Wednesday 30 May 2007

Finally an internet connection...

Although there were some in Havana, we were either busy or did not manage to find a good connection until now. Six days into our honeymoon, we arrived in Trinidad, after spending two days in Havana, a night in Vinales, a short trip to the island of Cayo Levisa and then onto a (vegetarian) stop in Las Terrazas.
On the way to Trinidad we stopped one night in Cienfuegos that, although nice, is not worth more than a one-night stop.
In Havana we stayed in the very good Saratoga hotel, right in the centre of the city. We visited lots of things on the first day and then collapsed after the long flight. Actually, we booked a restaurant for 10pm bu never managed to get out of bed to actually go there. The second day we continued our visit around the city, with Old Havana being our main target, and at night we met Annalisa´s friends Alessandro and Mel who have been living in Havana for 3 yrs now. They gave us some tips on the island and warned us about something very true... food is crap (and Mike is able to eat a lot of weird stuff...). It didn´t take us long to understand it and believe me everything time we sit in front of a plate I struggle to finish it.
Apart from that everything is fine. The country is very nice, a mixture of culture and nature and very nice landscape. The roads are the second terrible aspect of the country as often full of holes and no chance to find a sign anywhere. Indeed we got lost every single day and we need to consider an extra hour to any of our trips. If you don´t believe us wait till you see the picture of the holes and the unique "Autopista National"....a large landing stripe for planes without any signs....full of horse carriages, dogs, people walking randomly across or along, old and new cars, trucks where the fumes from the exhaust cover your sight for 2 minutes and lots of other strange stuff.
Socialism is probably a good thing for these people here but I think the one who´s enjoying more is still Fidel. People don´t look too happy and struggle to have a decent life (except those that manage to rip of a few tourists once in a while..). Everything works like we were back one century and people still ask for money, which means they could do with a bit more (despite the Government claiming that people have everything they need).
We stayed on average in very nice hotels that are really not Cuban style... but in the end of the day it´s our honey moon and we have to treat ourselves a bit....

Unfortunately we did not (yet) manage to upload any pictures but you are more than welcome to come and see us afterwards and we will tell and illustrate all our "war stories"...

In the end, so far, it has been a wonderfull trip and we don´t regret having come here, even for our honeymoon. The country has so much to offer in terms of culture, but you can also find some amazing spots to relax and some really nice beaches.
We an average temperature of over 30Degree, you can imagine how much we sweat and if even Annalisa is claiming that it is too hot for her....think about how I feel???

Hopefully in a couple of days we can write more.

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