I was happy that I had brought along my Nikkor 10.5 mm fisheye as it gave me an opportunity to enjoy using a lens that I don’t take out very often. I would be using it later in the vacation but, for today, it became my lens of choice when trying to capture the interior of the Marina Palace lobby.
The lobby itself had a check-in/registration counter at one end and a nautical theme bar and lounge area at the other end and served as a meeting area, entertainment area and area for meetings with the various tour representatives.
 
At the entrance to every resort along the Varadero Peninsula, there was always a collection of vintage automobiles (private taxis) parked there waiting for potential customers interested in a ride to just about anywhere at a rate of about $1CUC/km. The convertible peso had an exchange rate of about 1:1 with the Canadian and US $ at the time of our visit. It was important to negotiate the cost of any ride BEFORE taking the ride! In addition to the vintage taxis, other vehicles such as Ladas and Volkswagons were relatively common and, every so often, a modern Audi or BMW would drive by to bring up the average age calculation.
 
The buildings in the main resort were three story multi-unit structures with a central hallway. We soon learned that walking through the structures via the central hallway was a quick way to get from point A to point B and provided a nice break from the sun and breezes.
Continuing our tour of the vast properties, we located a few statues, a few cactus plants, an interesting cooking hood and for those who follow my blogs, another fire hydrant :-).
I even took a walk across the road to check out the marina construction site and learned the meaning of the “No Pase” sign.
All of this exploration made me hungry and soon it was time to find our restaurant again. Some people who had more energy than I had, began to dance the night away.
  
 
Eventually the partying moved out onto the beach. I had been up from about 4AM and the eyes were beginning to droop by the time that we had finished our supper! More exploring would have to wait for another day.
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