Blogs from Cuba, Central America Caribbean - page 62

Le 22 juillet, 2006. Apres 4 heures d'avion, 6 heures d'attente a une station d'autobus et 852 km d'autobus (le trajet a dure 15h30, de nuit...assez penible), nous avons abouti a Santiago de Cuba! Chose plutot rare dans ce beau pays, toutes les reservations effetuees du Canada ont ete conservees et l'autobus est parti a l'heure! Nous sommes donc arrives a Santiago de Cuba pendant le grand carnaval qui dure une semaine et qui coincide avec les festivites du 26 juillet, journee de l'independance. Originalement, le carnaval symbolisait la fin de la zafra, la recolte de la canne a sucre, mais aujourd'hui c'est plutot une competition de congas, de costumes, et surtout une raison de faire la fete. On dit de ce carnaal qu'il est le plus important et le plus etincelant des Caraibes et qu'il ... read more

Some shots from around Havana to keep you entertained for now.... read more

Didn´t think I´d get to see you so soon Upon arrival in any new city certain things must be put into order: *Locate Housing *Settle into new room *Use bathroom *Learn layout of surroundings *Decide you are hungry *Try getting a taxi *Find a good place to eat *Sit down *Order *Eat For me, these are some of the little things that help settle me into any new area. As the evening started off things were great. The girls met me down at Javier´s and we made our way up Ave. de Los Presidentes to La Rampa to try to find something to eat. We looked at a few places, were escorted to one overpriced place with no actual menu, and asked for useless directions from a couple of teenagers. I spotted a place to grab ... read more

Hi everybody, our trip is finally underway after months of waiting! we're in havana still at the moment and have had real trouble getting onto a reliable internet connection. it seems to be a bit like the water electricity and generally everything else in this respect. Tom has managed to lose his credit card already however it is hopefully all sorted now. Suggestion for other travellers here...don't lose your cards! Weĺl post a better blog when we can and will add some photoś. All is well, its been really interesting and we've been scuba diving, to a cuban jazz cafe and drinking loads of mojito's and Bucanero's! Weather is baking hot and beautiful, cars are amazing and people are loco! Having a great time! We'll fill in the details soon!!! Hope youŕe all well Tom and ... read more

Firstly, sorry if any of the following is out of date, we've been very lazy and busy at the same time!! We can both honestly say that Havana and Cuba, was....an experience! It wasn't all bad, there were definite highlights, most of which included El Mundial (the world cup for you Gringo's) and surprisingly for Tom the amount of gorgeous, scantily clad women! Our trip began with a delay at Birmingham airport...a sign of things to come?! The flight was pretty hell, the only film involved a man and ten huskies. We never quite figured out why! Immigration in Havana is intimidating to say the least! It was copied from the East German border checkpoints! After waiting ages and finally getting out of the airport we got our first look at Havana. Like most places the ... read more

Hiya, A couple of weeks have passed and, in the meantime, we have broken Havana´s bewitching spell long enough to do some travelling around Cuba. We decided to travel for a week, starting first by going to the Isla De La Juventud with four friends (Angela, Maria, Adama and Adama´s six year old daughter - Amatu). Part of Cuba, La Isla is a small island off the southern coast of Cuba that used to be the hangout of Francis Drake and Blackbeard (or was it red?) and was apparently the original inspiration for the book Treasure Island. In the sixties it was renamed "Island of the Youth" in honour of the thousands of volunteer students that went there to get industry set up. We had heard it was a beautiful, quiet island, half of which is ... read more