Merry Christmas and Happy New Year - I can’t believe that it is that time of year again. We have had a busy year yet again and although I know some people deride these letters—I think it is a good way to keep in touch with people that you don’t see very often. However technology is catching up with us which is why I have decided to do this years' Christmas letter as a Blog—and you can also now find us on facebook and I am doing twitter and another blog for work!
I have had a particularly busy year at work which has included being involved in 3 new projects. Pondscape is surveying and managing existing ponds in the Tees valley and also creating new ones; we have just appointed a Growing food for the future officer who will be working with schools to grow food; and our Alum, Alchemy and Ammonites project is now in full swing. I have a regular short slot on BBC Radio Tees, written a new programme based on the Gruffalo and been involved with a group of refugees building a roundhouse in our educational outdoor space. We also did some work with Chris Packham to launch a Living Landscape project.
We went into the city every day and made use of our time wandering the streets - seeing some of the real Cuba. Of course we had to stop every so often for coffee or beer or mojitos or ice cream. It was very hot so we had to get use to the Cuban pace of life. All the bars had salsa bands playing and the general atmosphere was very good - we found the bars that Hemingway frequented and that appeared in "Our man in Havana" and saw lots of sites linked to Che Guevara and Fidel.
We had a cool ride in a large Cadillac convertible and watched other people smoke big cigars. The only incident was when we went to see the Museum of Communism – which wasn't open so we inadvertently wandered close to the HQ of the communist party. I had my binoculars (watching turkey vultures) and camera with me and suddenly we were beckoned over by a guard wearing a gun! Of course their English was as good as my Cuban and 2.5 hours and 6 people later we were in a Lada with the secret police on our way to our hotel to show them our passports! When they saw our passports they made a few notes and then said that was fine and we were free to go - phew! We then had to catch another taxi back into Havana!
From Havana we went to a beach resort at Varadero. Superb beaches 5 mins from hotel with a warm sea - spent a lot of time swimming and reading and relaxing in the shade. We made use of the tourist bus which did a loop around the peninsular and visited the old town, the Du Pont Mansion and Al Capone's house. Had an excellent boat trip - eating lobster, snorkelling and visiting an island to see iguanas. We hired a car and drove across the island to the Bay of Pigs and a local nature reserve and met up with birding guide (arranged via the web). Had an excellent morning birding and managed to see 13 endemics (21 endemics on Cuba); this included the wonderfully named Cuban Tody, Cuban Trogon, and Ferdinand's Flicker. I also saw my first hummingbird - the Cuban Emerald - a super bird and not particularly uncommon. Interestingly the Birds of Cuba book still has the passenger pigeon in it! Was interesting driving an automatic on the wrong side of the road and trying to avoid people, dogs, horse and traps and trying to navigate without road signs. The food was good with lots of sea food and the hotel had a salsa band on (Helen even got me up salsa dancing!). It also had a show on every night - we went once and quite enjoyed it. I was glad we had read some of the reviews about Cuba before we went because in places it was run down and they were lacking in some things and the hotel standards although good are not luxurious. But it was quite trip and we may get back some time.
So thats all the news from 2009- we are looking forward to 2010 which includes a trip to South Africa and the World Cup.
We hope you have a Happy Christmas and Peaceful 2009.
Love Steve and Helen
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