http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/Este/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Central America Caribbean , Cuba , Este en-us Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:48:22 +0000 Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:48:22 +0000 Odd how one song can make up the soundtrack of your life Soundgarden just happened to be playing as I peered down from the plane window to see the blackest sand beaches desperately trying to flee dense jungle. The song seemed weirdly appropriate.My seatmate asked There is going to be a runway some time soon right We were only about two feet off the turquoise ocean when we suddenly hit pav http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/Este/Baracoa/blog-457075.html OK people. I told you last year that UGGs were awful and ugly and not to be worn with shorts andor skirts. But did you listen NO. For some reason people are still wearing Ugg boots and strutting around like they're wearing Christian Louboutins. May I remind you that you aren't and you probably bought your Uggs not because they are comfy and easy to wear but because everyone and their sorority http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/Este/Granma/blog-442810.html We got our bus back to Hanvan and hoped to get a second overnight bus down to the East end city of Santtiago de Cuba. 10 hrs in havana told no bus so off to train ticket office 10km away to find it closing. Thought we were told to come bak at 3pm but it was closed until Monday 3rd. We then tried to get a ticket fornight tain at public station for 2 hrs queued 3times to be told NO way. In betwe http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/Este/Santiago-de-Cuba/blog-425070.html We have had to hold here for another night but get on a long bus trip tomorow to the other end of Cuba. we hope as we need a connection in Havana but cant prebook. James made use of the day and biked out over some hills to the beach Cargo Jutius a island connected to the mainland. He was going to stay but the only option was sleeping on the beach. Without a mossisto net or repellant that was http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/Este/Santiago-de-Cuba/blog-424253.html Qu bola amigos. We are in Cuba Yes Now I know it has been a week since the last blog but as you can imagine internet is not the easiest to come by and since I had a chance I thought I would enter a short little entry to give you all a taste of our experiences thus far.We left Miami on a charter flight. The ticket said be there by 10.30 am even though our flight didnt leave until 2.30. We http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/Este/Santiago-de-Cuba/blog-424165.html No habamos odo hablar de Baracoa hasta llegar a Cuba.Como suele pasar fue uno de los lugares que ms nos gust del viaje.No slo porque es un lugar hermoso sino por lo que podes aprender de la gente de las costumbres de los lugares. Realmente imperdible http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/Este/Baracoa/blog-410248.html En un da pasemos por la ciudad conocimos Punta Gorda tomamos una lancha y vistamos el Cayo Glanma y el Morro donde est la fortaleza. Por la tarde recorrimos el centro Plaza Cspedes Catedral Centro cultural y Casa de Trova. http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/Este/Santiago-de-Cuba/blog-410245.html As we drove thought the country yet again we prayed that the weather would clear before we got to the little island and luckily enough the sky kept bluer as we closed in on our final destination for the day. On route we got pulled over by the police and we just assumed it was the usual control points of tourists where we had to show passports and driverrsquos licence but unfortunately Tobias http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/Este/blog-378269.html On the Monday morning we packed up and set off towards Holguin to get a little closer to the beach of Cuernavaca that we had heard so much about. We pretty much spent the whole day in the car watching life go by in the Cuban countryside. We found that there were more men on bicycles transporting pigs on the back than cars. We also saw too many horse and carts to be able to count transporting peo http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/Este/Holgu-n/blog-378021.html Nach einem kurz Aufenthalt in Santiago de Cuba in ich nun schon ganz am anderen Ende der Insel angekommen. Santiago ist eigentlich eine sehr schoen Stadt mit einer interessanten Geschicht. Mir war das ganze aber doch ein bisschen zu agressiv und ich bin froh nun in Baracoa zu sein. Hier gefaellt es mir sehr. Kleines Staedtchen mit Charme schoene Straende ganz in der Naehe.....einfach ein paar http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/Este/Baracoa/blog-375587.html The alarm went off at 0500 and as promised we were collected at 0530 although not by the car or driver that we were expecting. The driver was a young bloke about 25 or so and the car was a Moskovitch 1500 similar to a Lada. It had no seatbelts but the mandatory loud car radio blasting CubaPop. We collected Gino and Isabella and headed for the hills literally. About 30 minutes in we http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/Este/Sierra-Maestra-National-Park/blog-364566.html Pacorsquos dad took us to the station to meet the 0900 Viazul bus to Bayamo. Jo and I managed to pass the two hours thanks to NOFX on the iPod. It seems that the Cuban bus authorities think that their patrons enjoy CubaPop music at extreme volumes for the duration of the trip in addition to sub zero air conditioning. With an earphone each and earplugs in the other ear we got through the trip http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/Este/Bayamo/blog-364564.html We were up early for a hot shower a luxury in Cuba and were on the streets just before 0800 to walk to the Moncada Barracks. Lonely Planet said that the gates opened at 0900 and this was confirmed by the security guards at the gate when we arrived at 0830. We filled in time circulating the barracks and walking through Parque Historico Abel Santamaria featuring a fountain sculpture of Moncada http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/Este/Santiago-de-Cuba/blog-364563.html Just as Nicolas had told us his mate Paco was amongst the mob of touts as our bus rolled in at 0630. His father had a Peugeot waiting for us and we headed off to our casa located 8 blocks south of Casco Historico the old town. We signed in and had a couple of hours sleep to recover from the overnighter and had walked up to the focal point of Casco Historico Parque Cespedes by 1000. The m http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/Este/Santiago-de-Cuba/blog-364561.html Santiago de Cuba was a 3 12 hour drive from Guardalavaca but well worth the long trip. The city is rich in history and colorful architecture. What the city lacked was product advertising. Surprisingly I found it refreshing not to be bombarded with product adverts or CokePepsiFritoLays advertisements in the smallest rural of tienda stores or gas stations. Instead your eyes were drawn t http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/Este/Santiago-de-Cuba/blog-359411.html People always says that a visit to Cuba is similar to being transported back to another time period. This was most definitely true shortly after leaving the airport. As we made the one hour drive to our hotel it was perfectly normal and common to see horse drawn buggies individuals on horseback and many people waiting on the side of the road to hitchhike. Little did I know until this exper http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/Este/Holgu-n/blog-359402.html Je sobota den p345ed huriknem. Tonda odvz do nemocnice starho pna kter bydl v nascaronem dom283 asi tatnek nascaron hostitelky. Courme po m283st283 vscaronude jsou mraky lid. Vscaronude se stoj fronty na cokoli od zmrzliny az po tuzexov zboz. Kupujeme zeleznou zsobu na hurikn. Prodava269ka ns nap345ed odmtla vpustit do obchodu a nechala ns venku http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/Este/Santiago-de-Cuba/blog-350681.html Rno jsme se probudili a posndali na st345escarone zasnou sndani kterou jsme si poru269ili ve269er p345edtm. Zeptali se ns tehdy co bychom rdi tak jsme si navymejscaronleli ledasco. A vscaronechno tam bylo Bya to parda. Omeleta 269okolda ovocn pohry a hlavn283 ten nejlepscaron pomeran269ovej dzus kterej jsme kdy pili. Na Kub283 maj n283kolik http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/Este/Baracoa/blog-349408.html Ja... hva skal en si. Det var vel n vi kunne skrevet om en flott rundreise her p ya men Cuba har gitt oss noen smeller. Det reise rundt p egenhnd har vist seg og ikke vre s enkelt. Mulig vi har vrt litt bortskjemte etter ha vrt i velfungerende samfunn som f.eks Bolivia... En ting er i alle fall sikkert man rir ikke samme dag som man saler her p Cuba og tlmodighet er alfa omega. D http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/Este/Santiago-de-Cuba/blog-346663.html The day we left Santiago De Cuba it had started to rain. We were all very happy to leave as none of us liked the place. I can't tell you exactly why. Nothing bad happened. It was more about the feel of the place. It was just very dodgy. The drive to Baracoa which is on the east coast was quite a long one. We stopped in the town of Guantanamo for a break. the town not the detention centre http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/Este/Baracoa/blog-344474.html