Cuba is like going back in time, all the old cars, the horse and carts bringing people and goods into town and the ancient and very beautiful 1950´s houses. Cuba is all that we imagined it would be and more. Live music spills from houses, bars and restaurants, cigar smoke drifts through the air, rum is everywhere and in everything (and we´re not complaining) and the dancing is out of this world. People hang around on the steps outside their houses and old and young people alike sit playing dominos on tables in the middle of the street!

We arrived into Havana and immediately set out to see the sites. Our energy levels were back up to what they were when we started travelling first because we were both so excited to be somewhere so different! We visited Parque Centrale and enjoyed the views of Capitolio (which looks amazingly like The White House!) and then wandered through Plaza de la Vieja and Plaza de Armas onto the seafront where we joined lots of locals in walking along the Malecon (what we´d refer to as the prom) enjoying the sea breeze and the views over the fort. We also took a trip across to the Morro fort across the bay and even made friends with the guys on the watch tower, they showed us some of the sites with an incredibly powerful binoculars and even made me talk on the radio to Florida!

The Museo de la Revolucion is situated in the old Presidential Palace which was last used by the US backed president Bautista, who was overthrown by the Revolution. The building itself is beautiful and their collection of armoured vehicles and planes used in the revolution, the Granma yacht used to bring exiles including Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, back from Mexico to Cuba to start the revolution and even remains of planes shot down in the Bay of Pigs invasion by the US is brilliant. Political messages and murals abound throughout the streets and Che´s face is plastered everywhere as a constant reminder of just how different Cuba is. The funny thing is that in spite of Cuba´s communist and socialist government the people are incredibly capitalist when they have the chance, charging gringo over inflated prices for anything they can and generally viewing tourists as dollar touting wallets!

America created a monument to their ship the US Maine when they won Cuba´s war of independence with Spain (instead of Cuba itself winning it as they were about to). The US had a ship in harbour which was mysteriously sunk and the US blamed Spain (although its now known that the explosion happened onboard) and with the loss of their crew the US used this as an opportunity to join the war and therefore to control Cuba until the revolution some 50 years later. With no love lost with the US the Cuban government have added an inscription to the monument blaming the US for the sinking of the Maine and the sacrifice of US soldier´s lives. Another interesting site was the US special interests office (basically an embassy) where the US started to display messages about human rights some years ago, Cuba responded by building a square beside it called Anti Imperialists Plaza and flying black flags with white stars (to represent all those Cubans who have been killed by the US in their conflict with Cuba) to mask the electronic ticker tape the US were broadcasting messages on!

In an attempt to soak up some Cuban music we headed to the Casa de la Musica for a night of music and dancing. Unfortunately we didn´t ask what type of music the night´s band played and it turned out to be Cuban hip hop!!! Not exactly what we had in mind but given that hip hop (or hippety hoppety as the MC called it!) was banded until recently I guess we can understand its current popularity. The sad thing to see was the number of prostitutes in the club with Western men (most of them old, ugly and fat!). Because the wages due to socialism are so low many of the girls resort to prostitution and their main market is of course tourists who are spending the more valuable of the 2 currencies in use in Cuba. Very sad.

No trip to Havana would be complete without Cuban cigars and rum. Gareth was very excited about trying out some of the speciality cigars and so we bought a few of the best and we´re trying them out as we go! We visited the Havana Club factory and saw how the rum was made (Ireland got a special mention as the American Oak barrels they use for aging the rum comes from Jamesons whiskey in Dublin!) and of course we had to try some! Bacardi no longer operate in Cuba as they were against the revolution but their old headquarters is a really beautiful art deco building right in the heart of Havana.

Contact with locals is not a problem in Cuba as we stayed in a casa particular, a B&B type arrangement which allows locals to rent 2 rooms in their house, and ate in paladares, which allows the locals to setup restaurants (serving no more than 12 people at a time) in their front rooms. Finding the paladares can be a little daunting as we discovered when we were walking into a very dodgy derelict building and up a staircase with no lights to find one which was run from the terrace on top of the building. But the food is authentic Cuban (and very tasty so far), the prices and low and you get to eat with the locals.

We also seemed to drink our way around the city, stopping for a mojito overlooking the seafront from the Hotel Nacional (once run by the US mafia), sipping on a daiquiri in Ernest Hemingway´s favourite bar, La Floridita and taking in the view of Plaza de la Cathedral with another mojito! When in Rome! ;)