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 registe...

The End Of The Road Our luxury interlude ended at 9am (we were on Grix tours timings rather than the more pressing Exodus timings by now). Our taxi driver took us along the ocean road, tranquil seas, successful fishermen on a bridge, pelicans flying past and an oyster catching boat cruises past. In Remedios we pick up our glistening blue hire car (complete with obligatory scrape down the rear driver's side. The charming guy completes our paperwork and w...

8am bags onto coach... No! For once, our bags are fully unpacked, we have nowhere to go, except for a leisurely breakfast and work out what sun lounger we want to occupy by the pool. We pick the one that looks like a four-poster double bed with white cotton curtains that billow in the wind. The biggest decisions of the day are to discuss with the concierge guy, who waits outside the restaurant at breakfast, exactly which restaurant we would like to eat in that ...

8.30 am bags onto coach... Cloudy skies and rain greet us this morning and we're glad we're not setting off on the bikes. We arrive at Santa Clara for a visit to Che Guevara memorial; torrential rain create a sombre grey feel to the place and matches the sorrowful sense of the loss of the Fidel's charismatic compatriot. Che had been part of the scene since the early days in Mexico, the Granma landing, the overthrow of Batista and played key role in Fidel's new...

Highs and Lows of Topes De Collantes Bang on schedule, yet again it was 8am to get our bags onto coach.This time however, we were also boarding the bus rather than cycling.When we saw the roads we were going along, even the fit guys in the group were relieved that the first 20 km were on the coach.Up into the Escambray hills, at times the steep gradients even challenged the coach.The plus side to this slow progress upwards was the stunning views down to the coas...