After breakfast at the Casa, we splash through pouring Rain to call in at an Internet Cafe. It's really only at moments like this, that I remember how restricted and isolated life is for the average Cuban, in terms of accessing information about what is happening in the rest of the world. For a brief internet session, it was 6CUC (around $6US - which is out of the realms of the average Cuban's disposable cash) and I had to have the internet access card registered against my passport, so that whatever you access/write can be checked and traced back to you.

Braving the intermittent rain showers, we spent the morning on a walking tour of the town to the main historic squares (lots of churches, pots, bronze sculptures); our favourite was Plaza del Carmen complete with bronze sculptures.

Around 11.15am we set off again, on our way to Bayamo, via Las Tunas. It was a surprisingly easy drive out of town onto the main highway. Similar to yesterday, we passed through beautiful countryside, alternating ranches/sugar cane fields, sugar refineries, horses and carriages. After around 201km, we finally arrive in Bayamo around 2pm.

We tried to get into the Royalton hotel, but they had no rooms available. Being spontaneous has its downsides, and this was one of them. After walking around the side streets behind the main square, Jon saw a casa sign (an anchor shaped symbol is the only clue that rooms are for rent). Our hostess Myra seems to understand our enquiry and she shows us to a double room with ensuite, which is on the first floor of the building. It's spotlessly clean, but the mattress had seen better days. They have an interesting way of decorating the room, which seems to involve hanging net curtains over plain painted walls. She's very friendly but only speaks Spanish, so my limited skills are put severely to the test. We manage to communicate sufficiently to understand her recommendation for dinner. She calls the local Paladar (Sagitaris) which is recommended in the Lonely Planet and she walks with us to show us where we will eat that night

We walk around the centre and go to Casa de la Trova (no mint, so no Mojito) and nowhere else has mint either. We head over to La Bodega, just off the main square and have a sun downer overlooking an amazing ravine and forest beyond the terrace - it's hard to believe we are in the middle of the town.

We have another encounter with a jinteros about a trip to La Plata but we did not fall for it as we are not quite that dumb. For 28 CUC we could hand over our money to a total stranger, for no guarantee of anything, just that he would take us there the next day. We do not hand over any money and we change our plans about going to La Plata - we're getting the hang of this spontaneous bit of the trip now!

We do decide to book the hotel in Santiago de Cuba in advance though, as we know we definitely need to be there for the final 2 nights of our trip. Who knows how the booking system works in Cuba, it's certainly a mystery to us - we phoned the hotel and were told it is over-booked. That evening, we call in at the Royalton hotel to use the internet and find that we are able to book it online, so we have the final two nights of our trip organised after all.

Dinner at the Paladar (private house) of chicken cordon bleu (me) and Uruguayan fillet (not steak as Jon had thought, but actually pork) was delicious and only 20 CUC.

Back at the casa, we took the decision to move the bed and put one mattress on the floor and leave one on the bed (both had seen better days). It felt a bit like camping, an impression further enhanced by the fact that there was no bedside lamp, so my creative side emerged and I improvised one with my head torch wrapped around my cycle helmet (who needs 5 star luxuries!)