Aparthotel Montehabana Havana

... site with a cathedral that you get to at the top of a very steep hill. On the way there of course there were lots of touts selling little offerings you could take to the Virgin de Calidad, such as bunches of flowers, amulets and little statues of her. Inside a very intricate statue of the Virgin was held in a glass case, with a dress made of gold thread, lots of offerings and prayers were made around her and a hopes for healing various disabilities.<br><br>Next stop was the ...

... why.<br> <br>Back on the streets, we both went back to shooting cars. Trust me, they were impressive. As we walked/shot, we ended up at the Capitolo. We tried to enter, but it was shut !!! So we took a walk through a **** part of Havana until we reached the sea. We followed the coast along until we came to an area that had some bars. Whilst sitting there, the skies turned black, and then the rain came. After two beers and sitting for what ...

... of a cliff, with the view of the Maleca. As we made are way inside it, it was absolutely breathtaking. It was a complete change from the poverty stricken streets that minutes ago we were standing on. I could smell the decadence of what Cuba used to be prior to the 1959 embargo with the USA. The grandness of the ballroom with the images of the "whose who" in Hollywood and the world during the 1940's and 50's was just mind blowing. I realized then and there that ...

So we are up and running ( walking as quickly as possible) again. We chose Cuba because we wanted to see the place before it changed forever. We were only just in time. In the last two months Raoul has: got mobile phones working, has allowed Cubans to stay in hotels, has allowed them to travel between regions within their own country and we hear that on May 5th there will be an announcement that he will allow them to ...

... lovely nice person, who would very much like to pass through the security checkpoint unscathed and on towards your final destination...please? All completed, everyone was through with time to spare, all hand luggage intact and nothing confiscated! hooray!!! I then realised that I had forgotten my PJ's!! well, it was either buy a pair of london tube map boxers to wear with my singlet, or sleep in the nuddie - thought i had better get the boxers...so i am now the proud owner of a ...

... selling straw hats and leather belts for 1 CUC each. What a stroke of luck, out of nowhere I now have a chance to get that much needed belt. I quickly climb down off the train and approach the two men. The vendor immediately shows me the straw hats, but I point to the belts and he eagerly scoops them up from his wicker basket for my inspection. Each one is tooled with a different design with some of the artwork being familiar, like the Levi logo for ...

... she was not aware of. She had been taught that in Europe you don't have free health and university education. We started to talk about all the economic and political problems in Cuba, about which she was so knowledgeable and spoke really passionately. It is so difficult for her and other Cubans have to stay quiet about any discontentments and not to be able to push for changes, when they are educated enough to understand the problems. She spoke about human rights ...

... tear in the eyes. One of these scenes you have seen in a documentary about Cuba. Can't help to wonder, since when these are paying displays... did the documentaries create the market, or did they just pay for the shot, as everyone else? A fairly regular sight was that of domino players, at a table in the street or in a park. Serious business, usually with attendance. On that sunday were held elections for the representatives of the people, still haveto look up what they do exactly ...

... asleep (it was supposed to be a little break to recover, but she finally wakes up the next morning... we still have not completely recovered from the wedding and all the stuff before and after...). On my side, I go for a walk around the corner, guided by the music, and discover everybody is partying in the streets and bodegas/bodeguitas around: the next day was 26th of July, national day off in memory of the real start of the Cuban revolution...

... is about £17/month you can imagine for some it is a struggle. However all the guidebooks are right when they say the people never stop smiling. They are indeed very friendly probably because the tourist bring in extra money for them but I also think they are genuinely a happy bunch...AND extremely musical. We listened to music in almost every restaurant we went too and of course got taught how to salsa. We were ...