Entonces, after a long ride on the bus, we finally got to Cienfuegos. At the bus station, people started jumping on us offering accommodation straight away, they would push and drag you by the hand, even though you are trying to get your luggage off the bus. After questioning what were the prices around this town, I called the number of a recommended casa and made a deal to stay there cheap. I wouldn’t recommend staying at any recommended casas – if you shop around you can find really nice casas, for a good price and with good friendly people. The place we stayed at was ok, but nothing to brag about.

The city itself is really pretty and clean. It has a strong European feel to it. It’s nice and there are plenty of places to eat or have a drink, but except for that there isn’t much to do. Every day we were there we were so tired, we didn’t check out the night life, but LP promises it to be good. We went to the very south of the city, where most of the houses overlook the bay, which isn’t that pretty to be honest. Most of the casas there are a lot more expensive and fancy. We found a yacht club, where we tried to meet some sailors, since we didn’t have flights out of Cuba – why not try to sail away? We didn’t see many people there except for the massive group of Indian students who were celebrating something, possibly medical graduation – pretty spectacular…and we met our kiwi friends, Adam and Sophie, who were our travel companions for the rest of our stay and taught us a great card game – dirty bird. That night we had a few drinks and on the way home decided to call into a local beer hole for a cheeky last beer. That’s where we made friends with one cunning Cuban who was trying to get me to marry him first for $5000, then the price went down to $500. Curly didn’t manage to get rid of me that night!…

After enjoying a special vibe in Cienfuegos, we decided not to waist our time here anymore and move on to Trinidad. We got met at the bus station by casa hustlers and after making a pretty good deal went with them. The city of Trinidad is second popular for tourists after Havana. It is a very photogenic and colourful city. A lot of very beautiful craftsmanship is being sold on the streets. Lots of old fancy cars and even people are posing for you to take a good shot. Similar to Cienfuegos, there isn’t much to do except for eat and drink, but just outside the city there is a famous beach Playa Ancon. We went there for a day. Absolutely incredibly nothing special worth mentioning. Just a beach with relatively white sand and blue water. Zero visibility for snorkelling.

We had a good time with our new friends, just chilling and enjoying mojitos and a live gig of salsa on the main square, but it’s time to move on and we went to Playa Larga for some more beach times.

In Playa Larga we found ourselves a casa and spent a whole day diving in the bay of pigs, which was excellent. Me and Curly went for a cave dive, which is a very different experience from any other dive I have ever done. The underwater cave was quite deep and completely dark. It is a little bit disorientating to go with a torch, but eventually body and eyes adjust. After the cave we went out in the bay, because we had a lot of air left. The bay is very nice there, a lot of coral and fish, which we got to feed bread to, which became an awesome frenzy, with some fish eating right out of our hands.

Next day by the recommendation of Lonely Planet we went to Caleta Buena, where snorkelling promised to be good, but the main thing was a 14CUC entry into an all inclusive resort kind of thing. So it was a little bit of snorkelling (which was average) and a lot of eating and drinking. Especially drinking. On the way there our guagua went on the road smashing thousands of crabs. Poor things have one or two days a year, when they come out from the woods down to the beach to mate (lay eggs?) and a lot of them just hang out on the road for some reason, obviously getting smashed by fast going cars and buses. Crazy amounts of crabs – such a pity!

Anyhow by the time we got back home our boys were in a pretty ‘good’ condition. Then it started to rain, then we started to dance and run around the village in our swim wear, that way we made friends with our neighbours and other locals. Curly was trying to steal a bicitaxi, for that he got punished and the owner made him pedal to the next village to get some more ron. Fun times…

Next day our kiwi friends left for Havana and we caught up with them the day after. Couple more days we stayed with Ernesto and then early morning flight to…Nicaragua!

The pictures are here, here and here.

We left Vinales in a collective (shared taxi) to get to Pinar Del Rio, where we stayed with David’s family on a tobacco farm. It was quite a unique experience and I don’t think many tourists get to stay on a proper Cuban farm. The experience would have been a lot better, in my opinion, if we knew Spanish at least a tiny bit better.  Maybe we would have even been able to do some work at the farm, but ah well..It’s hard enough to understand people speaking fast, left alone country people speaking in their own accent/way. Nevertheless, it was super sweet and lovely. The first day we spent just wondering around the farm and trying to save a little chicken, but he died…We’ve seen piglets and bulls, roosters and chicks and how Cuban’s spend their day working in the field.

The next day we packed two smaller backpacks and went out for an adventure- get to Maria La Gorda. Transportation that way is quite limited and expensive, so after a chat with one of the taxi drivers he convinced us to go to a beach in his cool car, where all the locals normally go for their holidays- Playa Bailen. Unfortunately the season was wrong, so we didn’t see any locals on their vacation nor did we enjoy a swim, because the water looked mirky and not very appealing.

Angry at the taxi driver for giving us bad advice, we decided to make our own way down to Maria La Gorda. The day started at 6 to catch a local guagua (bus), that was crammed with laughing people (yes even at 6 in the morning, when it’s still dark!) to the next town, from there we were supposed to catch a collectivo (communal taxi) to the closest town to the national park and then another guagua. The collectivo driver (who was an absolute jerk), proposed to take us all the way down to Maria for $50…after some negotiating he said yes to $20. Then he took us to a shitty little town in the middle of nowhere and pretended we never made a deal. We were trying to argue with him, the people gathered around, supporting the cheating taxi driver and saying that there is no way we can get to Maria la Gorda, because there is no traffic (even though it was 9 a.m.) and that $50 is cheap. *&*k that! -we said…and started hitch hiking. Some times were really frustrating for me in Cuba. Some people were very unhelpful and all they could see in us was $dinero$. Surprising how much solidarity they can have for their comrades, who are trying to rip someone off, even though they are not making any profit themselves. So, so unfriendly and mercantile… Nevertheless, with the help of a policeman, who was hitch hiking the same way as us (every second day to work!!!), we got to a town on the coast named La Bajada…and here our paradise experience began.

We knew that there is at least one unofficial casa in town and it’s only 14km away from Maria, where there is a hotel ($70 a night) and dive centre. So after half a day hitch hiking we headed straight for the beach, which was gorgeous.

Not sandy white, but coral white. Crystal clear waters, where coral reefs start right there at the first step into the water, which means lots of sea urchins on rocks… Mask and snorkel out, Dasha in the water. There is plenty to see, especially if you go out quite far off the coast. Nice coral tube like formations. After I got out, we met a local who was snorkelling around in search of lobsters. He showed us where to get in the water to avoid sea urchins and where he was looking for lobster. So Curly found one. Right there, in chest high waters. We had a chat to that guy and he offered us a casa for 15 with breakfast, we couldn’t say no, contemplating on what we’re going to have for dinner… The whole town is stretched along the beach and our house was one of them. The owner of the house is El Flaco (The skinny dude) – legendary host. He came around every now and then to find out how we’re doing. He would play us guitar and even teach me how to play the famous ‘Guantanamera’. We were singing and dancing and drinking. Fun fun fun! His sister and her husband were cooking for us and this was one of the highlights in my opinion. Fresh fish in garlic sauce, lobster, rice with beans…yum yum yum!…

Next day we rented bici’s for 3CUC and went for a ride to Maria La Gorda. The ride is amazing itself. The road stretches along 14km of white coral/sand beaches, green dunes and national park with amazing bird life on the other side. It took us longer than we thought to get to Maria, but only because we couldn’t resist stopping at one of the secluded beaches for a quick snorkel.

Maria La Gorda is basically a big resort with two restaurants. Nothing else. Just tourists, but we came here not to speak Deutsch, but to go diving. It is worth it and I highly recommend diving here. So, so beautiful! Many caves to go through, a lot of coral and lots of fish. Luckily one of the dive guides was studying in Ukraine, so after a short Russian chit chat  we got ourselves a discount for a second dive- sweet! I would come back for more, but we didn’t have much time and if we knew how good La Bajada is, we would definitely skip Playa Bailen to go straight there, but ah well… On the way back from Maria, we made a couple more stops on the dream beaches and had some more great snorkelling and swimming sessions. The next day El Flaco took us with him looking for lobster. We had to get pretty far out and dive really deep to peek under the coral if somebody is hiding there…Somebody is, for sure. I found an enormous Moray eel. When I saw him I screamed out loud under the water, which almost cost me my life, because it was so deep. Not really. …but it was scary. El Flaco is a great diver and does it so easily and graciously. Sometimes they go out on the boat and dive down to 15m or so to get some big fellows. Hard and dangerous work. We didn’t find any lobsters, but I was lucky to see a natural pool in the cliffs, which has a connection underwater to the sea. It was full of fish.

After 3 days in this paradise we had to get back to our hosts in Pinar and continue on our journey exploring Cuba. It was hard to say goodbye. I would love to stay here for the whole week.

Other pictures are here.

Curly went to Barbados and Dasha to Puerto Rico. Then the plans were for Curly to continue to Jamaica and for Dasha to visit her friend in NY. Meanwhile in Barbados…

Dear Dasha,

Arrived 08.00. Cleared immigration 08.30. Chatted to lovely tourist information until 09.00. This made customs very suspicious of the dread-locked-patch-bearded-smelly man. Had to empty my bags. Card didn’t work in ATM. Got on bus with $EC – not acceptable. Luckily dude paid for me. Made friends with Ron Stares, Canada. Got off at St Lawrence Gap. Overwhelmed by hotels and tourists – think I made a wrong turn somewhere. Ocean looks beautiful. Dude at internet café prejudice asshole. Managed to exchange EC135 for B95. Wandered up and down looking for somewhere cheap, struggling. Paid B80 to stay at Rio. Cool and met many others. B0.90 for 2 bananas, B11.50 for chicken and mash (been awake for 9 hrs by now without eating). About 4 or 5 B$ left in my pocket. Kept in search of room for rent. Difficult. Adopted aloe vera selling friend – nice but just wanted money. The beaches are amazing. They paved paradise. How can we ever draw the line between natural beauty and the ability to see it!?!? Saw dominoes and cards in action. Have to go again. Kept wandering, searching, calling, struggling. The hot afternoon sun was starting to set. With $B3 left, found a bar selling local Banks beer for $2! The last $1 went on club Keno, doubled to $2 to pay my bus home. Credit card paid for fruit for breakfast and Mt Gay rum for dinner. Lets hope I can clear my debts tomorrow! (laundry and calling Aus bank) 22.15 bed.

Dear Dasha,

I woke up at 7.15 to the sound of my alarm, a very unfamiliar sound. I had no idea what was going on or where I was – or where you were!! After a few seconds it hit me and so did my hangover, telling me to lie down. Tried, but knew the sun was shining. Squeezed some lime into my water bottle, paused at the door to wait for a shower to pass, then went to the beach for a run and swim. Not sure if it was the hangover, lack of fitness or soft sand, but it was hard going. Met Wilma. Showed me her apartment for rent. Really nice, but too expensive even at (genuine) special rates. She drove me to her friend, Malcolm. $B250 for 6 nights, half the price of the guesthouse. Wilma is awesome, genuinely trying to help me, not rip me off. Went for a drive with Malcolm. Nice guy. Buildings everywhere, no gaps between towns. Lots of cricket grounds, but I missed a tournament last week! Cooked dinner for me and my housemate Alexi. She spends ALL of her time in her room, working online. Time for a rum and a movie. Seems that I’ve missed Australia day.

Dear Dasha,

Got up at 09.30, was a great sleep. Got myself ready and went for another drive with Malcolm. He has birds – canaries, finches, a parrot etc. and was going to pick up a hen for his whistling cock, Chirpy, who came for the ride too. He drives a tip-truck, which is pretty funny, way too big for his needs. We drove up the West coast to St Lucy in the North, much less populated, then home along the East coast. East was very nice (reminded me of Aus with yellow sand, rocks and surf). Saw some surfers. Waves were pretty rough. There are breadfruit trees everywhere, and they’re in season. Had breadfruit cou cou the other day – delicious!! Was like a cheesy mash, with gravy. Just had lunch at 17.00, now having a beer. Heading to St Lawrence Gap tonight to meet some Csers including Charles, so should be fun.

Dear Dasha,

Met up with Charles, a local electrician, and Jess from Mexico – she makes babies. Also bumped into Daryl from the guesthouse. He bought me 5 beers to celebrate his last night on the island. Nice people. Early night but a good night. Spent today reading and writing, swimming and chilaxin. The beach and water is incredible. So relaxing. I think people can see it in my eyes. Yet at the same time as having this peaceful bliss, I wish I could bulldoze every building in site and let Mother Nature regain what is rightfully hers, and in her infinite wisdom provide enough bananas and breadfruit for everybody! Having a beer at the Ship Inn (again). Meeting Jess and maybe others at 20.00 at the Friday fish market. Sounds brilliant!

Dear Dasha,

Turns out sounds can be deceiving. The fish market was big, with lots of fish cooking, but not how people had explained it. It was about $10-$15 for a meal, not as cheap as I was expecting. If you were lucky, which I was, right in front of the toilets, you got a good size chunk of fish, in my case delicious Marlin. If you were unlucky, like my new found pome friends, by the dominoes, you got little more than a fillet of flying fish. People had been telling me how it draws a good mix of a crowd. If you consider 17000 tourists and 100 locals a good mix then you would agree. There were a lot more locals after dinner though by the stage checking out the break dancing. Unfortunately Jessica and Charles didn’t make it, leaving me on my own.

Bloody birds have been flying inside and eating my banana. I got picked up this morning at 07.15 by Kyesha, another couchsurfer, and Aron. We went for breakfast at a farmer’s market. It’s a serious set up he’s got, couple of hundred people there. This afternoon I’ve been snorkelling. Quite nice but not very colourful. I saw an eel. He scared me. No turtles though. Tonight Jessica is coming over for dinner then we head to the Reggae Lounge for happy hour. Chop chop!

Dear Dasha,

Reggae Lounge was cool. It’s a nice big bar, half outdoors, playing good tunes and cricket on TV. Unfortunately, there was never more than 10 people in there. Apparently the crowd turns up at 1.00. After happy hour we went next door to McBrides, just in time for their happy hour. Spent the night there with a bar full of English dancing to cheesy pop. It was ok. It was a late start the next day. I spent hours on the net trying to find a flight from Jamaica to Cuba – incredibly expensive, and always via Panama, America and Mexico, or Canada! The Cayman Islands might be my answer. I’m going to go to a travel agent today. My last day, so have to book something!

Dear Dasha,

The travel agent sorted me out. Cuba via Caymans. I’ve heard other people print an itinerary without actually paying for it and it works. Then I went to a bar and met 2 Canadians and a Bajan. Went to a beach with them, Harrismith’s, it was beautiful. The best place on the island. Unfortunately couldn’t swim because of the rocks at high tide, but we could drink beer. Back in to town to catch happy hour at Mojo, say goodbye to Jessica and hello/goodbye to her friend Aina from BCN.

Did I like Barbados? Not really. Am I glad I stayed for a week? Yes, because the last day was my favourite!