And finally the last days in Cuba, I promise to try and keep up to date after this!!

Day 8

We started the day by going on a tour of Santiago de Cuba. We started by visiting a cemetery which holds ten graves of Cespedes, the Bacardi family and the men who died in the 26th July attack. There were hundreds of graves but Marti´s grave has a guard at all times and we saw the changing of thye guard. We then went to the revolutionary square for the area, where there is a large monument to Antonio Maceo, who fought for the independence of Cuba. He got badly injured 14 times in battle but still fought. This si one of the largest monuments in Cuba, and the spikes that appear around his monument are to represent the machetes that he took to battle with him. We went to an agricultural market which was cool, they were selling fruits, salad ( alot of tomatoes) and meat. From here we went to one of the most important Roman Catholic churches in Cuba, the Basilica de Nuestra Senora del Cobre. Here is Cuba´s version of the Virgin Mary. In her left hand is Baby Jesus, in her right hand is a locket that was placed there by Hemingway after his nobel prize and the crown on her head came from Pope John Paul 11 in 1998. I managed to light a candle for Auntie Jean here. We also went to the Moncada Barracks as part of the tour. This is where Fidel Castro launched his first attack for the revolution. Fidel was lucky as the attack failed and most of the people involved were killed but he was freed. We ended the tour by going to Parque Cespedes and then walking to Plaza Dolores where we had lunch in an italian restaurant. I then went to the bank but mastercard is messed up in this country so the atm would not work and i had to go and get myu passport to chnage money in a bank. I did a little exploring and then went to a dance show in the cranival museum. It was liuke the show in Trinidad but not as good. We ate in the casa, and then met Roddy at 9 to go to the casa de la trova. Roddy doesn´t like live music so tomorrow we are trying the local disco!

Day 9

Had to cancel the plans of going to the beach as Roddy couldnm´t get transport, so slept in, had breakfast at 8:30 and then myself and Alice went out to explore. We went up the boulevard street before heading to the bacardi museum. This museum holds artefacts from rich familioes in the area, not just the bacardi family. The artifacts were a little weird including guns, egyptian mummies etc but the painting and sculptures were amazing. They were mainly cuban artists, so were some really different pictyures. We then went to a local bar and listened to some live music. The band was called Brisas del Palmar and they were incredible, easily teh best music heard so far in Cuba. We both bought a cd and teh band signed them. We then went for a walk down to teh coast and looked for teh house that Fidel Castro used to live in. We found the house but it had been boarded up for renovations. We went to a museum that was opposite and was about how the general public helped in the revolution. After this we walked to the hotel Granda for a couple of drinks where we bumped intop mosty of trhe rest of the group. I went back to the casa to rest before we head out. we are going to a local restaurant which is Cuban-African and was lovely. I had steak and their version of chips which were sweet. We then listened to some street music before heading to Club 300. We danced to a few Cuban songs before the Black Eyed Peas and Pitbull made an appearance! We actually stayed out til closing!!

Day 10

We drove to baracoa today, an area that was not accesible by roadf til the 1960´s. It is in the Guatanamo province, so we got to drive near to the famous naval base. You can´t actually go anywhere near the base, so we stopped to take pictures from afar up a mountain. It is apparently one of teh worst places in cubaa s it has really bad humidity and is full of mosquitos. We drove up the mountain where we bought some local chocolate before heading into teh town. It is by the coast but the beach is 20km away. We went to our casa´s and then went for a shortt walk before having a drink at a hotel up teh hill. We had a local cocktail, a Baracoa Colonial which is chocolate liquer, tropical fruit juice and obviously rum. It was so nice that i had 2!!

Day 11

I chose to gop on the combo trip today rather than the hike up El Yanque so went to Finca Duaba, which is a plantation that grows just about everything but most importantly chocolate! We had a local guide although Roddy had to translate. We got to taste quite a few things that were in season, including coco beans. We got to see pineapples growing, not from treesbut on the ground!! We then got to try a cup of their hot chocolate which was delicios. We then went for a boat trip on the river, where we had lunch (a roast pig) and swam at the mouith of teh river. We stopped to take photos of the chocolate factory that Che Guavera opened but you can´t look around it. Alice and i went to the casa del chocolate for cake and hot chocolate before going for a salsa lesson with a guy that alice met teh night before. It was exhausting the whole one to one lesson. We walked back along the Malacon and huge wave went over drenching both of us! We had dinner at the casa and tehn went to the Terrace. I danced with a guy called Leo, who was telling me about his friend in Brixton

Day 12

We decided to go to the beach today, so we met at 9 to find out the coach was at 10, so we went and looked at teh Cross that Christopher Colombus brought from England. It has apparently shrunk as over tiem people have taken parts of it away with them. we then had a drink at a local hotel before the bus. It was 30 minutes to get to teh beach. It was white sand, blue water but not much else was there. We had a chicken sandwich from the only bar in the area but they had no ice cream!! We got back and i realised i had burnt badly!! My stomach, my knees, and my shoulders were burnt and i had white marks from sun glasses on my face. We ate in a private restuarnt and then went to teh Casa del chocolate before heading to bed

Day 13

Today is our flight to Havana, so we had a lazy morning packing. Myself and Alice walked to teh museum in the fort and then went to meet the rest of teh group. It is our last trip with Augusto, so we all had to say goodbye wen he dropped us at teh airport. We got a turbo prop plane that took 2 and a half hours. Our bus in Havana never turned up, so got taxi´s to the hotel Plaza and went out to dinner. Myself, Alice, Carolyn, Marki, Dave and Philipa went to Los Nardos where the portions were huge!!

Day 14

Woke up early as had to be downstairs for my city tour at 8:30. Myself and Craolyn were on a city tour, and we met another English lady. We webt to revolutionary square. There are monuments to Jose Marti, Che and Cienfuegos but not much else. The square is surrounded by government buildings. We then drove to new Havana to see some of the sights. Stopped at teh Capitol Building, where the worlds 3rd largest monumnet can be found. Then went to a flea market whjere i got a dress for mum and an outfit for Jaz. We then started the walking tour of old Havana going around teh squares seeing the old university, the cathedral, the book market etc. It was a really beautiful area, completely different from where we are staying. We then ended the tour, and myself, Carolyn and Ellen went to the capitol building. I wore my new dress from Baracoa for dinner, we went out as a group to a state run restaurant and then to teh hotel that Hemingway used to stay at for drinks. People left at different times, so we were saying good bye all evening. We had drinks at the hotel before calling it a night at about 2:30!!

Day 15

Had breakfast with Alice, Carolyn and Roddy bfore Roddy left to get a hitch home. I walked Alice over to her new hotel and then got ready to go to the airport! I head to Cancunb to start the Mayan Sun tour