Monday we spent in the resort, getting out bearings. Monday evening we ate at the "Senses" restaurant. This is only open in the evening. All three restaurants had live music at all meals. Sometimes it was lively Cuban music, but usually in the evening, a gentler type of music. Usually with a guitar involved and some other instrument, such as a violin or flute. Monday night we had a very nice meal, but Tuesday we returned to "Eggsellence" and disaster. I ordered the beef (never order beef in Cuba. It's usually an ox and usually an older animal) It was too tough to cut let alone chew, and I sent it back, something I very rarely do. I remembered a seafood pasta on the menu and asked for that as a replacement. Since this is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, seafood is their specialty, and lobster their mainstay. After a wait it came. It was garnished with tiny little deep fried whole octopus. I just about threw up on the spot. David quickly took them off the plate, and I tried to eat but just couldn't. We left as quickly as we could, and David contacted our Butler, who rearranged things so that we could eat the rest of our meals at "Senses". That didn't really solve the problem as all of our breakfasts, and a couple of lunches were at "Eggsellence", as the snack bar was just too far a walk. But we had no further problems, with the exception of a comment made by our waiter a couple of days later about how we were having all of our evening meals at the other restaurant.
Tuesday we really had to visit a bank. We had been able to get $20.00 worth of pesos at the resort reception, but with a poor exchange rate. We had been told that there was a bank in the market near by but it closed at 2:00, and an exchange facility in the other half of the resort that would be open until 5:00. We had also been told that we had full use of all of the facilities at the other half of the resort. We were still feeling a little out of our depth, and figured we would check it out. So planned to head over, exchange our money and have lunch. We got a ride over, arriving about 11:50, and our driver arranged to come back for us at 1:30, dropping us off and picking us up at the exchange. Well, David got in line and had the window close in his face, after being told to come back at 12:30. So we set out to find the buffet. It was a very long walk, in the hot sun, only to find that it didn't open until 1:00. So we went back to the lobby bar. The lobby was a very busy place full of children, harried parents, and loud music. They had no white wine at the bar, so David got a cola and I got water. Finally it was time for him to go back to the exchange, only to be told that they were now closed for lunch, and to come back at 1:00. We found a seat and waited and at 1:00, he was told that they would not accept a Canadian credit card for a cash advance. ( Everywhere else we had been told that any banking facility would ONLY accept Canadian credit cards.)
We were no getting concerned , and our only option was the bank in the market, which closed at 2:00. David arranged a ride to the bank, with one of the jitneys from the other resort and took off, while I waited for the driver from our resort to return. As it turned out, David got to the bank in time, and got some pesos. Our driver came across him walking back, in the hot sun about 3/4 of the way to the other resort. By this time we had "had it", so just had him take us to the Subset Snack Bar for lunch.
I have no pictures of this excursion, but will have pictures of the Market next time. The Market is on the map as "El Pueblo".
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