The final stage of our adventure was upon us as we boarded our bus headed for Varadero. We knew this was the most touristy area of Cuba, but with our only aim being relaxation, we saw no problem with this. We stepped onto the bus, complete with Thomas Cook sign at the front and assessed the other passengers. A variety of ages and outfits, but all had that air about them...that they were on a package holiday.

Varadero is somewhere that has lost or maybe never had any of the Cuban culture, with only 3000 residents and over 30000 tourists daily, you can understand why. It's a peninsula lined with beautiful white sandy beaches, clear blue waters and over 80 all inclusive resorts. You can understand why travel books do not recommend a visit there.

Our hotel was a huge 14 storey building apparently modelled around an Aztec pyramid, although we struggled to see the resemblance. Inside is a huge courtyard with bars, entertainment areas, shops, restaurants and lounges. Outside is a large pool, bars and beach complete with watersports. We imagine it is very much similar to the feel of a cruise ship, with a similar calibre of customer. As it was all inclusive, we acquired our 'Blau Varadero' branding in the form of a bracelet on arrival, we now officially belonged in the hotel. Along with this we acquired a glass of fizz, although lovely and a nice welcome, it was a challenging journey to our room juggling both our luggage and the glass.

We clearly either offended or excited the chamber maid on day one with a 1 CUC (70p) tip as she carefully crafted the towels into the shape of female genitalia and left them on the bed.

We spent four days eating, drinking and enjoying sitting in various places people watching, commenting on extreme sunburn, body habitus, horrific tattoos and inappropriate clothing. We fit in perfectly. By our final day we had our favourite waitress, bar and food stands.

On our final full day we decided to take part in some of the organised games. Archery went fairly well, for Greg at least who managed to come in second place. Then it was 'Happy Time', expecting something similar to the fun water balloon game we had seen two days before, we volunteered ourselves. We were soon on display in front of the whole pool area wearing a pirate outfit. Sadly but not unexpectedly we lost the arm wrestling competition, Claire was put against big mamma so had no chance. We did manage to draw the beer drinking round though. Dirty tactics were used on the balloon popping round and Claire came away with a right big toe half the height it previously was after a large man stamped on it. Robbed of the first prize, we walked away with our runners up cheap bottle of fizz and no dignity.

We spent our final night drinking rum on the beach and trying to boogey at the 'beach disco'. Unfortunately this event had been hijacked by the large group from East London who we assumed knew each other through church. They seemed to have some pull with the dj and so the music being played at the disco was mainly gospel/Christian RnB...nothing we could sing along and boogey to. So after a few rums we headed to bed for the last sleep of our adventure!