So, first stop: Cuba. Having arrived under non-ideal circumstances (taxi rip-off, dingy hotel room etc), I spent the first couple of days getting to grips with Centro Habana, and managed to root march round the Parque Centrale, el Museo de la Revolucion and el Capitolio, as well as spending a good deal of time relaxing in the sun and reading. Day 3 saw me check into the much more respectable Hotel Plaza, giving me access to such luxuries as a safe, minibar and tea garden. All very colonial and lovely. Met my tour room-mate Bodil from Denmark in the evening, and got an early night ready for the cycling adventure ahead...

On the first day of the tour we met up with the whole group in the morning after a gargantuan breakfast (pasta, rice, chicken, doughnuts... not very healthy...), and boarded the coach with our guide, David, and driver, Gasiel. The group was a real mix of ages and nationalities, but surprisingly we all started to get on very well very quickly. The oldest member was 70, the youngest 22, and we had Australians, Canadians, a Belgian, Dane, Scots, and just me from England. A 1 hour drive west from Havana, complete with incredibly detailed and insightful commentary from David took us to Pinar del Rio, our destination for the night. We were staying in a traditional 'camp site', which was actually more like a 3* hotel. After a lunch of fried chicken, rice and yukka chips we all went for a quick ride on the bikes to get used to them - 11km into the nearest village. Naturally, I beasted it and came in first (winner). After this we all went back to the hotel for showers and welcome cocktails (Cuba Libres, naturally), and got the beers in for a quick sundowner on the balcony. Dinner was a fantastic change of roast chicken, with rice and yukka chips (pattern developing), and afterwards we were all invited to have a salsa lesson with the hotel teacher, Adonis. Sadly, Adonis did not live up to his name. Only 3 people took the lesson, and I was not one of them, living by the motto of manana manana. Got a nice early night, with the promise of a 60km 'flat' cycle the next day.

The next day was as hard as it sounded - 60km over one of the Cuban mountain ranges, in the midday heat. Needless to say the humidity didn´t help the asthma, but I managed to huff and puff my way through it somehow. Think the promise of a picnic at the beach at the end was what really clinched it. We rode from the town of Viñales to Cayo Jutias, the most beautiful beach i´ve ever seen. The picnic was also exceptional, mostly because by 3pm we were all starving, and a lunch of spam and pineapple sandwiches was just what I needed. Strangely addictive. After a couple of hours relaxing on the beach and splashing around in the amazingly blue sea, we headed back to the coach and drove back to our destination for the night, Rancho San Vicente in Viñales. It was another ´camp site´, but even nicer than the last. We even had an extra room mate that night - an absolutely huge tree frog. After another huge dinner the group divided, with the older members heading to bed and the young folk heading out to a salsa club in Viñales. Knowing no salsa, you´d think i´d have been at a disadvantage, but actually being flung round to a beat requires pretty much no knowledge of actual salsa steps whatsoever. Eventually got back and into bed at about 3am, after far too many Cuba Libres and a rather heartfelt rendition of ´Rhythm is a Dancer´on the bus.

Day 3 saw us heading to La Palma, with a 45km cycle starting from our hotel in Viñales. Unfortunately after about 2km I managed to spack it over my handlebars (i blame my rather effective front brake) and smashed my chin and my knees into the gravel. Luckily (ha) there was a local family on the road next to me, who came over and made sure I was ok, picked my bike up off me etc. After a quick wash down with water, I was off again, desperately trying to catch up with the group and hoping they wouldn´t notice my massively swollen chin. After a couple of absolutely huge hills which we all had to walk up (the shame), we headed to a local family´s house for lunch. It was literally an experience like never before, the family lived in pretty much abject poverty, they had no walls to their house (damage from the hurricane 2 years ago, still to be repaired by the government) but were perfectly happy to provide a huge meal of soup, yukka, pork and root veg crisps for us. A really eye-opening experience. After lunch and giving the kids anything we could afford to spare, we headed to a nearby river for a quick swim (not for me, scaredy cat that I am), then back to the Clara campsite in Pinar del Rio. This time I decided to go for the salsa lesson (feeling like a bit of a pro by then), and managed to haggle a price of $2 for 30mins of lessons. Was super good fun, and followed by obligatory beers and mojitos - it´s hard not to drink in Cuba!

The next day we set off on the coach in the morning, and headed into the town of Pinar to visit a cigar factory and a rum distillery. Everybody bought cigars and rum at knockdown prices through a contact of our guide, then we headed to Cueva de los Portales, the cave used by Che Guevara as his headquarters during the Cuban missile crisis (very Bond villain-esque). After a quick tour of that, we had another picnic lunch, before getting on the bikes and cycling 40km of much flatter terrain to Las Terrazas, a village up in the Rosario mountains reknowned for it´s sulphur springs. It was absolutely beautiful, and the hotel we stayed in was incredible, so luxurious. We went for dinner at an Eco restaurant (essentially a vegetarian restaurant, cue a lot more yukka and black beans), and then I went to bed at the same time as the older crowd, whilst the rest of the younguns went out drinking and dancing til 4am - ouch.

Next day we set off from Las Terrazas, and visited a local artist´s studio and the remains of a very colonial coffee plantation. After a quick lunch there we headed by bike to Soroa, a village 30km away, and again up some very steep hills. Again in the Rosario mountains, Soroa is famed for it´s waterfall and orchid garden. But by far the most impressive thing was the pool at the Villa Soroa Hotel - freezing cold but very refreshing after a long hot traul on the bikes. After dinner we all sat round the bar, as it was our last night with Gasiel, and one of the Canadians (Hilary) had written a poem about the whole trip - sounds really naff but was actually really good! Will post a copy of it as soon as she emails it to me.

Next day after a quick visit to the waterfall we all piled onto the bus and headed back to Havana, for a visit t the Museum of rum and a beautiful lunch of shrimp and rice. We saw Revolution Plaza, which was incredibly underwhelming as it is basically just a big concrete car park with a couple of statues. Oh well, pictures in abundance. From there David took us on a walking tour of Habana Vieja (old Havana) which was really interesting, despite being after lunch and us all being exhausted! We headed back to the hotel for a final dinner as a group, and then split off again. The younger faction headed to a club called Delicias del Mare (as it is a seafood restuarant by day) which was absolutely beautiful - outdoors, by a pool, backing onto the sea wall so you can see the waves splashing up over the walls. Stunning. After a couple of hours dancing and drinking there we headed back to the hotel for some much needed shut eye.

So, the cycling tour over me and a couple of the other girls that were still in town decided to have another quick walk round the city in the last few days. We saw the Malecon (sea wall), Casa Blanca (fort used by Che as his headquarters, very Bond villain-esque again, why the man couldn´t use an office I don´t know), a concert in the Plaza de la Catedral and sat for a mojito in the Hotel Inglaterra - very luxy. After saying goodbye to everyone last night, I headed back for a final night in Hotel Lincoln, with a dinner of (you guessed it) pollo asado with yukka chips. Nice.

On the whole, Cuba has been one of the strangest experiences of my life. It´s such a different society with so many different problems. Speaking to David about it was so illuminating, and made me realise that all Cubans are constantly trying to buck the system, use the black markets, and find a way out. The average monthly wage here is 15 CUC per month (equivalent to $15 per month). Considering that a 1.5L bottle of water costs around 1.5CUC, you can see why everyone has to make a quick buck on the side, hence my taxi rip-off - in retrospect I can't begrudge him, young men here tend to support their whole families. Of course if the government find out, you're screwed, and there are lots of cases of neighbourly disputes leading to whistleblowing and ultimately jail time. Cuban prisons are definitely not like prisons in the UK, not nice at all, and the sentences are heavy. For example, if you're caught carrying one marijuana cigarette, you're considered a user and can face 2 years in prison. If you're caught carrying 2, you're a dealer, and are looking at 25 years.

At the same time, it's obvious to anyone who cares to look deep enough that the Cuban government is making an absolute mint, corruption is extreme. All profits made by tourism (excluding tips, obviously) go to the government after deducting the meagre wages of the guides/maids/bellboys etc. Tourism makes huge amounts of money each year. As well as this, all the coffee and tobacco grown in Cuba and which isn't used for private use by the families growing it goes to the government, who sell it and keep the profits. That's a lot of cash, the whole place is primed for agriculture and the only things they grow are coffee and tobacco. It's illegal to kill a cow for meat, or in fact for any reason, without government approval and guess what, the meat then goes to the government. The profits they are making are huge. I can imagine that you're all thinking that i'm cynical and that the government does need a lot of funds to function, especially with the trade embargo meaning that Cuba has to trade in cash. However, a week in Cuba as a consumer shows you that once again, this isn't really the case. Everything that I have bought in Cuba is made in Cuba. They make their own beer, coke, water, crisps, canned goods, everything. Of course, there still is trade going on, but it is far less significant than you'd find in most other countries. Then of course there's the free education. Every child gets free education, and everyone can go to University for free. However, this is only on the condition that after you graduate you work for free for the first 2 years, in a job of the government's choosing. Not so free after all. Healthcare is free too. But if you go to a hospital you won't be given the treament you need, you'll be given the cheapest treatment available. Then as you leave the hospital, someone will approach you and ask if you'd like to pay privately to get the treatment you actually need. Very caring.

The overall point is this: Cuba is as corrupt as anywhere else, and everyone knows it. The people are desperate for a change, and essentially for the regime to fall, and they're all hoping that once Fidel dies that will happen. I'd advise anyone to come visit, because it truly is one of the most beautiful countries I've ever seen, and is an incredibly eye-opening experience if you have a decent guide to explain the culture to you. Definitely get out of Havana for a few days, and definitely don't stay in an all-inclusive resort like Sandals the whole time - you'll miss out on the whole culture-shock that makes Cuba both so appealing and so appalling to Brits, Canadians, etc.