It was a bit of a shock going back in time. Especially flying with Cubana Airlines from Havana to Santiago de Cuba and Cancun. Soviet Union Russian looking planes, water was dripping from the air con and there was "smoke" up in the air which is the badly installed air-con. Must be frustrating for people working at the airport knowing that they can´t fly anywhere. Met up with this Cuban Couchsurfing guy in Santiago de Cuba and he´s desperate to travel but you would have to have a reason such as being paid to be educated at world class universities if you are the brightest in Cuba or if you marry someone abroad. Have seen quite a few old men with young Cuban women in Havana, dreaming of a better lifestyle. But Cubans are very friendly and I felt very safe walking around as Cubans would be sent to jail if they rob or hassle tourists as cameras and police pretty much everywhere. Trindad was beautiful, world heritage site with cobbled streets. Loved dancing to Salsa music on Saturday night in this open air late bar where tourists and Cubans mingle. Can easily watch everyone dancing for hours thinking you can do the moves but when you´re on the dancefloor, its a different story. Cubans are seriously amazing movers, young and old - I wish it was the same for people back home!

'Havana Vieja' (Old Havana) is gorgeous whereas Centro Havana is pretty much like an underdeveloped New York with wide roads, commercial outlets and expensive hotels. Old Town had a lot of character, had the Havana Rum factory there. The bar in the factory was a classic with old style Cuban furniture, a live salsa band with a large, well dressed Cuban woman singing at the top of her voice. Practically everyone thought we were Cubans and spoke to us in Spanish, despite us telling them over and over again that we only speak English. So as you can imagine, I´ve picked up a bit of Span-English which is speaking English but with a Spanish accent. We got away a few times paying the local Cuban Pesos rather than the tourist CUC (currency). Massive difference between the two prices, such as ice-cream at this famous parlour in the middle of a park in Havana where Cubans have a family outing to as a treat, we paid 5 pesos = 5p for 4 scoops of ice-cream whereas the tourist CUC is like 2 CUC = 1.30 GBP! Stayed with this family who had this adorable baby, very smiley and never once saw him cry. He peed on me twice as they dont have nappies. Noone would talk about the plane crash in Cuba, so was a bit nervous flying the next day as couldnt stop thinking about families who have lost their loved ones in the Santiago de Cuba to Havana plane crash! :(