Critters We Encountered In Cuba

Dogs

The first critters you are likely to

Resting while patiently waiting
for dinner to be served.

meet in Cuba are the dogs. Dogs are everywhere beginning right at the airport as a friendly little spaniel scurries about sniffing for contraband as all new arrivals pass through security. But they are also in the streets and often in the resorts.

At Marea del Portillo there were several very well behaved dogs that quickly learned which guests were most likely to share their dinner with them and which guests would shun them.

Sometimes they didn't even want food, just a friendly petting on the head or scratching of their bellies.

Not once did we step in, or even see dog poop so they were either trained to do their business elsewhere or the gardeners were very efficient at cleaning up after them.

Waiting for the Water Ballet to begin. 

Of course there are many dogs off the resort as well. Some are pets belonging to local Cubans while many other run wild searching for scraps of food wherever they can find them, which judging by their looks, doesn't seem to be that often.

Many will wonder why they don't have these dogs fixed but of course when one can barely afford to feed and cloth their own family, birth control of animals becomes a lesser priority.

Horses

Horses are still an important mode of transportation in Cuba along with walking and bicycling. Only a few lucky people have the luxury of driving in an automobile either imported from the east or left over from before the revolution in the 1950s.

A lone untethered horse wandered 
past our patio early one morning.

You will often see horses tethered along the side of the road or in fields nearby the resort, feeding on a patch of grass. Sometimes they are set free to search out some food on their own wherever they might find it.

When I pulled back the drapes on our patio door early one morning to greet the day, this lone horse was ambling by our patio just a few feet away.

Chickens

These chickens were wandering free near 

the waterfalls. I wondered if they lived 

there or if perhaps they had just flown

there for the day.  But of course

everyone knows that chickens can't fly.

Chickens too are very common as a source of eggs and meat for the local people. We could hear the nearby roosters crowing to announce a new day if we were up in time to be outside our rooms in the early hours of the morning.

Pheasants

These birds are much less common than chickens and are obviously highly treasured as its owners had his ankle tied to ensure he wouldn't wander away.

Goats & Pigs

These animals are also seen in abundance wandering free along the roads in search of food.

These goats seemed to be on a mission. 
I wonder where they were headed?

It seemed odd to see pigs feed
on this side of the fence.

One goat seemed more interested in what food the tree had to offer.

I'm not sure if these were wild goats or if they belonged to a nearby farmer. They were standing on the top of a mountain above the waterfalls.

Rabbits

The Easter Bunny meets Santa Claus in Cuba!

This is not a typical Cuban rabbit, but it was Easter Sunday after all.

Lizards

Shirley and a lizard.

What can I say? They sure do grow them big down here.

Christmas Holly?

Is it Christmas Holly or just an ordinary seaweed?

This is not exactly a critter. It's a piece of seaweed that was floating by in the ocean. Notice the shape of its leaves? It reminded me of thin Holly leaves. And look - it even has berries!

Our Swan Song

Of course there are many more critters to be found in Cuba, none of which are dangerous to man, but these are just the few that we happened to get some pictures of on this trip.

But as all good things come to an end, so did our trip. 

A goodbye note from our maid.