We arrived in Havana two days ago after a rather uncomfortable flight from Cancun. We boarded a plane that looked like it was a Russian reject from the 60s. I would not have been surprised to find that the door was held in place with duct tape, and the seats were so tiny that I felt like I had knee imprints on my back from the guy behind me! After much clunking, whirring and shaking we finally arrived in Havana.

Everything during our two weeks in Cuba was totally pre-arranged by a tour company about a year ago so I was slightly worried that all the taxis/buses etc would be there when they said they would be. But we were greeted at the airport and everything went smoothly from there.

We had splashed out on a private guided tour of the city so started out bright and early to see the sights. Havana really surprised us! The old town is a lot bigger than we had imagined and incredibly beautiful. The buildings are very grand, old and ornate and the council are trying extremely hard to restore as many of them as possible. It is not possible to even build anything new in this part of the city as it is a Unesco Heritage site. There is one 1960s monstrosity that was built before this rule came in to place and they are building a mock colonial wall around it to hide what is there!! They are going to such lengths to preserve the character of the city that there is a hotel which used to be a monastery and all the employees have to wear robes and none of the rooms have windows, just a peep hole, which would have been there originally. There are a few things like this around the city. Of course a lot of the buildings have a slightly run down look but they are so stunning that you hardly notice this, especially in the main plazas.

Ian of course squeezed every bit of information as he could about Cuba from the guide, who spoke very openly about the political situation and people feelings on it. Don't worry, Ian is preparing an essay on Cuba for those of you who are interested in Cuba, communism and other such related topics!

We visited where Hemingway stayed, and where the Daquari and the Mojito were invented. Of course this meant we had to stop for a wee taster, and it was a damn good mojito. They are also VERY liberal with their portions of rum so we finished our tour on slightly wobbly legs, and the guides english was suddenly a bit harder to understand!

After a four hour walking tour we headed to the museum of the revolution, which outlines Cuba's political history. It is a huge museum that has too much information to really take in and we didn't have enough time to see it all properly as we had to get ready to go out for dinner and the show that had been booked for us.

We got a taxi to the restaurant but were a bit confused when we were dropped off outside what looked like someone's very posh house. The diver told us that it was a private restaurant...AKA 'illegal' was the 1st thing that went through our minds! But it was set in a lovely courtyard of the house and seemed far to well set up to not be a legal one. The food was incredible and my grilled fish came with a little bowl with two goldfish in it...certainly a knew one for me!!

After dinner we headed to the Tropicana show, which I am really not sure where to begin describing!! I hope that the photos will help a little once we get them uploaded. It was in an open air theatre with several small platforms, lots of flashy lights and neon writing and a big band. There was a wide variety of Latin style dancing, and the costumes left little to the imagination! It is a show that has been running since 1939 and the standard is extremely high. I know a night of dance might sound a bit dull and "strictly come..." to some people, but we were truly blown away by it. Everything was unbelievably energetic, colourful, loud, and very in your face! (literally at some points since we had seats right next to the stage and I swear I was nearly kicked by a dancers high kick!)

To top the evening off, we were told we would be given a free glass of Cuba Libre and a sparkling wine. Well, the wine came as expected in a small glass, But then we were given a can of coke and half a bottle of Havana Club rum...I like their idea of a free drink and I think we should start pushing this one in the UK!

We left the show at midnight and after a whole day walking, wine, rum and lots of excitement, we were absolutely exhausted, but it was a very memorable evening,