26th November

Trinidad

We just about managed to get up in time to catch a taxi to the bus station for 7.15 when we had to check in. The check in process was fairly straightforward and was quick enough that we were able to grab a sandwich and coffee in the café before the bus left. As we settled in for the 6 hour journey we soon discovered that the seats on these buses recline so far that you can't get in or out of the seats behind, of course all the Cubans had the seats reclined as far as they would go making the ride somewhat cramped. Added to this is the fact that they felt the need to turn the air-con down so low that everyone on the bus was wearing jumpers despite the 27 degrees heat outside. Along the way we passed some beautiful scenery and several people riding horses with or without saddles. As we arrived in Trinidad the bus soon started to bounce about due to the cobbled streets which are so narrow that the bus struggled to actually pull into the bus station. We collected our bags and were met by Alex who is the son of Felix and runs the House/Hostel we are staying at with his father. We caught a couple of rather bouncy bici-taxis to the house along the cobbled streets although the drivers were kind enough to point out some of the sites we passed along the way as well as the direction to the centre of town. As we arrived alex showed us around our room and we sat on the lovely terrace in the sun with a glass of fresh orange juice while they finished cleaning the room. We quickly settled in, agreed to have dinner at 7 and then went out to explore. Trinidad is a smallish town and we managed to walk right the way across it in about 30 mins. However we quickly decided that we all liked it, not only is it very colourful with all the buildings in relatively good condition and painted lots of different colours but it is the first place we have been on our travels where it's actually quiet and there are no choking fumes from the cars like there are in Havana. Most of the streets are cobbled and people in cars and on bicycles share the streets with bici-taxis, horse and carts, pedestrians and the occasional man riding bareback cantering up and down with a tremendous amount of clattering hooves!! We arrived back at the hostel around 6 and relaxed for an hour before dinner. We sat down to a feast of fish, shrimp (which came in a delicious tomato sauce) rice, vegetables, fried plantain and crisps made of either banana or yuca, fruit and coffee. When we were quite stuffed we discussed our plans for the next day with Alex before getting ready to go out. We walked into town where we listened to a live band outside Trinidad's Casa de la Musica, which unlike the very expensive one in Havana is completely free. (we like free) After a few dances at the back of a tiled bar area, the actual dance floor was cobbled and not very good for dancing, a Cuban man came up and told us that he really liked our dancing in a strange mix of Spanish, French and English. (Frepanglish?) He also decided he would buy us a bottle of rum to share with him it was our bottle of rum as we had to pour his drinks, but we didn't mind this as it was free rum (We like free) . We spent the next 2 hours or so dancing near the stage and drinking with this man, who told us he was a doctor and has lived in Trinidad for 31 years although strangely omitted his own name. He also introduced us to a few of his friends who all seem to be called Luis (he may have been trying to say 'him' in french) until he decided to go to the club at the back of the casa de la musica. After some wheeler dealing on his part arguing that we were medical students of his despite not being able to speak the same language he got us in to the club for free (I may have mentioned our opinion on this matter). The club itself is awesome, it's set in an old ruined building and as such has walls but no roof so we could see the stars above a canopy of climbing plants and trees that were growing over the walls. When we arrived they were playing some bizarre American pop music so our new 'friend' walked off to have a word with the DJ. Soon salsa came on and we had a few dances alone in front of the locals who don't start to dance until about 1am, before it turned to reggaton, fortunately by this point we had all had a sufficient amount of rum to attempt the dance. We danced to a variety of music including 90's pop and some more usual clubbing music until about 1 am, our mystery guy disappeared about 12:30 when the bottle of rum ran out and we decided that we should head back as we were all tired and we had plans for the next day.

27th November.

Waterfall and riding.

We had agreed the day before that we'd have breakfast at 10 before going horse riding to a waterfall up in the mountains, a popular excursion that Alex was able to book for us. Breakfast was just as good as dinner the previous night had been, there was bread and some gingerbread type soft biscuits, a plate of various fruits, ham, fried eggs and cheese as well as a little cup of very sweet runny honey which we dipped some of the fruit in. There was also 2 large jugs of juice, orange and pineapple which must have been freshly squeezed and lastly a large flask full of delicious coffee! We were very impressed and devoured it all before descending the stairs to meet a man who was taking us to where the horses were kept. Alex gave us some sandwiches and 3 bottles of juice from the sugar cane to take with us then we followed the man through the cobbled streets and listened to him tell us about the days when he used to ride in the local rodeo and had to give up after he'd had 4 of his ribs broken! After less than 10 minutes he handed us over to a man who had some small, sturdy looking ponies (all the horses here are like this and really too small to be anything other than ponies) tied up in the shade. After establishing that I was the only one with any riding experience he put us on appropriate animals (my mare was called Muñaca, which means doll) and we set off down the road with instructions to keep to the left. The road was quite steep and we took our time descending until it levelled out a bit, our guide joined us at this point and when the road surface turned to more of a track after 10 mins or so he urged us all into a trot. It was at this point I discovered 2 things, firstly that Muñaca likes to be at the front going as fast as I'll let her and secondly that the western style saddles we were riding in were extremely hard!! After a few minutes sitting as the locals do my bum was already sore and I gave up, going into rising trot instead which was much more comfortable for me and probably my mare too, even though she obviously wasnt used to it and lurched when I rose on one diagonal so that I had to change to the other. I did feel a bit guilty as I watched Matt and Andy bouncing up and down on their mounts, they have after all only ever had 1 riding lesson, so this was a bit of a baptism of fire for them both. I did suggest they try rising if they felt they could but they both seemed happy to continue as they were, I was comforted by the fact that the saddles have large horns on the front that they could hang onto if necessary. We rode on for about an hour, mainly trotting with a bit of walking where the road was very uneven or slippery, passing local people about their day to day business or other riders on their way back from our destination until we eventually came to a forest track that the horses seemed eager to follow, not surprisingly because it led to the place where we dismounted and they got a rest in the cool shade for a few hours. Once the horses were safely tied up we continued on foot along an increasingly rocky footpath, tripping over tree roots and clambering over small boulders until we could start to hear running water and eventually see a brook wending its way swiftly through the trees. It was only another couple of minutes until we heard a loud splash and saw the waterfall ahead of us, the splash being where a small boy had just jumped in from off a rock into the pool under the fall. It was an amazingly beautiful sight and we passed 2 smaller, lower pools on the final climb up to the base of the waterfall where several people were either swimming in the water or lounging around on the rocks beside it drying off or drinking a cocktail from the incredible little bar thats nestled here. The bar is not much more than a thatched stand with a couple of guys with machetes opening coconuts and adding some rum and a straw to it, but we were impressed all the same. We quickly stripped off and after warnings about how slippery the entrance to the water was slid our way into a deep pool of crystal clear water. Although not warm, the cool water was refreshing after our hot ride and we were soon exploring the waterfall, taking pictures and even jumping in from the rocks like the locals do (well Matt & Andy did) for a good hour or so before we started to feel cold. We sat at the side drying off in the sun and watching the fish emerge from their hiding places now we had vacated the water, whilst eating the cheese and 'jam' (ham) sandwiches Alex had made for us. Eventually we got dressed and made a move, leaving behind the tranquillity of the waterfall and heading back through the woods to the horses. Once mounted we set off back along the way we had come at a steady pace, our guide urging the horses to trot when it was safe to do so. Eventually the road levelled out and he asked me if I liked to gallop...thats like asking if I like to dance....so making sure he understood Matt & Andy couldnt gallop and he just meant me I needed little urging to go! Muñaca seemed pleased and had her ears pricked forward as we raced along until we were well out of sight of the others and we pulled up to wait for them in the shade. We continued in this fashion for most of the way home, me racing on ahead with locals laughing and waving as I passed them (probably due to the ridiculous grin on my face) and then waiting for the others to catch up until we got back to the road and all slowed down to walk the last 20 minutes together. After saying thankyou and goodbye to our guide and horses we made our way back to our casa via a shop where we bought more rum and coke. Once back we proceeded to crash out for a few hours before having dinner, another tasty feast this time with chicken and a flan/cheesecake thingy dessert, before deciding what to do that evening. The general consensus was that we were shattered and so spent the evening relaxing drinking Rum, playing dominoes, chatting and learning new card games...they attempted to teach me Texas Hold 'em and then we all learned how to play Nap from the card game book we'd been given. All in all an excellent day which finished with us a little tipsy and very tired as we made our way to bed.

28th November

Playa Ancon

We got up to another delicious breakfast and Alex booked us a taxi to the beach for 11o'clock. After grabbing the necessaries (towels, sun tan lotion etc) we went downstairs to get in the cab, Alex kindly lent us his set of snorkel gear to use and we set off on the 12 km journey. After a brief stop at the petrol station where the driver put in 2 litres for $2...so about £0.66 p/l which is very cheap according to Matthew who has been keeping us up to date on prices in the UK. As we drove along through pretty scenery, past lakes and rivers we saw how much a part of everyday life horses are to cubans outside of the city. Every other vehicle was a horse and cart and all the way along there were horses tethered by the side of the road to graze or even sometimes just wandering along on their own amongst the odd cow or herd of goats!! Eventually we got to the beach after passing a capsized boat that apparently had been in the middle of the river for nearly 30 years, I'm guessing after hitting a sandbank of some kind. We arranged to meet back for our lift home at 5 and walked out into the sun on to the most beautiful beach we've been to so far!! Azure blue water as far as the eye can see, shining white beaches dotted with palm trees and coconut beach huts and as a back drop beautiful green hills and mountains, absolutely stunning!! After gazing at this sight for a few minutes we decided to walk in the opposite direction to the 2 hotels near the beach front and away from the sun loungers and tourists. We didnt have to go far to be nearly the only ones on the beach, looking for some shade to set up camp in we came across a man standing fully clothed, waist deep in the water cleaning a huge conch shell with a machete who said he didnt mind sharing his coconut shelter with us. This worked out particularly well as after 10 minutes or so of applying sun cream we headed into the water and the man said he would watch our stuff for us as occasionally youths were apt to come and steal peoples bags, we were able to return the favour later on as he wandered up the beach trying to sell his assortment of conch shells to the tourists out front of the hotels. The water wasnt as warm as when we were in Miami but then it is nearly December and it really wasnt cold at all once you were in! We spent a couple of hours swimming and attempting to drown Matthew whilst he was learning to snorkel before deciding it was time to dry out for a bit before we got too wrinkled. More sun cream was slathered on and we relaxed in the sun turning over every 10-15 minutes to 'baste' the other side lol!! We werent out of the water more than an hour before deciding we were too hot and so headed back in again, this time messing around with dance moves and trying to do various lifts 'Dirty Dancing' style which were definitely much easier in the water than out of it!! At one point something stung my arm but I couldnt see anything in the water so it wasnt until Matt got stung as well that the guys believed me when I said it may have been a jellyfish. We called it a day shortly after that, Andy prudently exiting the water before he too got attacked and we decided to go for a walk along the beach towards the hotels in search of ice cream. We walked about half a mile along the beach at the waters edge before sitting with our feet catching the surf for half hour or so just chatting and watching the sun start to sink from directly above and cast shadows behind people as they strolled along. Eventually we started walking back and slightly inland where we discovered a bar that sold ice cream, sitting in the shade we had an ice cream sandwich each where the biscuit was slightly more cake like than anything else but still really tasty. Then it was time to meet the taxi and on the way met one of the girls Andy had danced with previously in Hotel Florida who was also staying here in Trinidad for a while. We chatted for 5 minutes then left as our ride was here, on the way back we took some photos before arriving back at the casa where we all showered to get the salt off and to discover if or how much we had burned in the sun! I got off very lightly with only a slight reddening on the tops of my shoulders but Matt's back was really red so we covered him with blue aftersun and laughed at the faces he pulled when he moved (we're not really that mean but having not seen him for so long we'd almost forgotten his huge range of facial expressions!) and then got ready to go out. After walking round and round trying to find somewhere playing salsa we ended up back at casa de la musica where they were playing Rumba and had a few people doing a show, after which a large band came on to play. Unfortunately there was no room to dance at all and we deided that we could at least sit up at the top of the steps and have a beer while we listened to the band below. We had only been sat down a couple of minutes before a guy at the table behind us said hello and we found it was the man who had initially taken us to the horses the day before. He invited us to join him at his table and proceeded to talk in Spanish in increasing rapidity until I could barely make out any words and lost what he was going on about several times. It turns out he was trying to get us to go on another excursion but was offering it cheaper than if we booked it through the casa and even said that if he couldnt get the boys galloping by the end of it then they wouldnt have to pay at all!! It was tempting but after using beer cans as markers and much shaking of Matthew's arm for no discernable reason we worked out that it would be a ride of some 25-30k and we were all (especially Matt) still a bit sore from our previous ride of about 10-15k which had been split in two by the stop at the waterfall!! Trying to say no is really difficult when u dont speak the language well and every reason I said for not doing it, he would come back with an answer so in the end I had to just ask for his phone number and say we'd call him when we decided which day would work for us. He resigned to this and we left to head home, buying another can of beer each to drink when we were back. We sat on the terrace drinking before hitting the sack, worn out from the sun and swimming and not least the conversation in Spanish that took all my powers of concentration.

29th November

Poorly Andy :(

We woke up today and poor Andy really wasnt well at all :( I think maybe he'd had too much sun yesterday as all 3 of us had eaten and drunk the same but both matt and myself felt fine. I rearranged breakfast and dinner for just us 2 and we spent most of the day chilling out on the terrace catching up some more while Andy was ill in bed in the room behind us. Between checking on Andy to make sure he was alive and didnt need anything we read our books and later on went round the town buying presents (I got Andy's Christmas pressie and Matt bought some bits and bobs). We got back and made sure everything was ok before having dinner. By this time Andy was feeling a little better and we felt sure he'd be fine if we went out for a bit, so we got changed and headed out looking for some music to dance to. Similar to the night before not much seemed to be happening elsewhere so we went to casa de la musica and had one dance on a crazily packed dancefloor with Matthew oohing and ouching every time someone bumped into his sunburn before the band changed and we sat down nearby to listen. When we realised no one was dancing we guessed there must be a show so we got up to go and have a look and what should the show be but the Afrocuban Orisha's, typical as we didnt have Andy with us or our camera to film it for him!! The dancers weren't as energetic as those at the free Rumba in Habana however they seemed to cover more of the Orisha's and we could pick out the moves we had learnt and therefore identify which ones they were. After the show finished the music didnt seem to be anything we could dance to so we called it a night and went back to see how Andy was doing. He was sleeping and as it was still early, 11ish, we went out on to the terrace to dance for a while as we hadnt been able to in town. After a while we sat in the rocking chairs and chatted about stuff until I started dozing off then we went inside to bed.

30 November

Visas & Ayala

After our usual breakfast at 10 Alex walked with us to the immigration office in Trinidad, which is only open from 8:30-11:30 on Wednesdays. The process of extending our visa was straight forward with the officer simply filling out a form, attaching the stamps that Alex had got from the post office the day before, and putting an extension sticker on the back of our original visas. With that done we walked back along the train tracks past a couple of 200 year old steam engines which are parked beside the train station, there is also a third steam engine which takes tourist up to the valley where the sugar mills were before the revolution. We then walked back through the Old Plaza which is being redeveloped as a new town centre and has a new internet café as well as Trinidad's only fast food restaurant. After walking back to the casa, dropping off our important documents and relaxing on the terrace for a couple of hours we decided to go out and wander down towards the old Plaza again, This time we arrived just in time to see the tourist train arrive back and discharge about 25 people, each carrying a camera as big as their head, who promptly took a couple of photos of the train before clambering aboard their bus and driving off. That evening we had dinner at the casa and decided we would try disco Ayala, which is a nightclub in a cave on a hill just outside Trinidad. As it didn't open until 11 we walked around for 45 mins trying to find some danceable music but unfortunately with no success. Soon it was time to leave and we followed the directions Alex had given us to find the club, whose entrance is a hole with a banner above it!! We paid the entrance fee and descended a rather long flight of stairs before walking through a couple of tunnels until we emerged into the main club which has two smallish dance floors on separate levels with the DJ booth set up another flight of stairs overlooking the whole place. Other than the floor nothing has been changed from the original cave with passages and other crevices still visible in the ceiling. the club slowly filled up,mainly with drunk tourists and working girls (or wannabes) and at about 12:30 the lights came on for the seemingly obligatory show. The show was incredible, if slightly disturbing. It started innocently enough with some poi and flaming torches before one of the men decided to lift a table covered in glasses of water holding it by his teeth, dancing the whole time of course!! After this they got a lady to sit on the table while two of them repeated the same feat, this lady happened to be one of the wannabes who's skirt was so short the had to get her a tea towel to cover herself while she sat on the table.(she also decided it would be clever to dance about while two men were holding her and a table up by their teeth, how dumb can you be) After this there was a brief display of stamping on glass... and eating it before one of them lay on the glass and a rather fat American tourist stood on his chest. They then went round asking for tips and the music started again, we danced to a strange mix of Reggaton and clubbing music from home until about 2 am when we decided it was time to head home. We decided to walk the less steep way back to the casa, which was a mistake as we managed to entirely circumvent the casa and end up at exactly the opposite end of town before having to walk back to the centre to get our bearings!! We finally arrived back an hour later and went to bed exhausted.

1st December

Beach and Snorkelling.

Breakfast was once again at 10 today and we had arranged with Alex to go to the beach once more. Our Taxi arrived promptly at 11, but first we needed to get out some money. We spent the next hour or so going back and forth since we found that the exchange bureau doesn't take cards and the bank required a passport. (then when I got my passport there was a connection error and I had to wait for them to fix it!!) We finally arrived at the beach around midday and agreed to meet back at 5 again. The waves today were really gentle which means the water was absolutely crystal clear, because of this we immediately agreed to go snorkelling at the reef. We found someone to sail us out there and were given our equipment, we clambered on board the boat and were off...VERY SLOWLY!!! so slow in fact that about 200 yards out the guide gave up and decided to paddle while I steered the boat. It took almost 40mins to reach the reef which is about a mile from the shore. As the guide tied the boat to a makeshift buoy of plastic bottles we put our equipment on. The guide showed us where to look by throwing some bread into the water which lured a huge shoal of colourful fish to the surface fighting for the crumbs. After a couple of false starts, I had a leaking snorkel and Matt seemed determined to drown himself, we were off swimming about amongst the reef. The sights were incredible with fish swimming about by the hundred, there were two main types to be seen, a black and yellow striped variety and a pale blue one which had a sharp pin-like nose, however we also saw a few larger red ones and a couple of beautiful but very elusive large turquoise coloured fish. We were swimming around the reef for just over an hour by which time Mae had just about managed to teach Matt how not to drown, before the guide whistled for us to come back and we set off for shore. By this time the wind had picked up somewhat and we made a rather faster return than the outward journey as the boat picked up a fair bit of speed. Once back at the beach we settled into some sun loungers and ordered a drink and hamburger each and relaxed for a while until we had to move on as it turned out you had to pay for the sun beds. We walked up the beach until we found a parasol with no chairs and relaxed there instead for the rest of the day until it was time to go back and meet our driver for the ride home. Since we needed to be up early the next morning we decided that we woudn't go out that night and instead relaxed on the terrace with a bottle of rum and some music, this plan backfired somewhat as we sat chatting until about 3am before heading to bed!!