newlyweds US$500 gift for their
honeymoon. Incidentally, Castro’s first wife is still alive; she is
the aunt of anti-Castro Republican Party U.S. Representative Mario
Diaz-Balart and his brother, former U.S. Congressman Lincoln
Diaz-Balart.
 |
| Public transport in Banes |
Later
our guide showed us a house where Castro’s wife used to live, took
us to a few parks and we had a great time. He told us that the house
where Fulgencio Batista was born still existed (to the contrary of
what I had read), but we never got
to see it. Since we had some Cuban peso (i.e.,
Moneda National),
we were able to buy a lot of excellent freshly squeezed juices and
sugar cane drinks for just 1 peso (or about 4-5 cents) and some
pastries for a similar amount.
 |
| Private shop |
We
visited an archaeological museum which had artifacts from 7000 years
ago, of the Siboney Indians, and 1000 years ago, of the Taino
Indians. We also saw the world-famous pre-Columbian pure gold idol.
 |
| Street scene |
Granted,
it would be difficult to compare Banes’ architecture and atmosphere
with that of, say, Holguin, Camaguey or Trinidad, but we enjoyed our
trip very much and even wished we could have stayed longer than 3
hours. Besides, I had a chance to see the hospital in Banes, where my
mother had been taken in 1993 or so after falling in the hotel and
breaking her knee; at that time, Cuba was a very different country,
plunged in a deep recession brought about by the collapse of the
Soviet Union.
 |
| At the village across from the hotel Amigo Guardalavaca |
OTHER
INFORMATION
The
airport’s stores carried plenty of rums, vodkas, cigarettes and
other stuff; as always, we made our final purchases there. The small
airport suddenly became very busy: first, there was a big Italian jet
just taking off, then three planes landed: one from Quebec City, one
from Montreal and ours from Toronto — our plane’s take off was
slightly delayed as another Air Canada jet from Toronto was landing —
altogether there were 4 planes on the tarmac!
 |
| At the village across from the Hotel Amigo Guardalavaca |
IN
CONCLUSION
It was
a good trip, but there were definitively too many tourists in the
hotel which sort of spoiled the trip a little. It is a rather big
hotel complex and the main lobby was way too small to handle all the
travelers. Besides, there should be more restaurants and more servers
— for example, many tables at the Benny More restaurant were not
even set and there were only 2 servers who could not cope with so
many people at breakfast. I do not think we should have had to line
up every day or be forced to skip meals due to the number of
tourists. The problems with the magnetic card was quite annoying too.
Also the public beach in front of the Brisas had every lounge chair
reserved by mid-morning which was unlike the situation 2 years ago.
In fact, we just lay on the sand twice. By the way, a friend of mine
travelled to the same hotel exactly one week later (on the same
flight) and he also complained about the hotel being overcrowded and
having to line-up restaurants. Because of that, I do not think we
would be coming back to this resort. But we will certainly visit Cuba
again — Cayo Largo, here we come!
Blog po polsku/in Polish: http://ontario-nature-polish.blogspot.ca/2015/12/tydzien-w-hotelu-club-amigo-w.html
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