We had a very early start yesterday to get catch our bus from Havana to Vinales. When we arrived we were greeted by about 30 locals all holding signs with names of guests or adverts for their Casa particulares ( a sort of B&B with dinner). Everyone was shouting and jostling each other, it was a bit of a mission to get our bags and find Esther, who we were staying with. We were exhausted yesterday so didn't do much but settle into the house and get to know our hosts a bit. By now we have discovered that food in restaurants in Cuba is awful!! So we stayed in the house for dinner but when it came it looked like she was feeding the 40,000! A HUGE bowl of rice, and equally large bowl of beans, chips, fried yuka, soup, fish and salad...but all in quantities that a family of four would struggle to get through. It was all absolutely delicious though, probably one of the best meals we have had.

That evening we chatted with Esther (very slowly since our Spanish is still not fantastic and she spoke no English) and relaxed in the courtyard rocking chairs. Her family are lovely and we felt very welcome. It was definitely the right call not to stay in hotels, Casas are so much more relaxing!

Today we had our 4 hour walking tour through the valley, which was great fun because of our guide, Alexis was constantly smiling and joking around with us. It was a very relaxed walk and since Alexis had grown up there he really knew his stuff. He took us to his father's farm where his dad made us a drink...a grapefruit with the middle cut out and honey and rum poured in...absolutely delicious, but not the most refined thing to drink...lots of slurping noises and juice dribbling!

While we were there Alexis explained a lot about the farming culture/business in Cuba. They have to sell around 90% of their produce to the government but are allowed to keep the rest for "personal use". Of course most of this ends up on the black market, where they can actually make a decent amount of money!

What I love about Cuba, and in the country especially, is that everyone knows each other and families all seem to live very close by to each other all their life. On our walk we met Alexis' dad, and we found out that the farm next door was his father in law's. Further on in our walk we met his uncle on his farm and it later transpired that Alexis was the cousin of the father in the house we are staying in! Also, where we are staying lives gran and grandad, daughter and son in law and grandchild, and round the corner is their other son! I am sure if we had delved deeper we would have found many more links and family members.

After our walk we headed to a local hostel with Alexis to watch the Man U champions league game...well I've dragged Ian around enough markets, I think it is only fair that he gets some football time. Unfortunately we had the time wrong so ended up watching Real Madrid / Leon instead with all the locals. Though I was the only girl in the entire room so felt a tad out of place! On the way back to the village Alexis managed to hitch us a lift in the back of a huge russian truck...hitch hiking is the national transport system in Cuba by the way. It was great fun but a little difficult to stay upright and avoid the huge hole in the middle...so much better than a car though!

We went home for another almighty meal courtesy of Esther.