Cuba so far

Hi All

So far feeling a bit better today . . .fingers crossed that it stays that way.

Okay so I owe you all some stories of my time here so far.

This is going to be pretty long so settle in and get comfy.

I arrived on Sunday late afternoon . . the flight was okay, the line though at the airport in Santo Domingo was huge so it was a quick goodbye to Anelys, Ernesto and the girls. . .which was probably a good thing!

I sat next to a guy from Cuba on the flight so he gave me some pointers on what to see and do here. . . .

Found the transfer very easy at the airport to my hotel, the hotel is ummmm not fantastic, the room i have is on teh street side which make it very noisy . . the staff are not to helpful either.

So on that first night, I was standing near a pay phone and asked a girl where she got her phone card from . . her name was Paulo and she was from Brazil and also traveling on her own, we decided to meet up in half an hour and hit a club that she had heard about.
The club was exactly what you see on movies with Latino clubs the music live and awesome and the dancing out of this world . . .needless to say we didn't try and dance hehe

I had mentioned that I was going to try and get to Venales and a beach near there and was going to hire a car, Paulo was up for that thank goodness as she speaks portgegues, spanish and english . . how I ever thought I would get around here with out spanish is beyond me!

So we set of Monday morning after i hired a car, having to pay more as i needed an auto. . . . now in my lonely planet guide it does say, the roads are terrible and the signage non existant . . well they weren't joking about that!!
We set off with some fairly extensive instructions from someone, which went out the window after the first few corners . . after driving for a few hours again with no signs and going through numerous towns with terrible roads, we could have done with a 4wd!!
Somehow instead of ending up going to the left of Havanna we ended up below Havanna hehehe we had stoped and asked numerous people for directions including picking up a few female hitchhikers we still weren't going the right way. . .
Hitchhiking is a way of getting around here, the streets are lined with people needing lifts . . .

We did manage to get to the autopistol (highway) and finally at 5ish getting to Vennales . . it took us 6 hours instead of 2.5hours!!
We stoped at the info centre and met a french couple who wanted to do the same things we were going to do . . .after organising a afternoon tour for the following day a man at the info centre found us a casa which is a house for us to rent a room, it is very popular here to stay in them instead of hotels. . . the room was fine and bathroom clean plus it was only $25 for the both of us for the night so we took it.

Then after dumping our bags we headed out to some caves which was really nice and teh mountains i can't describe, i just hope the pictures do it some justice. We had a local drink at a bar in a cave then went for some dinner the 4 of us. . . .

The following morning I was awake really early as nearly everyone in the neighbourhood we were staying had bunches of CHICKENS and ROOSTERS they started about 3am I think!!
WE met up with Pierre and Azaza and went off to an amazing beach the name I can't remember at this stage, it was 1.5hours away and amazingly signposted. . . . we were the first ones there, got eaten alive by swarms of mozzies. . .
Did a 2 hour boat tour, which saw us stoping a few times to snorkle and see some lovely fish and coral. We went to a little island and the water was so clear and blue and white sands. . .

From there we had to get back to Venales for our tour. . . ummm we got a bit lost and got there 1 hour late ooppps!
This tour was off another huge cave with a swimming area inside, i declined the offer to swim, getting into dark water in a cave is just NOT my thing!! We had a bit of a hike to get to the cave and back on a tobacco farm, I had to cross planks of wood to get accross water. . . so I was way out of my comfort zone!!

After that part we went to see a Mural before we did a tour of a tobacco drying area and the home of a worker.
They wanted to charge us money to get in and see the Mural which we decided we weren't going to pay, so i backed up and then reversed to get around . . .ummmm well the back of the car made a sudden drop . . .quick thinking by Pierre saw all off them getting out except me who was driving. . .the tires were just spinning, well the front ones that were on ground . . .luckily a van load of Cuban men came past and they all got out, made Pierre get in the drivers side and they lifted and pushed the back end and we got out!!!!

There are pictures of this which I think I am getting sent from Paulo gee thanks!! hehehe
The tour of the drying and cutting of Tobacco was interesting, I wasn't overly comfortable with going in to someones house and just sitting there, they did sell some natural cigars to a couple of people.

Finally it was the end of a very long but fun day. . .Paulo and I still had to get to Havana though and now it was getting dark . . .I am proud to say we found the Autopistol and got very close to Havana when the highway just suddenly came to a stop and I was driving into grass and small shrubs . . .as I was doing about 100km it took awhile to stop but no damage was done . . . .
We did eventually find our way back to the hotel via the bank as we had no money between us . . .this is a country run pretty much on Cash alone!!

This is when we ate the pizza which made me sick . . .

Yesterday morning I woke up and didn't feel good at all, however I had to return the car and meet up with Paulo to say bye cause she was moving on to Verado. . . .I got to the car park paid for my car to get out, got to the door of the car then started being sick eeeewwwwwww one of the man came out after awhile and saw the state I was in, I was ushered into their office where i had 4 guys trying to ask if i was okay, did I need a hospital, one of them faning me, one of them gave me his hanky . . it was very sweet. I managed to get up and return my car, said a quick bye to Paulo and went back to my room which is where I stayed till I came out to email.

Okay I think that has covered it all . . .there might be small things I am missing . . .

Today I am going to try and get to a cigar factory, and maybe see some artwork. . . .still feeling a bit weak/tired so it won't be a huge day maybe some laying by the pool as well.

Love to All
Cara