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Marea del Portillo/Farralon 01/10/03
Reviewers Rating:  Great
Our family have just come back from a sunny week in Manzanillo Cuba.We stayed at the Marea del Portillo, and spent time at the Farralon, and in nearby Pilon. Our flight on Skyservice was uneventful other than the fact that the plane was totaly full, at least half of the plane seemed to be single men over 55! We were a little concerned by this until we settled at the hotel and found that all of the over 50's had plans off the resort, Scuba diving etc... in nearby Pilon. ;) Customs in Cuba was terrible! They herded us all into the tiny, very hot reception room and slowly processed us one at a time, taking over a half an hour for us all to get through (a cold Cristal helped). The bus ride was gorgeous, but we stopped for beer in Media Luna because they were not selling beer on the bus!!! The Marea looked great, we were greeted by many old friends, I think I had more hugs and kisses in my first five minutes than I normally do in a month! The check in has been streamlined so you get your room key and hotel card at the airport, a much better system overall. The rooms were pretty and clean, I had sent an email requesting specific rooms on the beach,and we were not dissapointed. The bathroom is tiny! You can sit on the pot with one hand in the sink and the other in the shower!!! The rooms smelled fresh and the locks on the doors worked, they have also installed new in-room-safes. The sea water was rough while we were there due to high winds, but the beach was beautiful, the mountains are breathtaking - a beautiful backdrop. Some improvements have been made to the hotel, most notable were the outdoor buffet next to the pool , and the pool renovations. There is now a ledge all around the pool, in the water, that you can sit on, the entire pool has been retiled and made less deep. There is also a very nice little kiddie pool, right next to the adult pool. This is the area where most of the activities take place. Some of the actiivities that took place at and around the resort were: aquafitness, nature walks, lizard hunt(for the kids), dance classes, coctail lessons, bingo, pool and ping pong contests, shooting range, frizbee challange, beach and pool volleyball, suntan contest, spanish lessons, a baseball game (with Cubans from Pilon!!!), fantastic horse races, darts contest,snorkelling and scuba trips, Cayo Blanco, nightly bus trip to Pilon ($5) scooters for rent(DO NOT USE THEM THEY ARE DANGEROUS), excursions, horse back riding, and nightly shows .WHEW!!! Now the food....I never did go hungry, but I have to say that this is still not the strength of Cuba. Standard breakfasts: Omellettes(very good) fresh fruit and yoghurt(very good)Cuban coffee(very very good) little weiner things and various pork products...eeewwww! Lunch: Hamburgesa, Poulo, Papa fritas, ensalada, YUP, everyday! I have to say they did have fish, rice and beans on two of the days at lunch which was great. Dinner: Can you say PORK? Say it alot and you'll get the idea. I don't eat the stuff so I had a couple of days where I had to eat the spagetti and cheese or rice that they always offered as a side at dinner. On a couple of evenings they had roasted chicken which the kids really liked, and they always had a large variety of vegetable and fruit dishes. The desserts were sweet cakes pasteries and fruit. The entertainment team: They were great! I think my kids had more one-on-one time with this team than they every had at any of the resorts we've visited in Cuba. My 9 year old was never without an invitation to play ping pong or pool, and my 12 year old did dance classes and aquasize, and had a lot of opportunity to show off her new dancing skills with the staff at the disco and around the pool. The shows: Well they do try... Some of the shows were very amusing and they have a guy named Isreal that does the funniest wino impression I've ever seen. The Music and dancing: Very good housebands and restaurant musicians, and a well rehearsed dancing show. The disco: It was only open twice while we were there due to the wind - alot of sand blew in and covered the dancefloor rendering it unsafe. On the two nights it was opened it was apparently quite a wild time. Overall we had a really great time in Cuba, the weather was 27+ everday and we saw many old friends. The horse race which had an old pipe-player type organ and band tooting away in the back ground, as well as the baseball game with the local Cubans were the stuff great memories were made of. This is a great place to lay back and relax, the scenery is fabulous and the people in this area are genuinely warm and friendly , especially if you take a few moments to ask them how they're doing. This is no Veradero, it is more of a slow paced eco-area, and I think that's great. Myla Mesquita
Myla Mesquita
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