Varadero Golf

At the start of the New Year, my sweetie and I were looking for a warm destination to compensate for the ugliest and coldest and snowiest winter since the start of global warming.
Whenever travel comes up in a discussion (I admit to not being a happy traveller) I always answer with a four letter word. C.U.B.A.
But with a little back and forth, I'll settle for G.O.L.F.
Well, Sweetie got keyboarding and we got both. She found a very affordable all inclusive package - including golf in… Cuba. Of all places.
Now Cuba is not the most bourgeois destination. Cubans hardly sit around in front of TV the second Sunday of every April watching the final round of the Masters, and I doubt that all Cubans collectively own more than 14 clubs. And not many of the visitors would ever think of porting their tools of misfortune all that way when there's beaches and bars and music.
But. There is a golf resort. And it's pretty good. 
At the Melia Los Americas in Varadero.
The resort itself is Cuban 5 star, which is 3 star anywhere else. But the upgraded rooms are fairly nice (in the newer section), the buffet is better than most and booze is as it is in Cuba; lotsa great rum with mostly bad knockoffs of everything else. Every night they seem to find a single real bottle of Cointreau or similar which goes quickly.
The reservation restaurants are decent. The Japanese restaurant features sushi and teppanyaki, the fish grill is better and the continental formal dining features a terrific string trio to accompany well grilled lamb chops.
The golf .... was .... great!!! Except for the greens. It looked like someone in their wisdom decided to top dress the greens with sand from the beach; which, of course, is really, really salty so the grass had huge bare spots. But that's the way things are done down there. Someone gave the order and others obeyed. 
The golf itself is memorable. The 8th hole is a 200 yard par three along the Caribbean Sea that goes over a valley (which collects anything short and takes it about 100 yards to the right) to an elevated green on the edge of a cliff. A magnificent hole that would fit into Pebble Beach easily.
The 18th hole is a 450 yard Par 4 that travels along the edge of a cliff its entire distance from an elevated tee to an uphill tiny green into the teeth of the trade winds. Short approach shots will roll a hundred yards back down the hill. One of the greatest holes this author has seen among the five hundred courses he's played.
A few notes. 1/ Golf is not really free; you must pay $35 for a cart. 2/ Golf balls are ridiculously expensive: $7 ea. (Except, of course, since this is Cuba you can buy used ones from kids for $5/dozen.) 3/ While there, take advantage of the top floor bar at the old Du Pont mansion.

Cuba National Ballet

In my novel, "Mojito!" the main character is so anti-ballet that he commits himself to never, ever going to a performance. Until he actually does, in Havana, and then swears he will never miss a chance to attend again.
Communist countries, notably the old Soviet Union and contemporary China, have an admirable ability (at considerable cost) to produce performing artists of the highest standard. So does Cuba, although the country and government don't exactly have the resources of their larger cohorts in economic theory.
I've had the privilege of seeing the Ballet Nacional de Cuba several times at the old grand theatre in Havana and also enjoyed Liszt Alfonso's "Danza Cubana" performance at "Luminato" in Toronto a few years ago. And Cuban dance is top notch.
The Cuban School existed more than a decade before Fidel Castro took control of Cuba, since 1948, and quite impossibly is still directed by its founder, Alicia Alonso. To say that Ms Alonso is a legend is an understatement.
She started studying ballet in 1928 at the age of seven and gave her first public performance (Sleeping Beauty) at the age of nine. After marrying a dancer at the ripe old age of sixteen, she and her husband moved to New York City. After giving birth to a daughter she continued her training until a detached retina put her on her back for two years, and forced her to learn to dance without peripheral vision.
Then she did "Giselle", and the rest is ballet history. At the age of ninety-one she is one of a handful of living prima ballerina assolutas and has performed with every major ballet company in the world. She danced for Balachine and with everyone from Nureyev to Baryshnikov.
Her latest performance was just a few weeks ago, at the Havana International Ballet Festival. At ninety-one.
Her National School of Ballet has become one of the most prestigious dance companies in the world and is notable for the athletic and artistic perfection of its members, its superior performance of the classical repertoire, as well as its development of uniquely Cuban choreography.
The Company regularly tours the world (as a source of revenue for the government as well as a source of inspiration for its audiences) and when they come to a venue near you, you must not miss it.
In Havana, the National Ballet of Cuba performs at the Gran Teatro, on the corner of San Rafael and Prado, nest to the venerable Inglaterra Hotel. The Teatro itself shows its age, despite new seating installed a few years ago. Tickets are a bargain at about $20. Warning that some ne'er do wells will be offering special passes for sale outside but these peso passes are for Cuban nationals only.

Havana Beaches

Friendly debates between my sweetie and I when we finally agree to travelling to Cuba generally boil down to "I want go to a resort" against "That's boring, I want to go to Havana."
Havana is famous for music, rum, cigars and young people eager to please turistas. The beaches of Cuba are about the best anywhere.
It's often been thought to be an either / or alternative; beach resort or Havana. But one approach to settling a discussion of a couple of years ago was to do both. Only a dozen miles down the coast from the big city are beaches as terrific as those a hundred or more miles away: Playas de Este.
This long strip of white sand and turquoise waters has traditionally been associated as a place for locals. And for sure, what accommodations the place has are really designed to provide a distraction for Cuban burócratos y soldiers, not tourists. The hotels are at a standard likely to only be acceptable to the roughest of travelers, although the beaches are world class.
But if the objective is to keep both sides of the eternal debate happy, the East Havana beaches offer a nice compromise. They're within easy commute distance from old Havana.
About the beaches…
On a busy day, expect all the beach chairs to be taken and to tip a few CUCs to have one found for you. Bring your own flip-flops, towels, sunscreen and soft drinks. There is a store off the beach with cigarettes and such.
The beach bars serve their normal fare of Cristal and rum with occasionally edible pollo and pork. One good feature is that the beach bars offer higher caliber cocktails.
The musical groups come out at mid afternoon and are of a high standard. Bathrooms are sketchy at best; forget any hopes you may have of finding toilet paper: consider yourself lucky if the toilets aren't plugged. Don't play with the cute little blue bags on the beach; they're Portuguese men-of-war and will discourage any attempts to take one home as a pet.
Getting there from Havana affordably will require either a willingness to chance a Cuban bus (3-5 CUCs from Parque Centrale) or to negotiate with a taxi driver. Typically they'll ask for 20, but will settle for 10 or 15, especially if you offer them a return trip at a later time.
Playas de Este isn't for those seeking resort creature comforts. But if you and your sweetie are looking to keep each other happy, Playas de Este offers smiles all around.