Miss Vera

Back in Havana! This time we got to visit El Moro, a fortress built to protect the city from pirates. Also, we walked around the old city (La Haban Vieja), visiting various plazas and getting a good feel of the place. Havana is definately more wealthy than the rest of Cuba. You can see it in the way people dress, the state of the buildings, etc. The rural areas have little exposure to tourism, so there is no way for those people to get their hands on the CUCs (the currency foreigners use). The city is massive and very crowded. The stereo-typical old cars cruise by slowly, reflecting the overall slow pace, also known as 'Cuban time' of the country. We only had one full day in the city, which just wasn't enough. However, we did ... read more

This is the 2nd biggest city in Cuba. We had a long travel day to get here - about 8 hours. But 6 of us being on a private bus with 30 seats, it wasn´t too bad a ride. Well, apart from the roads... lots of shakin´going on. It´s also a lot hotter here. The city is surrounded by mountains so the weather basically gets trapped here. Very humid. Once we all settled into our guest houses and had dinner we met up for a walk into the city centre. Our guide told us that this place had seen some people robbed - walking alone at 3.00am, but it should be relatively safe. That theory got put to the test when some guy we had passed just sitting quietly on a footstep (which they all do ... read more

The road from Santa Clara to Trinidad is apparently the worst we would need to experince for the whole trip. This is good, because the road was seriously bad. I don´t think there are a lot of roadworks that go on. Perhaps it´s because there aren´t that many cars on the road? It is quite funny to see wide, major highways with no cars, or just one or two. It was quite a scenic drive and we stopped on a moutaintop lookout to have lunch. The Cuban landscape is quite stunning... very lush and green. We arrived in Trinidad late in the afternoon and were welcomed by the ´main house´host with a fabulous rum-based cocktail. It was so good we all asked for seconds. Have I mentioned that drinks here are super cheap? I bought 3 ... read more

Hi all. We are alive and well. It took a few days to get to a place with internet. My mobile phone also doesn´t work here, so Irene or Nick or Eugene, if you can let my mum know I´m alive and having fun, that would be much appreciated. I can´t say much about Havana. We got there late in the afternoon, had dinner, went for drinks, then bed, then got up in the morning the next day and left town. Hopefully we´ll get a day or half a day to visit the place at the end of the trip. The trip from Mexico to Cuba had only a small hitch. We thought Merryn had an eTicket for her flight, but found out that she needed the good old paper tickets, which of course she didn´t ... read more

We took a very early bus out of Merida and headed out to Chichen Itza - another set of amazing ruins. Although exhausting to get up at 5.00am, it was worth beating the crowds. We were at the site around 8.30am and got to see a lot of the various temples and ruins without hoards of people. By lunch time the place was packed. Apparently only about 10% of the site has been excavated to date with most of the building still covered by the jungle. Unlike the various ruins in Guatemala and Honduras, we weren´t allowed to climb any in Chichen Itza. It could be because the ruins in other places don´t get as many tourists as these ones do... I think this place is just too close to Playe Del Carmen so Americans find ... read more