Toronto woman recounts vacation nightmare in Cuba

A Toronto woman has nothing but sympathy for Canadian travellers who recently returned from a disastrous trip to Cuba.

Sasha Hernandez told CityNews she returned from a birthday vacation to Holguin covered in bed bug bites, and required medical attention that cost her hundreds.

Hernandez and her boyfriend took a Nolitours vacation to Blau Costa Verde beach resort earlier this month. She said bed bugs at the resort are to blame.

The couple flew Air Transat, the same airline where 14 passengers fell ill on a flight from Cuba to Toronto on Friday.

Hernandez didn’t have any problems with the flight. Her problems, she says, started at the hotel.

“On the second night I got my first few bites. I assumed they were mosquito bites [but] they swelled up and burned my skin with water bubbles surrounding the core bite which [had pus],” Hernandez wrote in an email to CityNews.

By the third day, Hernandez needed medical attention. She was charged for her gauze and Band-Aids.

The bites were so bad she couldn’t sleep at night, and she couldn’t sit in the sun during the day.

Finally, she and her boyfriend checked their beds:  Hernandez said there were around 25 dead bed bugs on her bed, and five on her boyfriend’s bed.

A maid came to change the bedding, and Hernandez went to the doctor again. She was charged for calamine lotion and an anti-histamine shot.

By the next morning, they were ready to leave. A representative from the hotel offered Hernandez a massage, which she declined because of the numerous bug bites. He then offered her a lobster dinner, which she also declined.

She and her boyfriend returned to Canada on Jan. 12. By the time the flight landed, Hernandez said, her body was so swollen she had to go the hospital immediately.

Once again, she was charged for her medication.

“A lobster is not going to cut it,” Hernandez wrote.

Hernandez said travellers to Cuba need to be extra cautious.

Another Toronto woman, Denise Robertson, says she contracted the Norwalk virus shortly after landing in Holguin Cuba recently.

"It just came on very quickly, vomiting really badly, diarrhea, fever, and they asked me if I would stay in my room and be quarantined so no one else got it," she said.

Despite the bad press, travel expert Robert Townshend doesn't think tourists will stop vacationing in Cuba.

"It seems that the deals and the prices you get to go to Cuba, outweighs the chance of any kind of illness you could get," he said.

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Toronto woman recounts vacation nightmare in Cuba