So i´m afraid this is all still retrospective. I was in Santiago de Cuba from Thursday 24th January 2008 and left early on Sunday 27th January 2008. Santiago is the second largest city in Cuba, and the reduction in population has greatly improved the condition of the housing and the smell. It is i believe at least one of the hottest, or the hottest place in Cuba, the humidity is very high. Its on the coast in a mountainous area, so lots of hills, lots of greenery, and a very constant breeze which is very welcome in this heat.

Thursday was a very early start and i got up at 4.15am. I know, it was very painful. We were given ham and cheeses rolls for breakfast, a bit of a running joke as pretty much everything involves ham and cheese, but I couldn´t stomach it that early in the morning. We had to leave our hotel at 5am to get on our air conditioned tourist bus to the airport for our flight to Santiago. By this stage a couple of people had gotten sick from food, and were struggling a little. It seems to be affecting the boys more than the girls at the moment, and there´s less boys. Anyway, we were staying at the Hotel Las Americas, very, very nice, had a fantistic pool and kind of reminded me of the type of hotel complexes you come accross in Greece, Spain etc for a 2 week holiday. It was pretty luxurious in comparison to the hotel in Habana. About half an hour after checking in, we went on a walking tour and visited the Moncada barracks, now a museum and school. The museum focuses on a revoluntary attack on the barracks on the 26th July 1953. It was disturbing standing in the same room where a number of people had been tortured and killed. After this sobering experience, we finished off the walking tour and went for lunch at a hotel where an appalling waitress seemed to take an immediate dislike to various members of our group. Funnily enough, they bizarrely put down a tip for her until everyone else told them to remove it. Then followed an afternoon by the pool and a surprise game of bingo! Very random but that made it ten times better. Nobody in our group won so we missed out on the free drink prize.

On Friday, the majority of the group hired a minibus for a few hours to explore sites further afield. We started at the Revolution Plaza and then headed to the Shrine for the Black Virgin. Here people come from all accross Cuba, sometimes on foot, with offerings and prayers. It seemed entirely inappropriate to be taking photos in a place with people that are clearly distressed and praying so we did not stay long here. Outside was where we found the more persistent beggars and sellers, and men professing their love to western women. I was the object of a few i love you´s, but don´t worry, its all harmless. They never invade your personal space, its all at arms length, so although slightly embarrassing, its really just funny. Apparently, a lot of Cuban men see marriage as a ticket out of Cuba, so the comments are meaningless.

After this we went on to a cemetery where the national hero, Jose Marti is buried, and watched the changing of the guard ceremony, and then went onto visit a castle after lunch. That afternoon we were back by the pool. After dinner tonight we went to a baseball game between Santiago and Sancti Spiritus. Some of the group left early, and when the rest of us got back to the hotel, Annora excitedly told us that the game had been on tv and in a crowd shot she´d spotted Dan´s hat and David watching the game. Pretty impressive...

Saturday was a free day. I went out with Suzannah in the morning for a walkabout and took the opportunity to get some photos of the city. We went into a cathedral which was very impressive and appears to be undergoing some renovation at the moment. That afternoon i got on the internet to write the Habana blog and managed to get back to the pool just in time for a tropical downpour. I´ve always had great timing. That night after dinner Emma, Dan and I went to see a Tropicana show. It was extremely entertaining, I laughed so much that my face hurt. The less clothes on the girls, the more they had on their heads. The headwear was horses heads, chandeliers, birdcages, the list goes on. My favourite moment was when two girls crossing the stage clipped each other with the headgear... The taxi ride was also extremely entertaining. The driver had a clubbing CD on, playing the track 2 time full blast. On the way back he spotted the rum we had left and pulled out a couple of plastic cups from under his seat for us to have drinks! Crazy place!

Anyways, today i´m in Trinidad but am running out of time before this afternoons city tour. I´ll try and get back on asap to get this up to date. I´m still healthy, happy and safe so nothing to worry about.

Take care, Sarah xxxxxxxxx