Cuba - Havana, Valadero, Santa Clara and Trinidad

Havana

We flew into Havana airport and after a number of checks and rechecks we finally got through customs. It seemed to be a classic case of job creation, with a number of different queues to get through and people all checking the same things over and over again. When we finally got through customs with our bags we were met by a massive crowd of people waiting to receive their loved ones. I’ve never seen that many people in an airport arrivals hall before, it was actually difficult to get through and get to the exit.

We’d pre-booked in to a casa particular (a Cuban peculiarity where someone rents out 1 or 2 rooms in their private home to tourists) in the Vedado suburb of Havana, so we caught a taxi there. On the way we were excited at our first sight of all the old Buicks, Fords and Chevrolets passing us on the road. We arrived at the house and were welcomed by a friendly Cuban man, who promptly told us that the room we had reserved had a problem (plumbing issue caused by the recent hurricane rain), and that he had booked us in to a casa around the corner instead. At this point we were thinking that we weren’t off to a great start in Cuba, what with the flight cancellation, and now the room issue. However we walked about 2 blocks away and he introduced us to the other couple. The room was in a beautiful old house with large rooms and high ceilings, built around an open courtyard. The old couple that owned it were friendly but unfortunately their English wasn’t very good, so the help we’d been expecting to organise our time in Cuba wasn’t forthcoming. Also there were no other tourists staying in the new house, so it was very quiet.

After check in, which involved us providing our passports and visas and signing a kind of vouchers book to confirm our stay, we decided to go for a walk to the Malecon. The Malecon is the street / promenade that runs along Havana’s bay, and we estimated that it was probably about an hour’s walk away. It turned out to be more like 2 hours walk away. One thing we certainly did a lot of in Cuba was walking. Partly because we wanted to have a look around, but mostly because the taxis are just so expensive. It cost us 5CUC for a taxi between the house and Centro Havana, and then another 5CUC to get home again. The coco cab we tried (like a motorbike with a round coconut shaped seat behind it) was even more expensive as the guy put the meter on. What we noticed about most taxis in Havana is that its always cheaper to agree a price with the driver before getting in, and then he won’t put the meter on (in other words he doesn’t declare the income and puts it in his back pocket).

Actually while I’m on the topic, Cuba in general is very expensive. Apart from the taxis, the food and drinks were very expensive as well, especially considering what you get for your money. We had been warned that Havana would be expensive due to the two currencies (Moneda National for locals and Cuban Convertibles or CUC for tourists), but we didn’t realise just how expensive, until we started to experience it for ourselves. You are basically paying UK prices for everything, and in some cases even more. This does come as a bit of a shock when you are walking around a city, which at times looks like its falling down around you. And its more than just the expense, to be honest a lot of the time we felt like people were trying to rip us off / sponge money out of us whenever they could. If it wasn’t the taxi driver claiming he didn’t have any change, it was a restaurant charging CUC when we should clearly have been paying MN.

However I will say that even on that first walk up to the Malecon I was a bit like a kid in a candy store stopping to take photos of all the old art deco buildings, and the classic cars we passed along the way. It is a shame that the vast majority of the buildings have not been maintained, and in some places have even fallen down. However you cant help but think that Havana must have been something really spectacular back in the 1900‘s when all the grand old houses were originally built. PS. Elaine I think you‘d love it here. Saying that, despite their facades even as the buildings stand today with their flaking paintwork, they still give Havana a special feel.

So after our 2 hour trek in the scorching heat (it was very hot and humid) we basically arrived at the Malecon just in time for sunset, to see the buildings of Centro Havana being lit up a golden colour in the distance. There were a load of people just sitting along the bay wall hanging out, drinking and chatting, along with some fisherman casting their lines over the wall in to the ocean. After sunset (and with rather tired feet), we found a local paladar for dinner. Now a paladar is another Cuban peculiarity and is basically where someone is using part of their home as a restaurant. In the one we went to, it was as though they’d put a couple of extra tables in to their conservatory. Looking back, despite the unusual surroundings the food we had there was reasonably good, considering what was yet to come.

The following morning we went looking for the local Cadeca (exchange house) to exchange some of our euros (thanks for the currency tip Nicole). When we got there it turned out to be nothing more than a kind of makeshift wendy house at the side of the road, with a window in it. Afterwards we headed back to the casa to read up on Cuba and plan out the rest of our time (12 days). We decided that since we had 12 days, we would move around a bit and see a couple of different areas. We planned to split our time between Havana, Valadero, Santa Clara and Trinidad, before heading back to Havana for our flight out. Rough plan in hand, we headed back to the original casa we’d booked, to ask him for some help with booking up the casas we would need in the other areas. He was very helpful (despite the fact that we were no longer staying with him) and called ahead to casas in Santa Clara and Trinidad to make the bookings for us. He also wrote down all the details on a piece of paper for us. Lastly he offered us a walking tour of Habana Vieja (literally Habana Old) the following morning, which as it didn’t sound too expensive, we decided to take him up on.

Itenarary planned and casas booked, we went for another walk. This time we walked past the cemetery (we didn’t go inside as they wanted to charge us CUC 5 each), and on to the Plaza Revolution. The plaza is basically, well, a large cemented parking lot kind of area that I understand is used for staging political rallies and the like, and is overlooked by the large metal faces of Guevara and Castro on the sides of buildings. After about 2 minutes of looking at the empty parking lot (I don’t really understand what all the tour buses are doing there for so long?!) we went over the road to the Jose Marti monument, and paid the entrance to have a quick walk around there. Then we took a taxi over to Centro Habana and did a walking tour to look at the old buildings there, some of which were really awesome.

After we’d worked up a bit of a thirst walking again, we stopped at a bar called Floridita (little Florida) to have a strawberry daquiri. This bar claims to have invented the daquiri and was apparently Hemingway’s favourite place for this tipple. There is a life size brass statue of him at the bar (although without a name plaque) so we got a couple of pics with him, before finding out who it was! Whilst on our walking tour its also worth mentioning that we almost got scammed by a couple of locals, who offered to show us to a salsa place nearby but quickly turned off the charm when we refused to buy them any drinks (my fault for being too friendly). Perhaps they were working on commission at the bar, or perhaps their intention had been to get us drunk and mug us, fortunately we’ll never find out. Exhausted by all the walking we took a taxi home.

One thing that really shocked me about Cuba is that no one has any internet access. Apparently regular Cubans are not allowed to have internet access (perhaps lest they realise what they are missing), unless they can prove its necessary for their work. To me its like living in the dark ages and for travellers trying to book their onward accommodation / plan their trip, it’s a nightmare. There are only two ways to get internet access, neither of which are very convenient. You either need to pay a visit to a 5 star hotel (a 10 CUC return taxi ride from us) and use their business lounge facilities (don’t forget your passport at home as we did, or they wont let you on), or try a local branch of ETECSA which may, or may not have computers in it. The hotels we visited actually charged an astounding CUC10 per hour, which was even more than Cancun and by far the most we had paid for internet access so far. On our travels around Cuba we only found one place resembling an internet café (in Trinidad), and the more people that logged in, the slower the connection became. As we had been used to free, readily available Wifi connections up until that point, it came as a bit of a shock to suddenly be cut off. It was also rather inconvenient as we needed to book a hotel in Valadero (they don’t have casa particulars there), not to mention that we needed to contact the travel agent to change our flights from Mexico to LA, due to the Mexicana cancellation. Anyhow as we didn’t have any ID on us that night (so as to prove we were not Cuban), all that would have to wait for another day.

The following morning we went over to the original casa again to meet our tour guide. Somewhat surprisingly he had ordered a taxi to take us in to Habana Vieja. As he had a perfectly good car (a white Llada of course) sitting outside his house, we had assumed that part of the tour would involve him driving us in to town, but apparently not. We also had to stop at the Viazul office to buy some bus tickets for Valadero, and the driver waited outside for us whilst this was going on. When we got to Habana Vieja the taxi driver asked for 10 CUC (double what it would normally cost without the stop, so rather expensive) and instead of paying the taxi driver himself, the casa owner promptly got out of the car, indicating that we should pay the driver. This made it a more expensive tour and we wondered what other hidden costs had not been included in the quoted price! However the casa owner was very knowledgeable about the area and walked us around Havana Vieja for around 3.5 hours, pointing out interesting spots and taking us into all the notable buildings and hotels, so it was worthwhile doing. At one point we went in to a tower to get a great view over Havana and saw a kind of periscope that showed a realtime moving picture of the world outside (very cool and very enemy of the state). Whilst on the tour we also stopped at Havana Club for a tour of how they make their rum (they claim to have invented Rum) from sugar cane in Cuba. The tour included a taster, but I cant say that either Steve or I are big big rum fans and Havana Club did not convert us. We did stop at a chocolate making place (now we’re talking) and one perfumery that will actually make up a unique scent after a consultation with you (what a great idea). Before the tour ended we stopped at a mojito bar where again, Hemingway apparently drank his mojitos. Interestingly they don’t make their mojitos with mint in Cuba, but rather a sort of flower leaf that looks a lot like mint, but doesn’t taste minty. Overall we really loved the old buildings in Habana Viejo, and the Art Noveau work on the doors, windows and stain glass walls in certain hotels along Bishop street were gorgeous. The buildings in Habana Viejo certainly beat the other suburbs in Havana hands down (and in my opinion the remaining areas of Cuba that we would later see).

The other thing that I really liked about Habana Vieja is that pretty much wherever you walk you can hear a little Cuban trio playing music somewhere in a restaurant or hotel lobby. The downside of this more touristy area, is that you do feel a bit harassed when you are trying to walk around. There was one guy that starting following Steve around playing a guitar, and although Steve said no thanks a number of times, he refused to stop playing and then got a bit aggressive 2 minutes later when we wouldn’t pay him for his music. There were always people asking us for money, or trying to sell us something, or offer us a taxi, pretty much whenever we stood still for more than 10 seconds to have a look around, which was a bit of a pain.

After the tour we grabbed a quick lunch and then walked around attempting to draw some more cash from an ATM. After trying all of our cards at various ATMs around town and getting the same ‘Transaction Cancelled’ message, we finally figured out that you can’t use a Switch Card, or a Mastercard in a Cuban ATM. This was rather unfortunate as neither of us had a VISA card, and nor did we have enough CUC to last us for the entire duration of our trip. However, passport in hand, we did manage to find a hotel that would give us internet access, so we managed to email the travel agent regarding our flight change, and started the search for a hotel in Valadero. The trouble with trying to book a hotel in Cuba, is that none of the hotels seem to have an online booking facility (probably because Cubans don’t have internet access). Because of this we had to send off availability requests to a number of different hotels, in the hope that one of them would reply with a confirmation the following day (queue another days internet quest and expense). That night we managed to find an Italian place for dinner that made a good spaghetti (result), before getting a cab back to the casa.

Next day we had to check the internet again to see if any of the hostels in Valadero had replied. They had not, so we had to do another search and managed to find an agent with an online booking system for a cheap all inclusive hotel in Valadero - result. So we booked it in the knick of time. Then we went for lunch at pan.com which wasn’t too bad. The friendly owner got chatting to us and told us they didn’t get many saffers around them parts. As the cliché goes half of the options on the menu were currently unavailable, however they made us some tasty pork hamburgers and even managed to rustle up some surprise fries (no ketchup but you cant have everything, and especially not in Cuba). Afterwards we went to Coppelia for an ice cream and I had the worst choc mint ice cream I‘ve ever had in my life. Those of you in the know will remember that I’m not a big fan of chocolate ice cream and it was basically 2 scoops of chocolate ice cream with a drizzle of mint sauce over the top. Now how can you call that choc mint? Then we went for another walk and saw Cuba’s version of the Empire State building and a memorial with Walter Sisulu’s name on it. That evening we took a taxi over to the fort to see the Canon ceremony at 9pm, which was awesome and definitely a highlight of our trip. They actually light a real canon and even though I knew it was coming that big bang still scared the life out of me. Afterwards we grabbed a quick dinner inside the fort walls (a memorably bad one of chicken and chips, where the chips were like tasteless pieces of stale cardboard) before taxiing back to the casa.

And now a couple of general notes about the odd bits and pieces around Cuba…There is no advertising anywhere. I suppose when everything is owned by the state and there is no competition, then there is little point in spending money on advertising, or for that matter attractive packaging. The cafeterias (like a small informal restaurant, think old melamine tables and wicker chairs) are pretty much all named the same thing (cafeteria) which makes it difficult to know what sort of food they would have on offer. And they don’t bother with silly things like menus, they just display the three dishes they are making that day in a case outfront. The one we went to was making Margherita pizza, a ham and cheese roll, and a hamburger, none of which looked appealing, so we ended up with a very soggy pizza for lunch. Also all the products seem to come in the same rubbish packaging (e.g shampoo / shower gel). Not to mention the bizarre stores, which rather than a traditional supermarket set up, all seem to have a shopkeeper standing behind a glass cabinet, so that you have to ask them for each and every item you want (not easy with limited Spanish). And if you can find a corner shop for some snacks, the chances are they will all have the same 3 types of fizzy drinks TuCola, Lemon and Naranje and 2 packets of ancient looking biscuits. PS I could never live here as they only seem to have one type of crisps (called Papitas, or Chips) and they taste like cardboard. Nuff said.

The next morning we got up early and took a taxi to the bus station and then got the Viazul bus to Varadero, which is about 2.5 hours away. Varadero is kind of like a poor mans Cancun, and is basically a beach resort on the South coast of Cuba. Steve tells me it was a lovely ride along the Cuban coast to get there, although I couldn’t tell you as I was asleep most of the way. What is interesting about the Cuban bus journeys is that the bus driver seems to stop wherever the fancy takes him, at cafeterias along the way so that he can buy himself a drink / have a snack. Although since the bus stations don’t usually sell any food, this is not always a bad thing.

Valadero

So after a short bus ride we arrived in Valadero, where we valiantly thought that we could walk to our hotel carrying our bags. However it was stiflingly hot so after about 3 blocks in the blazing sun, we had to stop and hail a taxi. Now I should say that the hotel itself wasn’t too bad, as it had a pool, an open bar providing as much rum as you could drink, and was a short walk over the road to a fantastic Caribbean beach. However the hotel was filled with some very odd clientele, which I suppose might be what you get when you go for the cheapest all inclusive option. We saw lots of old/ fat men with some very young, pretty girls, a couple of threesomes and at one point a drunken brawl broke out by the pool. Needless to say we kept ourselves to ourselves.

On the upside as the hotel was all inclusive we did stuff ourselves with food for 2 days. The buffet wasn’t too bad compared with the food we’d had in Havana. So we basically spent two days lying around the pool / by the seaside reading our books. This was a welcome break after all the walking we had done in Havana and the beach there was great. White sand, free loungers, free drinks from the beach bar and warm blue water - yippee! On the Wednesday afternoon we stopped at the hotel tour desk and found out that the Buena Vista Social Club were playing that same night, and she could get us tickets for their Premium seats. The Premium seats meant that they would collect us in a classic car, and take us to a private bar before the concert, where we could meet the band and get some autographs, before going on to see the show. Needless to say we were very excited, and practically snapped her hand off to get them. So that night a proper Cuban character (chatting the whole way) came to collect us in his 1940’s open top car, and we did indeed get to chat to the band and we bought a CD so that we could get all their autographs. One of the original Buena Vista Social Club members was there and I managed to get a photo with him as well, which was very exciting. Then we went on to see the show (third row from the front) and they were fantastic. Only the first and last songs were the recognisable Buena Vista stuff, but the rest of it was great too, the band had a great energy about them and we even got up and danced for the last couple, before being driven back to our hotel in the 1940‘s car again. This was definitely the highlight of our Cuba trip for me.


Some general notes about Valadero. We noticed that they have curly tailed lizards. We saw one big fat bright green lizard (about 20 cms in length) that had a big tail all curled up just like a puppy. And later a more black and green coloured one of a similar size with another curled up tail. It certainly makes a lizard look a lot cuter, which of course, must be why they’ve evolved that way on the island lol.
Its true that Valadero is nothing like Havana. Well apart from the old cars and the Spanish lingo. You don’t have the same old buildings, and it just didn’t have the same feel. However it does have a long white sandy beach and some beautiful blue Caribbean water, so its great for downtime.

After 2 decadent days we got up at 06h30 the following morning and headed for the bus station to get some tickets for Santa Clara. Again the bus drivers stopped here and there for whatever they felt the need for and after about 3 hours we arrived in Santa Clara. Now if you haven’t heard of Santa Clara before, it is basically renowned for being the burial place of Che Guevara / generally the spot for Che fans.

Santa Clara

As the man in our Havana casa had called to make the booking, we had been promised that a man would collect us from the bus station, bearing a sign with our names on it. However surprise surprise there was no one there when we arrived, so we walked out to get a taxi and were followed around by a woman trying to sell us another casa (very aggressive) so I ended up shouting at her (No Me Moleste ie don’t bother me) which seemed to do the trick. Our first impressions of Santa Clara were Not great. Frankly it looked like a right sh*t hole from the bus station. It doesn’t have the appeal of the beautiful old buildings of Havana Viejo, and the buildings that are there, are also in much need of repair. We did manage to get an old buick taxi to the casa which was pretty cool (massive back seat, door handles only open from the outside by putting your hand out the window) and on arrival the casa owners were very friendly.

Again we did a lot of walking in Santa Clara, and it was a bit more manageable as it is smaller than Havana. The prices were a bit cheaper as well, which came as a welcome relief after Havana. Santa Clara is a little more off the beaten track, so we didn’t see as many other tourists, and felt less harassed by people trying to get money off us / sell us stuff. We went to Dinos for pizza on the first day (not great), and then went looking for internet access to check if our new flight was confirmed. That night we had a couple of cheese burgers for dinner which was a real rip off, and then went for a walk around the plaza and saw an orchestra of about 20 people playing for no real reason (fab). We sat in the square for a bit and listened to the band and there were lots of people sitting around even though it was evening. The scene was very quaint / sociable, and it guess it comes from all the people in the small town knowing each other.

The next morning we took a horse drawn cart to the Che Mauseleum and Memorial. Unfortunately no cameras were allowed inside and someone asked Steve to take his cap off. We did go inside the mausuleum and see the wall where Che’s bones are buried, alongside a number of his other comrades. The walls and roof are made of the same rough stone and it gives you the feeling you are in a darkened cave.

Then we had lunch at La Concha which was pretty good for Cuba. Steve got enough pork schnitzel for 3 and I had the shredded beef. Then we went to buy our bus tickets for Trinidad and took another horse drawn cart back to the park, to have a look at the schedule at Mejunje. Now I should mention that Mejunje is a club that the guidebook recommended. On the walk back to the casa we went to see the Boxcar museum, which is where Che blew up a train just before taking over Santa Clara, and then we stopped to see the Boulevard, which is basically one street lined with a couple of restaurants (?) and ’shops’.

Lastly we went to Cubatour to get tickets for the cigar factory the following morning. Another thing worth mentioning is that the service is dire in Cuba, the woman selling us the tour tickets spent about 30 seconds with us and was extremely offhand about the whole thing. We had a similar experience in the cigar shop, and the Viazul office as well.

However that night we had dinner at the casa and they made us lobster, which was slightly overcooked by still pretty good and a welcome surprise. Then we headed out and saw a great local band playing in a pub next to the square while drinking mojitos. It was a very informal session with a lot of local people dancing and was very cool (the different between the more touristy Habana Viejo and Santa Clara is that there were very few tourists there). Despite our initial impression, Santa Clara was definitely growing on us.

The next morning we got up early for our tour of the cigar factory. We had a local woman take us on to the factory floor where we got to see a woman actually press the tobacco leaves together and then on to the pressing process and the wrapping and packaging processes which was very cool. However seeing the 200 + people sitting in the factory making the cigars came as a bit of a shocker. It was a pretty unpleasant place to be, and with wages very low, the only upside I could see was the little old man with the microphone reading them the daily newspaper. Its times like those we were very grateful for what we had back home. As I alluded to earlier, we did visit the cigar factory across the way, and despite the terrible service, we did buy a couple of Monte Cristo cigars to send back home as a souvenir.

We had some lunch on the boulevard and the went for a walk to see the statue of Che carrying a baby, and then up the National Monument hill to see the view over Santa Clara, which was good. Then we walked back down to the boulevard and decided to go looking for some toilet paper (its handy to have your own roll as restaurants often don’t provide any, youre lucky if you get a toilet seat). Unfortunately all we could find in the store was a 12 pack so it was a no go. Then a bit more walking around a musuem that wasn’t very good and featured a collection of period furniture like a house. We did later manage to get a cardboard box (from a shop) and some packaging tape (after trying 3 different stores), so that we could box up and try to post the cigars back home. Then we went to the first post office in Santa Clara and tried to post the box, but they said they couldn’t send as the box had some writing on the outside, and we would need to cover it with paper (strike 1)!

After a forgetful dinner on the Boulevard, we went to club Mejunje, which rather surprisingly turned out to be a bit like gay pride except on a smaller scale. Who would have thought that that many gay men and drag queens could be found in a relatively small Cuban town? We managed to meet an interesting character named Geraldo (who managed to get us bumped past the queue) and introduced us to a few friends inside, so we danced with them for a while which was fun. At one point there was one drag queen that was desperate to pick up Steve (much to his dismay), so I had to keep dancing with Steve, to get him to back off lol. Frankly those Cubans know how to party, and party they did. I looked hard and I couldn’t see any inhibitians anywhere, although being primarily a gay club could have something to do with that. Towards the end of the evening Geraldo actually tried to give me his phone number in front of Steve, and he knew full well we were married, so I’m not sure where he was expecting to go with that?! Anyway we had a fun night out, and we hadn’t been out dancing in a while. The Cubans are big fans of something called Reggaeton, and although I cant say it’s a new favourite, it did have a good dance beat.

So after our big night out, the following morning we caught another Viazul bus to Trinidad.

Trinidad

Once again we arrived in the sorching heat, only this time a man really was there to meet us as promised. We dropped our bags off and went looking for some lunch, which ended up being in a kind of internet café (yes the only one we found in Cuba). Steve had a hamburger on toast (no jokes) and I had the worlds worst spaghetti which tasted like it had been made with tomato sauce and took about an hour to arrive. Then we had an ice cream while we walked up to the Plaza de Mayo which is a lovely quite little square with an old church at the back of it. There was a man playing the guitar on the corner when we got there and it was lovely. Afterwards we headed back to the internet café to try and find a hostel in LA, only to find out that you cant actually book anything from Cuba (the websites are blocked / give you an error!). Then we went to the supermarket to get some water and on the way back to the casa we got caught in a real downpour. We tried to wait it out in a doorway, but after about a half an hour it had not abated, so we had to make a run for it and got completely soaked through. As we didn’t want to head out again in the rain, we had a light dinner of chocolate biscuits in the casa (its no wonder my skins turning in to a right mess).

The following morning we had an enormous breakfast at the casa (this particular casa also offered food). In fact, if you said No to their food, they actually tried to find out why you had declined and convince you of how good their food was. We told them that we need to go out and find some wrapping paper for our parcel, and they kindly gave us some of theres (this must be a common thing in Cuba). So we wrapped the parcel and then headed back to the post office to try and post it again, only to then be told that they couldn’t send international parcels from that post office (strike 2).

Feeling slightly annoyed by his point, we went to the Museum Historico and walked up the tower for a great view for Trinidad (very cool). Then we went for an expensive lunch which wasn’t very good (camarones and rice overcooked, took ages to arrive, and was rather expensive (back to Havana prices in Trinidad).

By this point we were really wondering what all the fuss was about re. the architecture in Trinidad. According to the guidebook it was meant to be better than Habana Viejo, but we hadn’t seen any evidence of that. Then we walked back to the Plaza de Mayo, and just above that we found an older area of houses that were a little easier on the eye. However in my opinion the buildings in Havana Viejo are still tops. Then we came back to the casa and they made us a chicken dinner, which was pretty good. We have learnt that the best dinners in Cuba are in the casa’s, rather than the resturants. Afterwards we went out and saw a terrible band and some dancers supposedly doing the congo. Then we went to the plaza and saw another Buena band that were pretty good. Although of course, not as good as the real thing.

For our last day in Trinidad we took a coco taxi to Playa Ancon, which is their local beach, and it was our favourite beach in Cuba. Again with the white sand and beautiful warm blue water, but this time a quieter more relaxed atmosphere.

The following morning we took a bus back to Havana (5 hours) and went back to the same casa. Then we walked to the post office in Havana to try and post the parcel, only to be told that we would have to go to the next post office as they didn’t do parcels there (strike 3 and by this point we are fuming). So we got a taxi to post office number 4 (it wasn’t close) and went to the international post window to try and send the by now much hated parcel. This time the woman takes the neatly paper wrapped parcel from us and actually starts to slit it open with a knife. We ask her what the *&^^ she was doing, and she said that she needed to inspect everything inside the parcel. So she takes out each carefully wrapped item and has a good look at it. Eventually when she gets to the cigars she says we cant send those, as only the cigar factory can send them, and we are just about ready to murder her right there. In the end they wanted to charge us 70 UDS to send only half the contents of the parcel, so we took it all back and walked away from there, very very frustrated with the Cuban postal system and the once neatly wrapped parcel, open in our arms (strike 4). We would just have to take the contents along to LA with us, and try to post it again from there.

All in all I would say that Cuba is the most interesting country we have visited thus far, because it makes you question all of the things you take for granted back home. I constantly found myself wondering where the majority of our everyday products were sourced from back home, and we marvelled at how resourceful a country can be when its practically cut off from the rest of the world (they even have their own brand of Cola!).

We loved the old cars and old buildings in Havana Viejo, and not to mention the fantastic music. However due to the costs, the lack of internet access, the fact that the ATMs didn’t work, and how difficult it was to find a decent meal, it is not a very easy place for a traveller and we were pretty relieved to be heading on to LA the following morning. Roll on our first English speaking country in 4 months!

Mexico - Cancun

The day before our flight to Cancun we noticed on our tickets that we were flying via Miami. Then we found out that even transferring passengers through Miami need an ESTA visa waiver form (online application takes 72 hours to process - ie too late). After an initial panic we realised that we could probably make use of the ESTA forms we had pre-arranged for our time in L.A. in a couple of weeks. We made the application before they implemented the mandatory online fee for the visa waiver. Now I ask you, what good is a visa waiver programme, if you have to apply online, pay a fee and wait 72 hours for your application to be processed? Doesn’t that sound a lot like a visa application to you?

Anyway, the following morning we caught our flight to Miami. We were scheduled to have about 4 hours in Miami airport before our connecting flight, which we though would be plenty of time. What we didn’t realise is that there is no such thing as a transferring passenger in Miami airport. We had to collect our bags, go through the rigorous bag security checkpoint and queue for customs again (they didn’t even ask for the ESTA), which due to the queues in the airport, ended up taking 2 hours to get through. I felt a bit sorry for the people that were transferring with only an hour between their flights, as they looked very stressed running up and down asking for an express customs queue (yes there was one, but it was just as long as all the others). Mental note: do not ‘transfer’ through Miami airport again.

On arrival at Cancun airport we came across some very helpful airport information guys, who directed us to the local Ado airport bus that took us in to Cancun central, saving us some money on a taxi fare. We then managed to follow the hostel’s walking directions from the terminal terrestre to the hostel (result). We had one night in a regular old hostel and the following morning we took a local white minivan taxi along the highway to the Mayan Riviera, which is about halfway between Cancun and Playa del Carmen. As I probably mentioned before Mum Connellan had kindly given us a weeks worth of accommodation in a resort along the Riviera, so we were looking forward to a week of luxury after three months of hostel living. But first we had to get to the hotel lobby…

The local minivan taxi had rather unceremoniously dropped us along the side of the highway, just opposite the impressive entrance gate of the hotel (granted the minivan was cheap). So we picked up our bags and started to dash across the large highway (cars flying by). However, midway my cap somehow managed to come off my head and then bounced down the highway as a few cars and finally a large passenger bus ran over it. Steve eventually managed to retrieve it for me when the traffic slowed a bit, although it is now slightly worse for wear, with a bit of bus tread running over the peak! Lol. Then we ran the last gambit over to the gate, and asked the security guys if there was a shuttle service to take us into the lobby. They informed us that the next shuttle would be along in 5 hours time, and offered to order us a taxi that would take around 30 mins to arrive from Playa del Carmen. We of course declined and decided to walk our way in to the lobby (how far can it be?), bags and all, which the security guards had clearly never seen before. None the less on we marched, along the pristine golf course, passed the big fountain and on to lobby. Our first impressions of the hotel were fantastic - manicured gardens and fountains and a very impressive lobby - now this is more like it!

There was a slight confusion at the check in desk, as the hotel had actually reserved 12 different rooms for us (as in 24 people), so we had to explain that it was really just the two of us, and they could release the other rooms they had. As it was we still had 2 large double rooms, with a kitchen and living area in between them, so we had plenty of space to roam around. At last a decent bed with soft sheets, a hot shower with decent water pressure, fluffy towels, and a TV with English speaking channels - what bliss! Due to the kitchen and living area (couches in front of the telly YAY) it actually felt like we had an apartment for the week, rather than a hotel room and it was great to have some home comforts again whilst on the road. That first afternoon we went for a walk around the expansive hotel grounds (it was possible to get lost and we did) and checked out the beautiful pools and the beach. On that first day when we sat down next to the pool we felt a bit like impostors, and were half expecting a passing attendant to come over and say ‘Excuse me, but what are you doing here?’. I think that comes from 3 months of staying in hostels and suddenly being upgraded. I did notice 2 woman by the pool who had a bit too much work done to their faces ala Joan Rivers. Fortunately the impostor syndrome soon wore off and we were sipping pina coladas at the pool bar in no time.

On the morning of day 2 we went for an optional sales presentation, so that we could get a free buffet breakfast and a discount on our room charges (you can take us out of the hostel, but you cant take the hostel out of us lol). Then we spent a bit of time at the pool, before catching the hotel shuttle in to Playa del Carmen, so that we could go to the Walmart. After our walk around we thought that the restaurants inside the resort were a little pricey, so we decided to stock up on groceries and try to make use of the kitchen at our disposal. While we were in Walmart we also found a tour agency desk, so we booked ourselves on a tour of Chichen Itza (the Mayan pyramid ruins) and a Swim with the dolphins afternoon (another first). The grocery shopping turned out to be a great idea, as we saved loads by eating breakfast and dinner in our ‘apartment’ on most days.

On the Monday we went on the Chichen Itza tour, which actually consisted of a first stop at an underground cave (cenote) with a natural pool, then a stop at a souvenir shop and a stop for lunch, and after lunch we sent to Chichen Itza in the Yucatan (which was actually a good 2.5 hour drive from the resort). Chichen Itza is jokingly referred to as Chicken Pizza which I found pretty handy in remembering the name. Chichen Itza was very impressive and we had a great tour guide (good English) who walked us around for an hour and gave us an overview of the Mayan ruins. I was surprised to learn that the Mayan pyramid, unlike the Egyptian pyramids, did not contain any dead bodies, and was actually used as a kind of calendar to indicate when it was time to plant and reap (at the solstice). Our guide also managed to demonstrate the feather serpent coming down from the top of the pyramid and retreating back up again which was cool. As was the bird sound that the pyramid makes when you stand at the bottom and clap your hands. The Mayans (like the Incas) where obviously a clever bunch. Unfortunately by the time the guide had finished walking us around, we only had 45 minutes left to walk around the ruins on our own, before we had to head back to the bus, which I didn’t feel was nearly enough time. There are actually a number of ruins around the famous Mayan pyramid at Chichen Itza and we found ourselves racing around from one to the next. However I’m glad that we got to see the pyramid, as Chichen Itza wasn’t actually something on our original ‘must do’ travel list, but more of an unexpected travel bonus! We also picked up a couple of souvenirs that we are posting back to the UK. However we were a bit shocked to find out the cost of postage…it actually cost more than double the price of the souvenirs to send them back to the UK - ouch! However as we don’t have any room in our backpacks, we don’t have much choice - either refrain from buying souvenirs altogether, or post them back when we do.

The following day we didn’t do very much other than sit around the pool , soak up some Cancun rays and read our books. Steve is on book 3 of the Stieg Larsson trilogy (as recommended by me) and I have just started Eat Pray Love, which promises to be an entertaining read. By the way Kerstin W if you are reading this, then the author’s writing style reminds me of you. She is hilariously funny, rather detailed and very self aware, I reckon if you haven’t read this book already you would like it. The only other notable thing about Tuesday was that by the time we got back to our rooms, someone had slipped a wee note under our doors to say that Hurricane Paula was approaching and that we were at a hurricane warning level 2 (whatever that means, Im guessing its similar to a defcon 1) and that the pools and most of the restaurants / activities at the resort were going to be closed the following day. Call me an idiot, but having never seen / been in a hurricane before, I was kind of curious to see what one might look like from the safety of our ‘built to withstand a hurricane‘ room.

However we happened to be booked on the Swimming with Dolphins trip on the Wednesday afternoon. As luck would have we were driven about 45 minutes away from the storm to Dolphin Discovery where it wasn’t throwing it down with rain and it just looked like any other sunny day. We had an awesome time swimming with the dolphins. We got to stroke them and kiss them on the nose. Then we got pulled along by a dolphin swimming on its back, and lastly we got pushed along by 2 synchronised dolphins while on a boogie board (one nose pushing each foot!). My only complaint is that we weren’t allowed to take any cameras with us (well I guess it would have been difficult since we were in the water). There was a resident photographer sent out to snap pictures of us doing the various activities. However when we came out and went to view the photos (the ones of us kissing the dolphins were very cute), they told us that the CD of photos was going to cost USD100. This came as a bit of a shock, seeing as we’ve bought a CD of photos before for around USD25. Worse still we just didn’t have the necessary USD100 on us, and we hadn’t brought any credit cards along, so in the end the choice was taken out of our hands. We did walk around the pools afterwards and get a couple of photos of the dolphins from alongside the pools, so we will just have to make do with those pics instead. It wasn’t until later that night when we got home, that I realised I had left my trusty sunglasses somewhere at Dolphin Discovery. We are still trying to recover them, but in the meantime I like to picture Keekoo the young male dolphin swimming around with them perched on the end of his nose. He will clearly be the coolest dolphin in the pool wearing my rap around black ray bans. By the time we got back to the hotel that night, we had another note under our door to say that the hurricane was passing and the activities were back on, so it was all over very quickly and not nearly as windy/rainy as I had expected.

Thursday was our last day in the resort, and we had a bit of boring admin to sort out before leaving. We basically spent the day doing laundry, posting souvenirs, getting forex, updating the blog and sorting out important emails. Unfortunately even though we’ve been gone for over 3 months now, every now and then the odd council tax bill / RAC membership renewal letter pops up demanding a response. Thanks go to Mum Taylor for kindly receiving and scanning in all our post.

First thing Friday morning we had some cereal for brekky (another bonus of having a kitchen for a whole week - we don’t get to eat much cereal nowadays) and taxied to Cancun airport for our Cuba flight. All good things must come to an end, and we paid a sad farewell to our luxurious room and life of comfort. Thanks again to Mum Connellan for a fab gift.

When we got to Cancun airport, our 13h10 Mexicana flight to Cuba was, rather ominously, not showing on the departure board. The more informed among you may remember the name Mexicana from the news a while back, as they just happened to go bust about a week after we booked our flights with them in August. However this was Not news to us on the day, and we had contacted Opodo earlier in the week to check if our flight was still on. Opodo informed us that some Mexicana flights were still running and ours was scheduled to depart on time (A Okay). Unfortunately this couldn’t have been further from the truth, as there was nary a soul to be found at the Mexicana check in desk, or the Mexicana Tickets Sales counter when we arrived at the airport. Nor was there any sign / sort of information around regarding Mexicana to tell unsuspecting passengers what was going on. It was left to the Airport Information man to tell us that Mexicana had stopped flying from Cancun about 2 months before. Needless to say we were Not very impressed with Opodo customer services at that point. We were basically left standing in Cancun airport with all our luggage at 10h00 on the Friday morning without a flight. We then spent the next hour running around between the different operators in the airport, to try and find ourselves another flight to Cuba leaving on the same day. We did manage to get ourselves on a 12h30 flight, however as we bought the tickets last minute they were at much inflated prices - grrrr - complaint already in with Opodo! It was quite a relief once our luggage was finally checked in and we made our way through to the boarding gates. So it’s a short flight before our Cuban adventure begins…but more about that later.

In the meantime you folks have been busy at home and congratulations go out to Ryan and Ann, Nicky and Grant, Wendy and Cyril & Dimitri and Anna on their new bundles of joy, as well as Jessica and David on their big day.

Love to all at home,
Kirst x

Equador - Guayaquil and the Galapagos Islands

After a much delayed 11 hour bus journey we arrived into Lima on a Friday night in heavy traffic. The first taxi driver we asked outside the bus station wanted 60 pesos to take us to our hostel near the airport, which we considered highway robbery so we politely declined and went back inside to consider our options. Since we had been to Lima before and had an idea of where we were heading, we thought around 30 pesos (or less) would be more reasonable, so Steve tried again and managed to find a taxi driver that agreed to take us for 20 pesos. So in we clamoured, not before giving the taxi driver the full address of the hostel written on a piece of paper.

After 2 hours of driving around various areas of Lima looking for the street, our taxi driver (who hablo absolutely no Ingles) starting pulling over and asking strangers for directions. At this point we got the notebook out and found the phone number of the hostel, thinking they could give him directions in spanish. However his phone had no credit, and we were not about to double the cost of our taxi by offering him our UK mobile, so we had to stop at one of those telephone kiosk places so that he could make the call. So he comes back out smiling and looking like he knows where it is now, but then says that we need to pay him more (now 50 pesos) for him to take us there as its on the other side of town. We said that we didn’t understand him, and that we would use the hostel staff to translate when we got there.

On arrival at the hostel, I got the woman to come out and speak to the taxi driver, who she confirmed was now saying that our tour of Lima would cost us 50 pesos, which is the going rate for 2 hours in a taxi. We of course argued that it was not our fault that he didn’t know where he was going and took us on a wild goose chase, and that we had agreed a price of 20 pesos and given him the full address. At which point he claimed that we had said the wrong street name when we got in to the taxi, and his eyes weren’t very good to read the paper! In the end we had to pay him 30 pesos to get rid of him, and it was all very frustrating after the long exhausting bus journey. The moral of the story is that we’ve learnt that all taxi drivers in South America are rip off artists and cannot be trusted as far as you can throw them.

We had one night in the Lima hostel and the following morning we caught our flight to Guayaquil and then taxied to the hostel (this one thankfully less eventful). We arrived at the hostel around 12h00 on the Saturday, checked in and went to see the attached travel agency to hear about their Galapagos tours as we hadn‘t booked anything yet. We had been warned about how expensive a 1 week tour of the Galapagos Islands could be, but it was still a bit of a shock to see the prices written up on the travel agents board for each boat. Even more so considering that the flights and Galapagos Park fees were not included in the cruise price. However the travel agent managed to find us a fairly reasonable 5 day cruise (as opposed to an 8 day) on a small catamaran (sleeps 10) and said that the catamaran should be more stable than a regular boat, to allay my concerns about seasickness. Having never slept on a boat before, and having had seasickness a few times in the past, I asked them how big the swell would be, and the woman in the agency said that the water in the Galapagos is like the top of a teacup! So we said thanks, we would consider the tour on offer and get back to them after shopping around a bit. It was at this point that we were told that all the other travel agencies in the city were likely to be closed, as they were not generally open on a Saturday afternoon, and that they would only open again on the Monday morning. This was not terribly convenient for us, as we’d wanted to get on a cruise leaving ASAP. As it turned out most boats stopped at a port either on a Wednesday or a Sunday, so we would probably have to wait for the Wednesday to start a cruise.

The following day (Sunday) with time to kill and not much else to do, we caught a local bus in to the city to have a look around Guayaquil and our first impressions were that, like most city centres, it was a bit grimy. However we walked up to the river and got some lunch along the new river promenade , which was quite nice. Then we walked over to the Iguana Park, which was a bit of a surprise and is quite literally a park filled with iguanas all over the place. Iguanas in the trees, iguanas on the grass, and iguanas walking on the footpaths. We quickly learned that it’s not a good idea to stand underneath the trees looking up at the iguanas! I will mention that I felt quite uncomfortable walking around the city, as all the local men were staring at me everywhere I went like I was some sort of alien. Literally turning their heads all the way around and watching us until we were out of sight. Now I might have taken this as some sort of compliment (as in yeah baby I‘ve still got it!), but it was all just rather sleazy / creepy as they weren’t doing it with a friendly smile on their faces, and they didn’t look away embarrassed, when you looked right back at them…they just kept on following us with their eyes. Perhaps I was just the whitest human they had ever seen, as they were all pretty tanned in them parts! Anyway it was enough to make me feel pretty uncomfortable and weirded out.

At around 5pm we walked back to the local bus stop, as marked on the map from our hostel. Well it was more of a major intersection than an actual bus stop, as buses stop anywhere you hail them in Equador. However there were loads of local people standing around and loads of buses pulling over so we knew we were in the right place. Unfortunately we had just seen our bus pulling away so we knew we would have a longer wait for the next one. After standing around for about 20 minutes, with still no sign of our bus, we had a rather unpleasant surprise. In broad daylight, with loads of locals standing around us, some little scumbag actually tried to mug Steve! He basically grabbed Steve’s t-shirt and starting pulling, while he then tried to get Steve’s wallet out of his pocket with the other hand. There was a bit of pushing and shoving and when Steve grabbed his wrist, he let go and then rather casually walked away from us. He didn’t actually manage to get anything or hurt Steve, but it was a shock all the same. It all happened very quickly and I will say that none of the locals standing around us tried to intervene. We made a hasty retreat and hailed a taxi to get the hell out of there. It was just as well we did, because as we got in to the taxi we saw the very same little scumbag crossing over the street. He was probably coming back around to have another go. Frankly we were flabbergasted - broad daylight with people standing all around us - what a cheek!

The following day (Monday) we got a taxi back in to the city centre (we decided to give the local buses a miss after our lovely experience the previous day) and went straight to another of the travel agencies listed in our book, to compare tours. Frankly the tours they had on offer couldn’t come close to the catamaran the hostel offered, so we got straight back in another taxi and headed to the hostel to book the tour, before the last two spots on the boat were taken. There was a bit of rigmarole involved in booking the tour as we had to walk to the local shopping centre, get the cash out of an ATM machine (which would only accept one of our cards) and then go in to a local bank branch and deposit the cash into their account, before the bank closed. Then back to the hostel to show them the deposit slip as proof of payment, so that they could arrange the rest with the boat and book our flights from Guayaquil to Santa Cruz island in the Galapagos. We booked a flight for first thing the next morning, so that we could spend the extra day waiting for the tour to start on Santa Cruz. Frankly neither of us liked Guayaquil and we couldn’t wait to get out of there. In hindsight we really should have flown directly to Santa Cruz and then arranged a tour from there, as the island was far more beautiful / tourist friendly, and there were far more tour agencies offering cruises along the main road.

So the following morning we packed our bags and caught our flight out to Santa Cruz. The only interesting thing about the Guayaquil departure lounge is that you have to scan your bags through some sort of environmental agent killer and get a tag , before you can check in with your airline. The powers that be in the Galapagos are very concerned about people introducing new plants / animals etc on to their islands.

Santa Cruz airport has a tiny one room arrivals hall, and we had to pay the Galapagos park entrance fee (100 USD) at the passport control before they’d let us in. Then we managed to walk right out in to the waiting area without picking up our bags (no baggage signs), so we had to get security to let us back in again. They basically have a tractor with a pulley on it, pull your bags in to an adjacent room. Then they have a dog sniff all the bags, before they will let you go in to pick it up. Anyway bags retrieved we walked outside to find a load of buses queuing to take passengers away. After a short bus trip, then a short ferry ride, and then another 45 minute bus trip we finally arrived in the centre of Santa Cruz.

We had emailed a hostel in Santa Cruz the day before, but they hadn’t replied, so we walked up to the hostel to ask about availability. Unfortunately our first choice hostel was already booked up, so we had to walk around and try another one, which had space, so we checked in. Who needs a reservation anyway? As we wanted to make the most of our free half day before the tour started, we grabbed a quick lunch and then hired a couple of mountain bikes from a local shop. The lady suggested that we could get a taxi to the lava tunnels and tortoise reserve, and then cycle back to Puerta Ayora, as it was ‘all downhill on the way back’ and should take around 45 minutes. So we hailed one of the white Hilux bakkies (all taxis on the island are white Hilux bakkies, or pickup trucks), put our bikes in the back, and off we went to the lava tunnels.

We were both pretty impressed with the lava tunnel, which is basically a long underground tunnel that was formed by lava flowing through it. We basically walked down some steps in to a sort of underground cave and then along a large tunnel that was easily large enough for us to walk around in for about 20 minutes, to reach the other side. The tunnel is so perfectly formed, with a round roof that you could be forgiven for thinking it was man made. Apart from the fact that the ground is all uneven and made up of boulders of volcanic rock.

After the lava tunnels we retrieved our bikes (tied up against a tree) and cycled to the tortoise reserve at the end of a long dirt road. The tortoise reserve was basically a farm with walking paths running through it here and there, so that you could walk along the paths and see the giant tortoises. Some of them were monsters and we snuck off the path here and there to get a couple of photos with them. However they were pretty shy and made some weird hissing noises at us when we got too close to them, retreating into their shells. I suppose when you are that big and slow you don’t really have a lot of options in terms of self defence! It was cool to be able to watch them up close though, as they slowly tug at vegetation to feed themselves. There were also a couple of large tortoise shells at the entrance to the farm, that were actually big enough for us to climb inside and get a photo. I didn’t realise that the tortoise’s spine is actually fused to the inside of the shell, but you could see the spine inside there at the top of the shell - very cool. When we’d finished walking around the farm we stopped for a coke at the cafeteria who were just closing up (by this time it was around 5pm) and then we headed back to our bikes to start the ride back. We had figured it would take us around an hour to get back, so a reasonable 6pm and well in time to return the bikes before they closed up shop at 8pm.

However after about 10 minutes of some serious uphill puffing, on a rocky dirt road we realised that the ride home wasn’t going to be as easy as the bikeshop woman had let on. I got off the bike to check the brakes and realised that the brakes were permanently ‘on’ and that the wheels didn’t actually spin when you turned them - no wonder it was such hard work going uphill- I was fighting the brakes the whole way! This combined with the fact that the bike seat had started slipping backwards all the time, making it almost impossible to sit properly and reach the handlebars- argghh! Steve had a similar problem with his brakes, and after a couple of tries, we decided that the only thing for it, was to walk the uphill dirt road part, until we got to the tarred road again, which would hopefully all be downhill, as promised. However that was one very long dirt road, and it was around 6pm by the time we got to the paved road, feeling pretty knackered after pushing the braking bikes along the whole way uphill, only to see the paved road stretching slightly uphill in front of us! We passed a man herding a load of cows along the road and then got back on the bikes to cycle for about a half an hour (some of it downhill, some not, all the way cursing that bloody woman in the bikeshop). At which point it was starting to get dark, and we didn’t have any lights or reflective gear on the bikes, apart from Steve’s head torch, which he spun around to flash behind his back. Nor did the road have any lights on it, so we were starting to feel a bit unsafe as darkness crept up, and we were still miles away from the town with more uphills in front of us and the crappy bikes to contend with - all in all not a very comfortable place to be. Fortunately a short while later a white hilux taxi came along the road and offered us a lift share into town which we gladly accepted. And I can tell you that it definitely was Not all downhill from there! We were very relieved when we finally got back in to town and returned those Mal bikes just before closing time, although I suspect our complaints to them only fell upon deaf ears.

The following afternoon we packed our bags and went to meet our cruise tour guide at the port. He basically took our bags off us and sent them away to the catamaran in a little dinghy, and then introduced us to the rest of the people on our cruise. They consisted of a friendly American family of five and a friendly Belgian couple, and since it was a small catamaran that only slept 10 max, those were our only shipmates. I was glad that we weren’t on one of those massive cruiseliners I’d seen with tens of grey haired strangers milling about which would be very impersonal. The first day of the five day cruise was however a bit of a write off, as we just went to see the giant tortoises and land iguanas at the Darwin centre and then had a couple of hours off around the town, before meeting at 6pm to head over for our first excited glimpse of the boat.
The catamaran itself looked pretty cool from the outside, if somewhat small and we clamoured onboard and went to see our cabin (home for 4 nights). This consisted of an unfeasibly small space with like 2 single wooden bunk beds next to one another (one slightly raised), a small turning space one person could stand up in at a time, and then a very small bathroom with a toilet (suction hand pump flushing mechanism thingy) and a small sink, with a hand shower attachment (a kind of small wet room shower) over the toilet. My first thoughts were - Oh my God how are we going to sleep in here its very claustrophobic! However in the end we spent very little time in the room itself (apart from bedtime) as we spent most of our time upstairs on the back of the boat. After dinner the guide explained that we would sail to our first stop (Rabida) overnight, so that we could get off there first thing in the morning.

I was about to get my first taste of the open Pacific Ocean on a small catamaran, and let me tell you it was nothing like the top of a teacup. Unless that teacup is being shaken about violently ala that famous scene in Jurassic Park. After staying up as late as possible trying to tire myself out, I finally went below deck and tried to get comfortable in my little bunkbed. However the relentless tilting of the boat and moreover the very loud roaring of the engine (which seemed to stationed right underneath our bunk beds) meant that I didn’t get a wink of sleep all that night, and when they rang the breakfast bell at 7am the following morning, I came up feeling very tired and pretty miserable. Fortunately that was the only night that we sailed during the night, so I slept okay on nights 2, 3 and 4.

That morning we got off at Rabida, which is a red sandy beach that is full of sea lions where we could do some snorkelling. The snorkelling was fantastic as the sea lions are quite inquisitive and will come up and swim around you to check you out. Cant wait to see the pics from our disposable underwater cameras. After lunch we sailed to Porta Egas where we went for a walk around and saw the marine iguanas and a couple of fur seals. The marine iguanas are like large black lizards and there were loads of them all over the black lava rocks, and they don’t move for people, so you have to be careful not to step on them as they are well camouflaged. The landscape on the island was a bit surprising as when I think of an island I usually picture lush tropical vegetation, however these are volcanic islands with volcanic rock everywhere and the land is pretty arid, with lava cactus growing in most places.

Re boat - I will say that the food onboard the boat was good. However unfortunately our guide wasn’t very good (that’s what you get for booking an economic cruise I guess), as his English wasn’t great, so he wasn’t very chatty / forth coming with information. This was a shame as I think we would have gotten more out of the cruise if our guide had been better, however we still got to see loads of animals and some fantastic scenery along the way.

After dinner we sailed for Bartolome and the next day we went on a walk up to a lookout point with a lighthouse and a view of Pinnacle Rock. We saw some lava lizards and loads of lava cactus. Then we walked down to a beach where they don’t allow swimming, and we saw a turtle and loads of white tipped reef sharks swimming up and down in the shallow water. We waded in up to our knees to get some pics and the sharks were swimming within a couple of feet of us - very cool. Then we walked to the snorkelling beach and went snorkelling around Pinnacle Rock. We did see loads of different types of fish, and a penguin sitting up on a rock, along with the ubiquitos sea lions.

That afternoon we sailed to North Seymour and went for a walk, where we saw the famous blue footed booby bird (its on all the tourist t shirts). What is amazing is that the birds on Galapagos have no fear of people, and there are birds that have nested right next to the walking path, and you can walk right up to them without them blinking an eye, or trying to fly away. I suppose you could say the same about the sea lions or the iguanas, but I was more impressed with the birds staying put, as they are usually so nervous back home. Whilst at the bird colony we also saw the friggit birds with the red balloon inflated on its chest, which was pretty cool, and a couple of big land iguanas. They are a different colour than the marine iguana and there seem to be less of them about.

On day 4 we got up at 05h30 in the morning and went to Macarena (?) island to see the larger sea lions protecting their turf. One of the younger sea lions was pretty inquisitive and sniffed Steve’s toes, which is apparently a thing they do here. Afterwards we had to sail 7 hours to get to Sante Fe. The sea was pretty rough and although I had held it together pretty well until that point (and was taking seasickenss tabs every day) I’m afraid to say that I had to throw up overboard at that point. I’ve never been very good on boats, but I made an exception for the Galapagos as a cruise is meant to be the best way to see it. I’m not sure I would hurry back on to a cruise anytime soon though! Anyway on the way over to Sante Fe we did get to see a load of large mantarays jumping out of the water and doing backflips which was very cool.

We got to Sante Fe and in the afternoon we went snorkelling in the lagoon where we saw a big eagle ray, 2 other grey rays (?)and a big turtle which was awesome. We also saw a load of fish and later on a large (2.5metre long shark) but fortunately that was when we were getting back in to the boat lol. Then we went for a walk to look for land iguanas, but we only saw 1 baby iguana as they must have all been hiding that day. After we got back on the boat to sail most of the way to San Cristobal.

On day 5 (last day) they just sailed us around Kicker Rock so that we could take some photos, and then we had a quick brekky before they took us in to San Cristobal and dropped us off to end our tour. Overall the cruise was definately worth doing as we saw so many animals and birds along the way, and the snorkelling was fab.

We had another 2 nights in San Cristobal on our own, so the next day we went to visit the Interpretation Centre to read about the history of the islands and how Darwin came up with his theory of evolution after seeing the different kinds of finches on the islands.

This morning we took a 1.5 hour speedboat across to Santa Cruz island (as our return flight is from here). Today we went to see Tortuga Bay (turtle bay). It was quite a long walk to get to the beach, however once we got there it was beautiful with blue water, big breaking waves and soft white sand underfoot. The bay did live up to its name as we saw 4 turtles swimming in the distance by the rocks as we were walking along the beach. We also saw another load of white tipped reef sharks in the shallows by the mangrove trees, but the visibility wasn’t great on the swimming beach.

Tomorrow morning we are getting a flight back to Guayquil for 1 night (thanksfully short), before flying on to Cancun via Miami. We are both looking forward to a bit of luxury in the resort after staying in all the hostels along the way - thanks to Mum Connellan for the present!

I thinks that’s all for now. Love to all at home.
Take care,
Kirst x