Cuba Cuba Cuba.. what can I say. I think it stole a little bit of my heart! I should start by telling you a little about the people.

There are 2 choices when it comes to accommodation in Cuba, you either stay in all inclusive resorts or in peoples homes. Thank goodness that the hotels are expensive cause if they weren't we may have missed out on the amazing experiences of staying with these fabulous people. They are an extremely friendly and welcoming bunch that can never seem to do enough for you and when you stay with them they look after you like you were their own.

Our Cuban encounter started in the capital city Havana where we gained a Sam and Grace to replace the hole left behind by Ed and Jooles. Havana is unlike an city I'v been to. It is full of tall elaborately decorated stone buildings most of which are slowly decaying due to time and lack of money to keep them up. All the cities I'v visited are full of traffic, but Havana's roads are quiet in comparison to most towns let alone cities. Old cars from the 1950s are what fill the streets making the place look like it has just dropped out of time and is in some kind of limbo. Which it is what has happened in a way I suppose with the trade embargo.

The politics of the place are fascinating. It all seems to work so well, up until a point. There were many nights spent with a bottle of rum discussing communism vs capitalism. I don't think we ever came to a satisfactory conclusion. The closest we got was that they both suck just in different ways.

Our few days in Havana were spectacular. Dave got a year older and we celebrated in style and with many many cocktails in the national hotel. We visited the rum museum where we had a very informative and funny guide. Whether he was trying to be funny or just managed it with natural talent I don't know but he was brilliant. Saw some jazz in a smoky underground jazz club which you had to enter via a phone box.. very cool. We also stayed with the most wonderful family.. which seemed to happen to us were ever we went!

From Havana to Trinidad. On our car journey there I saw a man jump out of a hedge brandishing some lobsters and sneak back in when no one bought them. Its one of those things that stay with you.. a man brandishing lobsters. I think that it effected me very deeply as I developed a severe lobster addiction. This was ok in Cuba as lobsters were cheap but iv been battling with it hard since iv gotten home and have had to go cold lobster.. which is still better than cold turkey!

Trinidad is a small, very old and beautiful town on the coast which is full of small cobbled streets. The highlights of Trinidad where its spectacular beach where we spent many lazy days doing nothing but read, swim, turn over and extract glass form Dave's arm! The boys spent a productive day hunting and gathering on a boat and brought back a massive fishy or two for our dinner... they better were very pleased with themselves. Trinidad also boasts a club in a cave... yes people you heard right.. we went to a cave rave! You wonder up this hill in the dark wonder where the hell this club could be because you cant hear any music. Then you discover the entrance, which doesn't look much different to any other club entrance except that when you start to walk down the stairs you keep going for quite a while. When you get to the bottom you still can't hear any music, then you go though a little arch type tunnel and it opens out into a big chamber full of people dancing there little salsa socks off to reggaton. It was a bloody brilliant night out!

At this point in the trip the team split for a few days, with the fit and enthusiastic Grace, Sam, Dave and Paddy going of into the jungle to see Castro's old hide out. Whilst the older, wiser and infinitely more sane which of course included me, Chris, Janey and Miesje made there way towards the beautiful town and beaches of Baracoa.

On the way we spent a night in Santiago de Cuba which turned out to be a really interesting city. Its was a very important city during the revolution and was were Castro made his victory speech before heading to Havana. We met yet another wonderful family who fed us mojiotos and got some of their friends to give us girls a salsa lesson in there front room while Chris wandered into the ghetto to have bongo lessons. It was a lot of fun but I'm not sure how good we where. Granny seem to enjoy watching us make a pigs ear of it from the comfort of her rocking chair so at least we were entertaining.

Next and last stop was the beautiful paradise of Baracoa where we caught up with adventures. We spent 5 days in Baracoa laying on the white sandy beach achieving zen and a tan and most of our evenings drinking rum and playing domino's. One evening we meet a chap called Alien (this is no joke, apparently it pronounced differently in spanish) who read our futures and I was told that guardian angel is something that looks a lot like a pink flower fairy.. who would have guessed!

Then we said adiós to our Cuban comrades Sam and Grace and prepared ourselves to re-enter the world of capitalism with a bang in New York.

Cuba is one of the most beautiful and surprising places that we've visited during this trip. Its so different and I'm not sure why. It could be the communism, but we've seen that elsewhere and those countries haven't struck me as particularly different. Maybe its because Cuba is communist and an island. Maybe its the peoples revolutionary spirit or just how they are that make it so different and wonderful. Whatever it is I hope that doesn't change even if other thing, that should change, do.