It was supposed to be a great grande B-day for Anne that day with candy filled ‘pinada'and mojito's on the beach, but unfortunately the storm ruined our plans. We woke up that day to the news of the upcoming storm from James, a guy we met in Caye Caulker. While Anne took a shower I hanged a B-day sign and a few balloons I carried with me for the occasion :-). We kept ourselves busy on our veranda drilling holes in red seeds for jewelry made by Anne.

The next day we gathered James and three other travelers and headed to Rio Lagartos (river of alligators) for a boat tour. After rolling on the roads we arrived to the port and bargained a bit with a local fisherman :-) .

The boat tour lasted around two hours in which we got to see different types of mangrove birds from pelicans to eagles. We also saw a few alligators, but not enough to name the river as the Alligator River. :-) We headed up river to the grand prize of the tour which was supposed to be flocks of hundreds of flamingo's. Instead of hundreds we spotted a few tens when the rain came and left us soaked and cold on the open boat :-). The weather cleared up and we headed to the mud bath area where we had slides on the slippery mud and covered ourselves in white mud looking like tribal people. :-)

The next morning we headed back to the beach area and arrived in Playa del Carmen. We haven't slept good the past days so we decided to spoil ourselves with a nicer room than a noisy dorm bed :-) We spent the day chilling in the pool and shopping some small souvenirs.

There is a big show in Playa del Carmen which is called Coco Bongo. We where tired that night so just before we fell asleep we jumped out and dressed for the big show. We arrived to the place but the price was 55 dollars p/p... which is allot of money... in Mexican terms. We decided to do a few rounds with hopes of getting a discount :-). The first few rounds didn't help, but at around 24:00 they finally gave in to Anne's smile and gave us a discount. We entered to one of the most famous clubs in America and the show was amazing, starting with flying pirates from the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean's' to Lenny Kravits and Michael Jackson... fake but almost as good as the real thing :-) . We went back to our room around 3 in the morning, happy and not really sober :-P.

The next day we wandered off to a new adventure - Cuba :-). We passed the airport routine after arguments about paying fee's for exiting the country and waited for our flight. While waiting at the airport lounge I warned Anne about the reliability of Russian old aircrafts as it was shown on the flight ticket and my warning was not in vain :-). We went up the stairs to an old Yak Russian aircraft where the floor was still from wood, the chairs broken and the only thing missing for it to appear as an Bolivian chicken bus was a chicken running around :-)

The flight was a bit shaky and just before landing me and Anne filled in the health declaration of which we marked ‘no' to every answer while snoozing and coughing all day long :-) After passing a small interrogation regarding why an Israeli spy is entering the country, we were on our way to Havana center. We shared a taxi with other travelers and a casa owner which picked us at the airport. We agreed to divide the taxi costs between us but as we arrived the owner of the casa refused to pay arguing she only brought us :-S. We decided not to make a fuss over 2 euro's but in return, not stay at her place. It was getting dark and we were walking with all our luggage in the streets of Havana. --It might have been a weird feeling at the moment, but later in we came to know how safe Cuba is and how friendly people are.- We found a casa to stay in but unlike the hostels we have been so far, this was really living with the family in their house.

That night we where hungry and thirsty so Ishay went to the local supermarket to buy water and bread, but found out that the only things I could buy where can food and a few alcoholic drinks. Unfortunately I came empty handed and had to boil tap water for us to drink...no need to mention how it tasted.

The next day we searched for a new casa and went touring the city. We hopped on an open tour bus around Havana and tried to take our day easy as we both were not feeling good and well.

Havana is a beautiful colonial capital where everyone walks around the streets and beautiful old time American cars rome around the streets. We finished our nice Havana experience with dinner in a good restaurant... on of the only ones around the city (but we really recommend it if you ever go: cheap big delicious meals, with waiters and a feeling of a first class restaurant!).

The next day we headed to the beach town Varadero as we were told that the beaches where amazing, but after being in the Belizean Cays and the Mexican shores, nothing can be compared. We decided to meet from our sickness and spoiled ourselves with an all inclusive hotel. It was a smart choice as we learned that evening that outside the hotels you have nothing to do and practically nowhere to drink or eat.

The day came to an end when we lit our first Cuban cigar; a Romeo y Juliet. Being on a Cuban white sand beach, sunset in front of us and a nice aromatic Cuban Cigar...

Life Is Good :-P