Hotel Casagranda Santiago de Cuba

... Cuban people.  It is so easy to be discouraged travelling through the country as it is somedays a constant hassle from touts pulling your heart strings and then asking you for clothes, money or just about anything you possess and they don't and the guilt lies with the truth that a  lot of people don't have anything besides a roof over their head and basic food yet we seem to have cupboards of possessions and ...

... Museo del Ron en het Plaza del Marte. Dit alles is gelegen op slechts enkele minuten lopen van mijn casa, dus ik zit prima centraal. Onderweg nog een aantal portugezen tegengekomen die ik ook al in de bus was tegengekomen. Zij gaan morgen naar la Gran Piedra en vroegen of ik zin heb om mee te gaan. Dit schijnt een monoliet te zijn van ruim 1200 meter waarvan je een prachtig uitzicht schijnt te hebben en ...

Le pire trajet en bus de ma vie: 9h et malade comme un chien... un mec monte je ne sais plus dans quelle ville et s´assoit à côté de moi, peux pas lui parler, enfin si je lui parle mais pas très bien! il s´appelle Christian. 2 jours à Santiago ou j´ai un peu planée mais bien quand même. je recroise Christian dans la rue. Départ pour Baracoa à 7h lundi 18 matin, je recroise Christian à la oficina Viazul, décidemment Viazul...!!!

... morning and I head to the hotel on the hill (with the swimming pool) for some lunch, to find Pauline, Klaas and Annelies having already beaten me to it. It's nice to be reunited with K&A and we spend the time chilling and catching up. I have no guilt about not making the most of Baracoa and the surrounding area and wake up happy the following morning knowing that I'll be heading back in the direction of Havana on the afternoon bus. I'm not sure what it is that prompts this ...

... feel the relaxing element of traveling again. Up until now I've felt a little guilty about chilling and spending time just doing the things I could do anywhere like reading, sitting in a café, soaking up the sun. Knowing I'm away for so long, I decide I'm here to understand the people, the way of life and see some of their stunning country - and I need to keep away from the excursions that are created to fill tourists time and take their money. Cuba hasn't really got the ...

... It was increadibly hot - at least 40, then the humidity on top of that! We headed over to Cubatur to figure out when/if the train was running, but they didn't know anything, so we opted for coffee at the Hotel Granda right in the main square. It had the best patio in the city and was very popular with tourists, but had great espresso! We decided to go to the source for information on the train, so cabbed ...

... We got a great tour of the Moncada barracks and the town square was cool. Castillo del Morro was impressive and a nice getaway. All 8 of us had a great night at The paladare and Casa del Trova or sumat like that listening to Los Jubilados and sipping copious Koobah libre's. Had lobster for the first time from the teddy bear and initiated the underwater handstanding championships of the universe

... 4 year old, Laura, wanted to have a crack off it. Take a look at the video of her playing, however, the sound quality is really bad, but she was singing the infamous Cuban song... "Guantanamero", it was absolutely hilarious listening to her and watch her play. Of all the places in Cuba, we really got a feel for the country in Santiago and this was down to the family we stayed with. We heard all kinds of stories about how tourists are ripped off, and ...

... of what we should see, we were free to explore on our own. One funny thing our TM told us about the castle was why the mote was dry. The Spaniards built a huge mote around the castle only to have it rendered useless because the surrounding walls weren't water tight. All the water they would pour into it would leak out within a few days and run back into the ocean. Our first stop was the castle's dungeon. It was like something from a movie. Cannon balls, prisoner cells, and even a real ...

We toured the east coast of Cuba with Cpatain Sadness and his wife Jules. We laned during a thunderstorm, which gave us our first clue as to why the place was so verdant. Hot and tired, we were looking forward to a shower and bed. My shower however was already occupied by some rather large red ants so I ended up washing from the sink. We put the aircon on, but it wasn't very conducive tosleep as it kept sucking insects in and making ...