Camagüey is the third-largest city in Cuba and it was very different to where I had been before - there were many more elaborate buildings and, in many cases, they were much better maintained than in other towns.

When I arrived after the long bus ride from Santiago, I went to a fantastic tapas restaurant for dinner (Bodegón Don Cayetano) - quite a pleasant surprise to find an eatery like that there! Later I took a walk around town but it was too dark to appreciate much of it.

In the morning I took bici-taxis around for a little while to see some of the areas further from the centre. I passed the Teatro Principal where ballet dancers from all over Cuba go to train. In Plaza del Carmen there were great statues of local people gossiping, reading the paper and pushing around a cart; I met the artist who created them and saw some of her other interesting works in a gallery there.

I carried on to the Casino Campestre park and sports area (nothing to do with casinos), which included the baseball stadium (baseball is the most popular sport in Cuba).

In the neighbouring Plaza de la Revolución there is a huge Soviet-style statue of local independence hero Ignacio Agramonte.

I finished at Parque Martí, a square which has a statue of José Martí and some pretty buildings, including the Iglesia de Nuestra Corazón de Sagrado Jesús (a nice church though some of the windows were bricked up).

I went for lunch in Plaza San Juan de Díos and then walked up to Parque Ignacio Agramonte, which has a statue of Agramonte on horseback next to the plain-looking cathedral. Further on in Plaza Maceo was a statue of Maceo and some more pretty buildings in between.

I went up to the roof of the Gran Hotel for a nice view over the city. On the same street were a few shops and a department store - there was reggaetón music blaring and it was bustling with people (it was a Saturday) - it was the first time I'd seen this sort of commercial activity in Cuba so it seemed unusual.

I walked up past the train station to Museo Provincial Ignacio Agramonte, which houses paintings of many different styles by Cuban artists and some quirky little sculptures made from cutlery plus some very fancy furniture and household items from the pre-revolutionary era (there must have been some people living very extravagantly there before the communist revolution).

I was staying in Dalia's casa close to the colourful Plaza de los Trabajadores where the post office building has a huge image of Che Guevara on the outside wall and above one of the other buildings there was a big photo of Che smiling down on the people beside one of his famous slogans, 'Hasta la victoria siempre'. In the same square I visited the grand house where Ignacio Agramonte was born and the nice church Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Merced - I went into the crypts underneath the altar which still have some bones buried in the walls and other bits of broken church accoutrements. Next to the altar was the elaborate Santo Sepulcro silver coffin.

On the second night in Camagüey Dalia made a traditional dinner at the casa - beef with rice and beans and banana chips. I was nervous around her excitable little puppy Peking who yelped and ran frantically around the house! Dalia had internet at home which is extremely unusual in Cuba - apparently she was allowed it for some reason relating to relatives abroad.