Hotel Cubanacan Boutique Unio Cienfuegos

... and basically just openly perving so we couldn't relax. We just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Just as we were leaving some guy with his horse drawn cart offered us a lift back to the town centre. We politely refused so he followed us for about 300m down the road alternating between nagging us to get in his cart and asking us questions about where we were from etc... We finally convinced him that we seriously were ...

... hi** von Einheimischen und Touristen gleich**massen (in jeweils and**** Waehrung bezahlt) benutzt. Wir fahren entlang d** Malecon, ein** Strasse direkt am Me**, schlend**n ueb** den zentralen Platz und suchen nach d** Faehre, die demnaechst zum Fort 'Castillo del Jagua' abfahren soll. Ein paar rennenden Kuban**n gefolgt finden wir sie schliesslich auch. D** Eingang d** Faehre ist schon ueb**fuellt, ab** von d** Seite draufgeklett**nd bekommen wir g**ade ...

... fleeced buying an ice cream that should have cost a nickel but couldn't believe that I should only have paid 1CUP instead of 1 CUC but Michael confirmed that I should only have paid 1 CUP (24 CUP = 1 dollar). It does not matter because I understand that I should not be paying a nickel for an ice cream anyway. Using the telephone is not obvious. The numbers given in the travel books are missing important digits not to mention all the codes that have to be ...

... but not as over-bearing as Costa Rican beaches. The casa has a great balcony that we use for breakfast, watching lightning storms in the evening and playing cards (learnt an Aussie game called Ýuca´ on the Tucan tour. Editors note, Simon beat Sari 2 - 1 :) Snorkeling trip to Caya Blanco Great! Went by Catamaran, which is something I´ve been looking forward to for ages, but unfortunately we motored rather than sailed as there wasn´t much wind. Some ...

... were very happy with the superb location of our last accommodation, rooms in two adjacent apartments in a building right near the meeting of the Prado and the Malecón. After Derek and I dropped the car off back at the Hotel Sevilla (allowing Gato to have some time to preen himself around the lion statues as we walked down the Prado on the way back), I was feeling antsy to spend the remaining days exploring Havana and ...

We fell in love with Trinidad the moment we met Abel & Lavinia (our delighful hosts) and ended up extending our stay in the city from two days to two and a half weeks. We couldn't have hoped to stay in such an amazing casa. Abel & Lavinia are some of the friendliest people we have ever met - and judging by the comments in their extensive guest books we are not the first guests to think ...

... as mostly one does here. You see, the locals are not allowed to have beef, as the moo cows are owned by the state and are solely for export only. The same applies to lobster, though you get offered lobster on every street corner! The chickens have nothing to feed on, and so are usually fatty little feckers, so the best bet is pork. Not much else to report on in Santa Clara! Next up .... Trinidad.... and Sarahs birthday.

... noted the couple behind me were Irish, so in our remaining 3 minutes of freedom I struck up conversation and asked if they had a guidebook I could flick through. Hastily choosing a recommended Casa Particular (equivalent of home stay), we alighted into a veritable throng of hassle. "$20 a room!" "No, $10 a room!!" When I heard "$5 a room" my ******** meter was maxing out so I just started telling them to all **** off. Finally a bloke showed up from ...

... so we swam back to our casas and hooked up later for more Carnaval - really just more drunken street party - those Cubans can toot it up with the best of them! There were some floats and performers that came along the streets and the costumes were often good but the dancers seemed bored to death! I had great chats with Jorge, the Spanish guy, and at least for one night, I didn´t have to be on my guard all the time because I was with other people :-) It was really ...