Our taxi picked us up from Medellin's Happy Bhuda hostel at 4am and off to catch our 6:30 flight. On check in with Avianca after a long wait the attendant checking us in said we had to go to the tax booth, which we did and came back with a tax receipt. The attendant took the receipt and asked us to follow him to the cashier booth, which we did, ready to pay. However, he looked at us and said "Lisa for you" and "Silvia for you...60 000pesos ($30) each. To this day I have no idea why we got money back, but of course did not complain about this random incident.

Cuba was waiting for us! We had a transfer in Bogota and then direct to Havana. We arrived at 1:40pm and had a relatively painless entry. Got our taxi and went straight to one of the only hostels in Havana. We caught up on some sleep and were woken up later with the arrival of none other than Leanne who flew in from Mexico! Was so good to see her again, especially after her decompression incident which had us all really worried. Larry (whom we met in Cali too) was also in Cuba and met up with us.

So a group of us went to Casa de la Musica a few blocks down from our accommodation. They had a live dance show and two big screens showing the music videos. There were also loads of pretty woman dressed up, which made me feel a bit out of place. Which I later realised it was okay to have felt out of place as they were prostitutes (random!). We had a great evening and every guy claimed to be a salsa instructor. By the end of the night I got one of the guys phone number and address written on a 3 pesos bank note...that was a first for me as I haven't had anyone write their details on money before.

The following day we explored the city centre with it's old American style cars, majestic typical cuban run down buildings, locals out on the street either playing some games or hanging up washing on a top floor balcony, fishing, cigars and Havanna Club rum. We went on a Havanna club our, walked through the old time and had lunch at a local touristy place. We got back to the hostel late afternoon to discover that the lovely Katha Rina had arrived. We went in search of Chocolate but the stores were closed and so we went for a walk along the Pier and decided on impromptu cocktailes overlooking the bay and the sunset...to be fair at $3 a pop it was hardly a decision. We all went to a Salsa/Regathon place close to the Pier where this time I got a guys number on a Pizza box...clearly it's a trend with local Havana men?

Lisa, Kathi and I had a great lunch with a sea view and off to meet Leanne where we took a hop on hop off bus...we could have probably skipped that one, I think I was asleep halfway through. We got a taxi from one of the points to take us to the bus station, he offered to take us to Trinidad for the same price as the bus but in shorter time period. We talked them down and had an 8am pick booked for the next day. We went to a lovely Swedish run restaurant which made Lisa feel right at home. The decision after was to have an easy night as we were leaving for Trinidad the following day.

We came face to face with one of the realities of Cuba over time; their stores are not big and very limited in even general basic supplies. We spent a good week looking for Sunblock and when we finally found some it was exorbitantly expensive. The people are really poor, but is not obvious from a tourist's point of view. The CUC (the traditional tourist currency) is equal to 24CUP thus a big differential. There also seems to be a large differential between rich and poor. The Casa de la Familia's (famiy homes) we stayed in were huge and the families clearly didn't seem struggling. It was also apparent that every one wanted money for something, be it for directions, playing music or just simply for standing there. Every restaurant had a band that would play Salsa or Bachatta, whatever one wants really. It was not uncommon to have a band specially called to play even if we were the only ones in the restaurant. We have encountered many of these bands and somehow they all have CD's cut, so they first ask one to buy the CD and then if not, a donation. As I say there definitely seems to be a world presented to tourists and behind the curtain lurks a very poor and to some extent an unhappy society.

Trinidad by taxi took just under 5 hours from Havana, due to some road obstruction along the way. The taxi driver took us straight to a casa (house) that he recommended, clearly he knows the people and possibly has his cut pre-negotiated with the owners. We had a look at another casa which sealed our decision to go with the previous recommended property. The house was huge and we had 2 bedrooms amongst the 4 of us, a large outside terrace area and our host were lovely. We went for lunch locally. Leanne and I decided we were in need of a massage and went to the first massage house we could find. Maybe we should have looked further as our experience at this place was bad for us both, sure a 4 year old could have done better. Thus the idea of any further Cuban massages were scrapped. The market place was next and really interesting jewellery made out of antique cutlery. We went to the Casa de la Musica square where we met a local guy selling horse riding to a waterfall for $6...Katha Rina is also a rider so we booked for the next day. We savoured their coctails for sundowners, which clearly was not as good as in Havana. Dinner was at the Casa which the family made and was really lovely fish and prawn with fruit for desert. Lisa stayed in and the rest of us girls went out to explore the town by night. We had a really random experience with a small restaurant that had a live band, I was roped in as front stage salsa and bachata entertainment and they didn't even pay me...go figure! Their cocktails were so bad we did even get half way with them and left for the main stage at the Casa de la Musica in stead. There were some good dancers there, but safe to say not as good as in Cali.

It was an early start for Katha Rina and I as we met with the Cuban Gaucho (not sure one can say that) at 8am. Breakfast was a lovely mix of fruits, good nothing to heavy to start with. We got the horses about a 10min walk out of town and made our way down a hill which opened up the most breathtaking view of the mountain range and scattered palm trees. We walked and trotted our horses and had one canter/gallop there. We road through what looked like private property farms and through gates, up a hill where we left the horses. By foot we got to an outdoor coffee hut. A guy was grinding coffee and preparing it. Of course as it's in Cuba the $1.50 Coffee also included a Cuban cigar...sure it wasn't Cristal or the like. After waking up with the intense flavoured delicious coffee we walked another 10minutes to a waterfall with 2 pools and a great view of nature. We had a swim, dried out in the sun and made our way back. We stopped off at a farm on the way where I had another coconut (loved that it was so freely available!). At an open stretch of land I was able to see just how fast Fletcha (arrow) could go while trying out my new Go Pro toy. Towards the end the heat became very intense as we were reaching midday by then. We got back around 2pm and decided to pay him $10 instead as it was great and seemed like we were stealing from him. In reality though $6 is a lot of money for them CUP144 which can buy ALOT of pizza's.

We made our way to the beach where we couldn't see Leanne and Lisa so we found an umbrella spot with a prime sea view. It was lovely just to chill, all be it in the shade, as the direct sun was just too hot for me.

We met up with the other girls back at the Casa and headed out for dinner where we were able to negotiate $9 fish main meal including a coctail, which we thought wasnt all that bad. The had a live musician there and of course when his set was done he came around for donations. We only had a small amount of change amongst us so I offered him a song to make up for it...so I sang the "ferry song" I wrote years back and he seemed to like it. We went to Casa de la musica again, this time including Lisa and went to a Grotta (cave) place after which structurally was so interesting and turned out to be loads of fun too.

Our last day in Trinidad was of course going to be a beach day and was a fantastic lazing day. Leanne joined a bit later and we went further down the beach for the much spoken about Coco loco's which we had not tried as yet (Coconut water in the coconut with honey and dark rum.) After the content had been consumed the guys got the machetes out and cut them open to enjoy the actual coconut. We left in time to get to the internet cafe before 7pm. There is one company that runs the internet in Cuba and one can buy an hour for $6. Dinner was in order and we found this open air restaurant with a live band and lovely vibe. We called it an early night, pooped of the long day in the sun.

I don't like good byes and it was time to say bye to Katha Rina who had to go back to Havana to get her flight the following day. It was however more of a see you at our reunion next (as it was with Laura)...so even though sad, I have no doubt us chicas will see each other again.

Not too long after Katha Rina's departure us 3 kids jumped in a taxi and headed for Cienfuego about 2 hours away. We stayed in a Casa owned by one of the friends of our previous hosts, a lovely elderly man. The town was pretty but had a distinct dodgy feel I thought. We took a taxi to Rancha beach and immediately noticed that it wasn't as pretty as the one in Trinidad and had really weird characters lurking about. We had dinner at a restaurant which our host walked us over too, almost seemed like a private residence, however even though we were the only ones there in came the band. We explored the square after and went back to the casa as it felt a bit dodgy. Our host was surprised to see us and offered to play us a few tunes as he of course plays in a band too...it was great to listen to him. It wasn't long after he finished his few songs that we were all deep in lala land...early night.

Our host had arranged a taxi for us and not long after we were off to Varadero, Cuba's most prestiges beach. It took 3 hrs to get there and we went straight to a Casa we were recommended, she was however fully booked and we thus got sent to her friend's place. The Casa was rather central to the shopping centre, the beach and about 10-15min walk from the famous dancing street, Calle 62 and Cuatro Palmas hotel which would become our favourite spot.

We explored the restaurants and looked for calle 62 which we found, but was rather dead. The Cuatro Palmas hotel across the road had loads of people there it seems, we went in and there was a dance show happening, we enjoyed watching these super flexible individuals intertwine sequence of dances all to close perfection. We went looking for salsa of our own in Calle 62 after the show. There were a few group street dances and a few good salsa dances. We met a Canadian guy who we made dinner plans with for the next day.

It was a beach day today, we walked alongside the turqious laced waters to the first available beach chairs we could find. Found them, these also happened to beach side of the hotel we went to the previous evening. As they were hotel property we paid $2"rent" each to someone's pocket, but happy to avoid the sand everywhere scenario. The water was great as it was a bit cooler than in trinidad allowing one to cool off in the immense heat. Went for walks along the beach which seemed to be never ending and simply had to except defeat and turn around. As we were using the hotels facilities we also came across a $5 for many cocktails deal, which we had to try just for sundowners of course :) The Canadian guy was meeting us at the entrance of a man-made lake restaurant area and we had the what they claimed as the best lobster in Cuba, which I think may have been not too far from the truth. Of course in true Cuban style our "personal band" (seeing we were the only ones there) came in who could even play us our favourite Latin American requests. They were really good, as most of these bands. After dinner entertainment was at the Beatles place. They had a guy seeing some live rock and thereafter a girl doing some female renditions, was rather impressive stuff and off for more Salsa at Calle 62 a good recipe for a good night's rest.

Another day on the beach, this time with no one coming up to demand "beach bed rent", we were clearly seen as locals at this all inclusive hotel now? This was hilarious as I could see how it was possible to "crash" a hotel. As I was soaking up the sun I saw a guy that looked like a someone we knew from Cali and then met up with again in Medellin, I looked again and indeed it was Mario. We all arranged to meet up for sundowners later. The sunset was incredible shades of red and the company as usual, great. It was our last night of Calle 62 and in Cuba...it happened to be the best salsa night for me, its always a bonus having a good dance partner.

The morning it was the last taxi for Lisa and I in Cuba, from Varedero back to Havana airport. Leanne had one more day in Havana. We had a few hours at the airport and had a rather interesting cheese sandwich (one of the only type foods they had in the airport). Photo exchange was a great boardem preventer and good for peace of mind. Finally boarded our plane just before 5pm. We were en route back to Colombia and it felt good. Bogota was our transit spot and then we went off to Cartegena for a midight checkin at Media Luna hostel.