On our third day in Cuba, the girls and I woke up at the crack of dawn (four...! How obscene, that's my usual bedtime). We heaved our bags down the stairs of the casa, rolled down the dusty, ripped-up streets of Havana to our waiting taxi (no seat belts, and miles of pitch-black road en route to the airport, what could possibly go wrong?), and headed to the airport for our morning flight to Cayo Largo Del Sur.
When we got to our resort, the 4* all-inclusive Sol Cayo Largo (there are no 5* hotels on the island. This was as good as it gets) we decided to spend our first day in Cayo Largo lying by the pool, sampling the cocktails (free, strong, and unlimited, that's a potent cocktail for trouble haha), getting a 'base tan', and fantasising about all the different ways we were going to lie around doing sweet nothing.
On day four, Ciara, Luxy, and I went down to Playa Paraiso to see for ourselves if it lived up to its name.
'Paradise beach' didn't disappoint.
Powdery white sand. Shallow, crystal-clear turquoise shimmering in the blazing Cuban sun. Blue skies as far as the eye could see. A low, mostly uninterrupted landscape of long grass with few tall trees. The only thing that spoilt the picture was the seaweed that would wash up with the waves and tickle our feet like an army of slimy tentacles, but even so I convinced myself that the seaweed was good for my skin and that back home I'd go to a spa to do the same.
We waded through shallow waters that were no higher than our waists to get to a sandbank a little way out in the sea.
We shared this slice of paradise with tourists (many of them Italian) who would pass by to stop and take photos of themselves draped, arched, and stretching alluringly across the white sands of this tiny little island.
Ciara and Luxy enjoy a little lap around the bank...
...while I undertake the far more important task of finding the perfect spot for a nap. Priorities, people.
What better way to top up a tan by lying on a sandbank in the sea, roasting like a rotisserie chicken and being kept cool from the heat of the sun by shallow, cool waves lapping around and licking at the skin?
Napping in the sun.
Ciara asks me to teach her how to pose for photos, so I gamely try my best. I tell her to copy everything I do.
Nailed it.
Improved it.
The student outranked the master.
Of course one could quite as easily lie on the beaches instead of walking out to the sandbanks. Playa Paraiso hasn't much natural shade to protect one from the sun, just a few parasols with sunbeds that are almost always occupied. I suppose one could walk down to Playa Sirena where there are more beach umbrellas, or hide from the heat in the shaded terrace of the beach bar...
...but why would anyone do that when you could just wade through waist high water to this little piece of heaven?
My bikini is the Indy Holli Hyde by Triangl.
And to think that Playa Paraiso isn't even considered the most beautiful beach in Cuba.
More gratuitously beautiful beaches and 'ocean porn' to come...
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