Bloggers and Lagers Take Cuba!!

Earlier this month I was in Cuba for Lindsey's wedding! Lindsey and I met a few years ago when I decided to create a Blogger Jogger running group. Her, Shanondoah, and Michelle all came out for a run with me one day. Our "running" sessions quickly died off, but were replaced with dinner and drinks and now we are the Bloggers & Lagers and have all become good friends! So when Lindsey got engaged last year and started to plan a destination wedding in Cuba, all of us were totally on board to go! I had to leave Cam at home because he had to work :(

Blogger and Lagers and Hannah!

I love Cuba (having gone in 2011 and 2016), and I had always wanted to go to a destination wedding, so I was super stoked and it took FOREVER for May to come!! I think in total our group had 30+ people? I never got an exact number, and people came and left on different days of the week, but it was a TIME.

We all met at the airport at the ungodly hour of 3:30-4:00am, but we were a lively group and Lindsey and Evan had paid for us all to sit together so it was a fun morning, despite the lack of sleep! I was bunking with Michelle, and we soon found out our room was SO loud because there was an open air club across the street! Thankfully we were able to change rooms the next day and our new room was great. We said at the Starfish Cuatro Palmas and I really liked it. It is a smaller, older resort, right downtown. The location was fabulous for going out in the evenings and the resort itself was great- amazing beach, nice pool, friendly staff, and decent food! Probably some of the best eating I've had in Cuba!

View from our front door. Our balcony didnt look into much!

Typical breakfast!!

Poolside ice cream

Lindsey and Evan's friends were all super amazing and we quickly felt like we'd known them forever. Somehow we even managed to add her friend Hannah to our little group and made her an honourary blogger. She was a peach, and I miss her already.

We spent basically Tuesday- Saturday at the beach or pool (it got a little too wavy out in the ocean later in the week). It was just a great time enjoying the sun and the beautiful warm water of the coast. I also ran 3 mornings, as this was the week before my 50K! I did 8K with Michelle one morning, then 7K with Lindsey the next day, and then on the weekend I did 15K with Michelle- and this little muffin of a dog ran with us for 6K!!! Poor thing must have been so tired!!

Friday night was the bachelorette/bachelor party (it was a joint affair). We all walked over to Havana Club and had SUCH a fun time! I wasn't feeling too fabulous that night so I remained sober, but that's all the better to remember the hilarious interactions and antics of the group. Probably one of my favourite nights!

Sunday was the big day!! I was in charge of music (on Lindsey's phone), so I didn't have any responsibility until 3:30pm when the DJ would show up, so we spent the day lounging around the pool and I went back to the hotel room after lunch to get pretty (as much as my hair could hold a curl in the heat!). Oh- and by the way- I dyed my hair!! So I was still getting used to that too! I made my way over to the ceremony/reception spot and met up with the DJ and did some good miming with the DJ and we got everything set up! I got the cue from the coordinator of when to start the music and thankfully I think I all my cues alright. I totally teared up watching them all come down the aisle!

Once Linds reached the altar I stopped the music and ran down the beach to listen to the ceremony- but they were already done! It was short and sweet! So I dashed back up to the speakers to get ready for the recessional music. It was all good- apparently it was hard to hear with the ocean in the background, and I had a great view of everything from the back!

Then we had cocktail hour and the food was soooo good- dried fruit, nuts, and lots of bread + toppings of various sorts (the bread at this resort was fabulous). Dinner was a shrimp cocktail (I passed since I'm slightly allergic, but it looked good!), soup, chicken and veggies, and then some sort of cheesecake? It was all fabulous and one of the best meals I had on the trip!

After dinner we just danced away until we had to pack up and move to the lobby bar- where the party continued! And then we went off resort to the Beatles Bar (I swear we ended up there most nights- it's a super fun bar with cover bands playing all night) and danced some more!!

Lovers

The next day we had a big catamaran boat booked so we were all up early for that! It was a great day of riding out to and island for lunch and drinkies and sun and sand, and then a ride back- where we saw dolphins! The boat was a lot of fun with music and open bar, but I took it easy on the drinks as I am prone to motion sickness! After we go back it was one last hurrah in the pool as it was our last night! Unfortunately while I had taken it easy on the drinks, I did not take it easy on the sun and I got pretty ill in the evening so I slept through most of whatever happened that night and only came down to hang out for a bit at the end.

Then we had to fly home :(. All in all, it was a fabulous trip and I had the BEST time! There is going to be a reunion this summer but unfortunately I can't make it- hopefully next year because I miss everyone!! Oh and congrats again Lindsey and Evan and thank you for having me!!!!