Slept well and woke to the 6AM alarm. Showered, dressed and met the rest of our Globus group in the hotel’s fifth floor dining room for a delicious breakfast of fresh papaya, several varieties of juices, pancakes, French toast, hard-boiled eggs, croissants and coffee.

Boarded the Havanatur bus at 8:10AM and drove a short distance to the world-famous, prestigious Ballet De Camaguey, on the magnificent estate of pre-revolution land owners who fled in 1959.

Spent about an hour observing ballet practice by young students from around the world.  Toured the costume department, snapped several photos and re-boarded our bus.

After a pleasant hour-long ride southeast of Camaguey, during which Ramiro answered a multitude of questions (“Es complicado” – “it’s complicated,”) we found ourselves at a vast cattle ranch called King Ranch.

We toured the small village there near the ranch headquarters and visited an elementary school and a typical wooden house with a thatched roof made of palm fronds.  We relaxed in the shade of many various fruit trees – banana, papaya, mango, turmeric, coconut, almond and cashew.  Saw pineapples growing.  Today is warm and humid, so the shade was most welcome as we sampled freshly cut mango, papaya and pineapple with the refreshing milk of the overhead coconuts.

After our rest and savory refreshments, Carol and I stayed on a veranda while the rest of our group attended a rodeo – not our thing.  We met and visited with Eleanor Bellini, a fascinating, multi-lingual tour guide from Italy.  We compared travel notes for a pleasant hour until the rodeo ended and we rejoined our gang for a tasty lunch of fish, rice, beans, yucca, vegetables and bread while musicians serenaded us with traditional Cuban songs.

All too soon it was time to leave the ranch so we bid adios to our hosts and boarded the Havanatur bus for the hour-long ride back into Camaguey.  On the way we stopped at a well-known pottery studio.  We spent a pleasant hour there as the Maestro and his son enlightened us on the magic of pottery making. Their great skill and experience was impressive but the highlight was when Jan and Oscar volunteered to try their hand at the wheel.  Both surprised us with their end-products!

Back on the bus at 3PM for the short ride across Camaguey to the Gran Hotel for showers and rest.  One interesting thing that I noticed is that there are no jet contrails in the sky.  Back home, at any time of the day, you can look up at the sky and see evidence at least a couple of aircraft have left their mark.  Not in Cuba.  Another thing that got our attention is the number of wild/feral dogs we see in the cities as well as the countryside.  And they all seem to be friendly.

At 6:30PM we assembled in front of the hotel and walked en-masse to a nearby restaurant for another delicious meal of shrimp, rice, fried fish, fruits, vegetables, bread, potatoes and carrots.  I am still on antibiotics, so I sipped a soda while the rest of the gang enjoyed mojitos, local beers and wines.  A trio of very excellent musicians entertained us.  At one point a fellow stuck his head through the restaurant window and showed me a charcoal caricature of me that he had drawn.  I liked it a lot so Bob, ever so accommodating, negotiated the price down to three CUCs.

Sated, we walked around the corner where six or seven magnificent, beautifully maintained classic American Fords and Chevys awaited us.  We piled in to the various beauties and were driven back to the Gran Hotel in Cuban style amidst the envious , approving and proud crowds of Camagueyans.

Packed for tomorrow’s jaunt to Trinidad and fell asleep at 10:30PM, totally exhausted.