Gran Caribe Club Cojimar Cayo Guillermo

... of a pedalo or a canoe to explore the crystal clear picture postcard waters. Snorkelling was also a habitual practice along with drinking rum punch, speaking Spanish to the hotel staff and eating the amazing food. The real Cuba would come in a week's time.

... made reservations for dinner at the Sun King on deck 11:- 2 hours of individual attention and fancily displayed food, I had Surf and Turf, Gary did fillet Mignon. Dessert was a chocolate lovers delight, even the Troll loved it. We then spent the evening packing our suitcases to leave outside our room by 11PM so stewards could take them all down at night and group by debarkation numbers.

Aloha We have been out of communicado so we will update you... We were in Mexico, lazing around trying to book tickets for Cuba when there was much talk of a Hurricane heading our way. The Mexicans appeared very prepared for such events and started to prepare 4 days in advance. Windows were boarded up items removed, facilites packed away. We recieved information nearer the time to evacuate our rooms and head for a ...

... while they dropped me off back at the casa in Trinidad for a siesta. Refreshed, I once again wandered the town’s streets, though now the day was almost over they were much quieter and I felt none of the morning’s animosity. To the contrary, as I passed people whiling away the last of the daylight by chatting outside their houses and watched young boys playing impromptu baseball games, this only reinforced my original pleasant experiences of the place.

... short of tourists, I was left with the appreciation that Trinidad is still very much a living and functioning place inhabited by regular Cubans doing regular things, and thankfully popular tourism hasn’t yet transformed this into an artificial resort strip of hotels, souvenir stands, boutiques and nightclubs.

On that note, Tony and I had been insistent our itinerary avoid the most developed beach resort areas popular with tourists, especially ...

... the remainder of our time in Santa Clara. First stop was the Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara museum and mausoleum. Like everything else of civil importance in the country, its exterior was laid out on a grand scale but the grounds were not well kept and the building looked like it hadn’t seen a smidgen of maintenance work since its construction in 1988. Inside, Che’s life story was narrated in glowing terms alongside random artefacts like boots, weapons and pens ...

Politely described as tranquil, and impolitely as boring, Remedios may be a bit quiet even for us. One of the two churches in town is closed for renovations. When we go to the music museum next door, it too is closed. Frequently, these places are shut for hours during the mid-day, but I can't quite make out the response from the guard. The only word I know similar to what he's saying is March. It's open tomorrow perhaps? No, it turns out that the museum is in fact ...

... about me, really. Roosters are crowing false declarations of dawn. I sit and think about the dead until the cries are true. The rapid day catches me up. Mark Crawford annoyed me sometimes. Can I write that about someone dead? Is the truth necessary or just hurtful? Do I lack the courage to write things that are real? Mark didn't. That impulse to do what seems right in the moment, even if it might be wrong, he ...

... I can say about "Casa Colonial" is that stone is a poor sound proofer. In the middle of the night it feels like a big freight train goes past on the other side of the wall. Trucks transport goods between Santa Clara and the resort areas out on the coast. They do it all night long, and the stone streets and walls of this colonial town shake and roar with their passing, like some harbinger of the future.

... Che Guevara thing is a bit of ****, personally. But if you're up for Guevara, go to santa Clara. Do it... So, to the Top 5. Rum. RumMasterRum. It's a rum domination here in Cuba. And everything comes with run; everyone drinks run. In fact, the other day I saw a 6 year old repremand his dog for drinking his 7 year aged Havana Club Rum. I've managed to stay away from it, but from what Hannah, Mel and Ro have told me, here are the top 5 run based cocktails they ...