When I woke up in the morning, I noticed that I'd been feasted on. I went from having about 3 bites to more than 60 small ones over my body, arms and legs. Im guessing bedbugs. Not ideal!

To make things worse the ride to Trinidad ended up being more like 13 hours rather than 9, mainly due to half the bus falling off before we got to Havana. The descent into the town, from the surrounding mountains was stunning though. Mountains to my left, and the sun setting into the ocean to my right.

José Santander, the Casa owner was there to collect me. I joined a Czech couple (Vitek and Theresa) as well as Mark, a Scottish guy who I had met briefly in Havana on my last night there. We chatted away whilst munching on local cheese, crackers and pepper and sipping rum.

The following day we took a catamaran to a small island. For 45CUC we got the Catamaran ride, a great paella lunch, unlimited booze and 45 mins of snorkelling. It took me a while to muster the courage but eventually I went in (with life jacket). It was an amazing feeling to be in the sea. I saw a lot of small black and yellow striped fish, so nothing particularly exciting, but this had certainly whetted my appetite for snorkelling. Mark and I got chatting to Becky, a girl from Essex, as well as a Canadian couple. Time flew by with the rum and flowing freely! We saw some hermit crabs and an Iguana while we ate lunch. That night, Mark, Becky and I went to a Cave club, took an interesting trip in a bicycle taxi (which Mark ended up pushing most of the way) and ended up at the local Casa de Musica.

An early start the next day was not what the doctor ordered. We headed to Topes de Collantes, a waterfall and lagoon in the mountains. It was a 2-mile trek which was hard work, but well worth it. We enjoyed some sandwiches and fresh juice, surrounded by curious chickens before heading back to Trinidad to relax at the Casa.

I'd decided not to visit Cienfuegos (a city on the way back towards Havana) as multiple people had told me it was nothing special. Insead I stayed in Trinidad and had a relaxing day. I walked through the main town square and up a hill to a nice viewpoint. I sat for 30mins with the small city in front of me and ocean/mountains to either side, sun beating down and just the noise of farm animals. On my way back down I came across my first experience of begging in Cuba. Despite the poverty, I had not seen anyone that was homeless or begging until now.

Later I sat in the square and enjoyed a beer with a pork sandwich from a spitroast and read for a while in the sunshine. I enjoyed my time in Trinidad but after 4 days I was ready for a change of scenery.