Our last day together now and we had done most things possible to do in Havana, Iona was planning to come back with her boyfriend at some point in a couple of weeks or something and I don't think Frank has any plans to return in the near future. We went for a walk, saw some of the main tourist monuments and took it easy. We all went on a drive with Iona to go to the bus terminal to buy a ticket for her bus to Santiago De Cuba that evening, the drive was only about twenty minutes or so and took us right through Havana past the huge Jose Marti monument. She bought her ticket and we went back to town, Iona and Frank arranged with some Taxi driver a price, for Frank to be taken to the airport and Iona to the bus terminal. We went for a walk to try and find Iona some flip flops and a fan, the trip led us to the main tourist street into a few useless shops until we found one selling fans. The flip flop purchase never materialised so we went on towards this bar we went to one one of the early nights, 'O'Reilly's' we sat downstairs not on the balcony this time. While we were eating a man sat on a table opposite us and kept on looking up. None of us knew what he was doing until he gave me a piece of paper with my face on it. He had drawn me in caricature, it was amazing, the likeness was uncanny apart from he had given me a pointy nose. He continued to draw all of ours but mine was clearly the best one and had the most likeness. Frank even had a go at doing the caricature of the artist. The artist is actually famous in Cuba and has his cartoons featured in the national paper. The remainder of the day was set aside for packing and the rest of thing you do when you are getting ready to go on holiday or return. We managed to fit in a quick dinner at BM before they left, this time we had pizza and we bought some tomato sauce for it in the supermarket, the sauce made all the difference and the pizza was fantastic. Time ticking down, we settled up, went back to our hotel, got the bags and then Frank and Iona said their farewells, we all said goodbye and they left on there separate ways. I had one more night to stay in Cuba after tonight so had to sort out some kind of accommodation for myself. The next morning I thought, what the hell, I'll just stay at the same hotel for one more night, I just need to book online as the prices were too much at the actual hotel. Iona left me a voucher for the internet that still had about twenty minutes on it, I booked my hotel, got the reference number and went back to the hotel. The internet was down at the Plaza so they couldn't bring up my booking online so they made me sit in the lobby for a while, I got them the reference number and they manually checked me in. I chose another room, I fancied a change. This room was the worst of the lot but still had character, and a different shower curtain. It was on the fourth floor and I had a view overlooking the park, so in view terms it was the best but it was small, only on double bed but it would suffice, I didn't need a honeymoon suite or anything. Whilst I was sitting down relaxing, I heard a thunderstorm on its way, I looked out of the window and it was pouring, really heavy and hot, it looked like it wasn't ever going to stop but it did about ten minutes later, I a little bit of excitement for me whilst I was all alone. I went to sleep, I was tired and fancied an early night as I had a plane to catch in the morning to take me on my way towards New Orleans via the most complicated of routes.

Bar Monserrate was the busiest we had ever seen it, we managed to grab the last table but there were hordes of people outside looking to come in and sample the great food and excellent live music. The band playing were a different one, Frank and I had only seen them briefly once do a couple of songs but tonight there set went on and on. The music was amazing, they had more energy and it was oozing all over the place to the tables around, to the waiters and bar staff and even a few people eating got up and danced a little. This was perfect, this was exactly the kind of thing I had been looking for and waiting for in Cuba and it was all happening at our favourite bar BM. By the time we all finished eating it had already got to about 23.00 and the place closed at 01.00am so we had just enough time to settle the bill, go back to the hotel and shower and go back for one last drink before Iona and Frank had to leave the next day. It was our last night together to be able to go to BM. We all needed showers, we had been walking in the sun and pollution all day and had got very sweaty and possibly a little smelly so needed to clean off. We all went back really quick to shower and get ready. I was just getting dressed and Frank and Iona came through the door, as there wasn't much point in rushing back to BM and having say one mojito we just went to the local shop and bought some rum and cola. Like the other nights, we got drunk and played cards and spoke and then went to sleep.

Nearly an hour had gone by and all we had done was walk around looking for cheap or tasty sounding and looking food and we had found nothing. On the map was a place called Las Vegas and it was a restaurant that looked moderately priced but we couldn't find it. Like always when you walk past a bar or restaurant the front of house is always pestering you to come in making up all this bullshit and if you have a head on you will never work. We went in one place, it was a hotel bar but served food, the menu was just like BM but it wasn't BM and we knew what BM was like, could this be better, maybe but we never stuck around to find out, I don't know why but we left to go elsewhere and on our way out got hounded by somebody who may have worked there but wanted to take us to another place he knew, called 'Las Vegas'. We jumped at the chance and followed as he took us through the most run down streets we had seen yet past homeless beggars and an aggressive little dog. Another bloody let down, the prices were sky high, the place looked rubbish and it was some poky little restaurant next to the Las Vegas bar. Unanimously and without words we all agreed to head straight to BM and get what we know and love and enjoy the friendly and loving ambience that the place has. Walk or get a taxi, my rough estimate of time gave us an arrival in about forty minutes give or take. The walk was all the way along the harbour from Central Havana to Old Havana, a straight route along one road. It was getting pretty late now, my watch was reading about 21.40pm. We were all really hungry and weren't too into walking but walked a bit anyway and kept and eye out for taxis as to speed up our journey time to BM. We got a taxi and were there in no time at all.

Time was ticking by and dinner was looming on mine and everybody else's mind, what were we to do, we were in another part of the city and had no idea of prices or quality of food. Hunting around for food got us nowhere and every moment that past was a little longer for our stomachs to endure time without food. As we were near the hotel National of Cuba we went in for a look around. On the outside it was this grand palatial building with two huge parapets and it had the look as if it was very old. Inside was another story, yes it was lavish with marble and polished metal but it was plain and boring, very long, open and cold and had a feel more of an airport terminal than a luxury ***** hotel. I'm glad I wasn't staying here, even if somebody paid me to I would rather stay where I was or go to the hotel Inglaterra. In the outside bar over looking the harbour we sat waiting for a waiter to come and serve us drinks, so once again we played some cards. The waiter never showed up even though he had said that he would come over once we sat down, this was a good thing as the drinks were twice as expensive here and I bet they were really tight with the ingredients holding back on the spirits in their cocktails. Mosquitoes were out on patrol tonight whizzing around and swooping in for the occasional suck of my beautiful blood, to my annoyance. We shortly left as both Iona and myself were being bombarded by these blood thirsty beasts. Where to, nobody knew but we needed food now as a couple of hours had past since we decided to go eat dinner.

On the way back to our hotel, we decided to take a detour and stop off at a few bars, play some more cards and then head to this ice cream place. It was a landmark and supposedly had the best ice cream in Havana. Once again, we were surprised on arrival, we didn't get to see some flying saucer shaped bar, it was just plane and round, the worst thing about it was that the whole place only catered for Cuban nationals, tourists only had a tiny section tucked away around the corner. To make us feel better a security guard actually said that the ice cream in the touristy bit was nicer than the main building. I didn't believe him in the slightest but it made the whole experience a little better. Also I was gifted with a free ice cream and some money. I paid with my ice cream with a $10 CUC note and received change if I had paid with a $20 CUC note so I had actually earned myself some money when I paid for my free ice cream. The ice cream wasn't that good, but I did get to try some honey ice cream which is a first for me.

The next day we had planned to get up early and head to central Havana by car, by an old American car in particular, if we were going to ride one might as well as used it for transport rather than just aimlessly driving around. Frank and myself went to Iona's hotel to pick her up and go on our way, we went there and she wasn't ready yet so we played some cards in the hotels lobby. She emerged after eating some breakfast and we left. It took us about five minutes or so before we were picked up by a suitable looking car, it wasn't perfect but would do, waiting for the perfect car could ave taken forever. The car was massive inside, the biggest car I have ever been in and might ever be in, you could fit about two minis inside this car. The ride wasn't the most comfortable but what do you expect having sixty year old suspension and really bad roads. Central Havana was quite different to old Havana, it was just as run down but there weren't as many big building, it was more a mix of residential houses and big office style buildings with the occasional church. On the map, I marked down this place I wanted to go called the school of martiano studies, I thought it would be some really out there space thing but I was very disappointed when we arrived, it was a school for studies on Jose Marti, the original Cuban revolutionary. I knew it was too good to be true, I have no interest in aliens of anything extra terrestrial but though it would have been hilarious if there was something like that in Cuba but no. Off we went hanging our heads towards the cemetery, it was supposedly one of the largest in the world with around five million graves. When we got there we were in for a big surprise and not a good one at that. In the rough guide, it states that the entrance fee is around $1 CUC (I know it is a few years out of date but can a price really change that much?) the price was £5 CUC, it is one of the largest cemeteries in the world but still, I don't think that warrants a price tag of $5, if I had my way it would be free but oh well what can you do.

Before we went out, Frank bought a bottle of rum, I picked up some coke and we chilled out in our hotel room, playing cards and drinking until about 1.00am when Frank decided to call it a night, and Iona and myself went out to go to the Cabaret. We played some games of scupa, not to sound to big headed but I won most of them. Iona had taught us a game with the English cards called shit head and we used it as a drinking game like most people do. By the time we had got bored of playing cards we were all pretty drunk, some more than others. We left Frank to get to bed and ventured out, we went straight to the Cabaret National. When we got there we went were hassled by some locals outside saying they knew somewhere cheaper and better, we said we would have a look here and went inside. Inside the place it looked really crap, there was a small stage on one side of the room, a small bar on the opposite side. People were all huddled around the stage sitting on chairs and singing along to some MC who looked and sounded even worse than the place was. The decision to leave and go somewhere else was easy, within moments we had made up our mind and left. The person who was hassling us before was still outside saying the same crap about knowing some place really cheap, good place blah blah blah. What the hell, we went with him anyway, he led us down the main strip that looked dead until we got to a café. Literally a café, he had taken us to a place full of people sitting around eating, drinking and smoking, no music or dancing or anything remotely fun looking. What a nightmare, oh well it wasn't the end of the world, nothing seemed open or at least good so we went for a walk along the promenade and up to the waterfront. We just sat on a wall by the waterfront chatting and comparing stories of travelling.

Before we went out, Frank bought a bottle of rum, I picked up some coke and we chilled out in our hotel room, playing cards and drinking until about 1.00am when Frank decided to call it a night, and Iona and myself went out to go to the Cabaret. We played some games of scupa, not to sound to big headed but I won most of them. Iona had taught us a game with the English cards called shit head and we used it as a drinking game like most people do. By the time we had got bored of playing cards we were all pretty drunk, some more than others. We left Frank to get to bed and ventured out, we went straight to the Cabaret National. When we got there we went were hassled by some locals outside saying they knew somewhere cheaper and better, we said we would have a look here and went inside. Inside the place it looked really crap, there was a small stage on one side of the room, a small bar on the opposite side. People were all huddled around the stage sitting on chairs and singing along to some MC who looked and sounded even worse than the place was. The decision to leave and go somewhere else was easy, within moments we had made up our mind and left. The person who was hassling us before was still outside saying the same crap about knowing some place really cheap, good place blah blah blah. What the hell, we went with him anyway, he led us down the main strip that looked dead until we got to a café. Literally a café, he had taken us to a place full of people sitting around eating, drinking and smoking, no music or dancing or anything remotely fun looking. What a nightmare, oh well it wasn't the end of the world, nothing seemed open or at least good so we went for a walk along the promenade and up to the waterfront. We just sat on a wall by the waterfront chatting and comparing stories of travelling.

As the time went by the sun burnt patches begin to sting, from ever so slightly to quite a lot. We get back to our hotels and head straight for some dinner at BM, I started to alternate between a pizza (onion pizza with no tomato sauce unfortunately) and fried chicken, potatoes, rice and vegetables. We were all stinging a lot by now so decided to get back to the hotels and have showers, clean up and put on some after sun. We arranged to meet up afterwards to go out for a drink or something like that. I'm pretty sure it was a Monday by now and we had sort of loosely organised to go to the National Cabaret, it had a cover charge of $10 CUC but the drinks were really cheap inside, a Havana club 7 year old cost only $1 CUC where as it normally cost around £2-3 CUC in other bars.

Maybe the beach actually came at a later date I can't remember so I'm just filling it in there. It did come at a later date because me and Frank had been staying at the Plaza and went across to the Telegrafo after breakfast to meet Iona. We met around 9.30am and enquired about a bus, the receptionist said that the bus is 'hop on hop off' and the stop is outside the Hotel Inglaterra. On the bus, the driver said that it would be leaving at 10.00am which was good as we only had ten minutes to wait, plus a pleasant surprise it only costed $3 CUC return any time until 19.30. The bus drove through the tunnel that passed under the canal and took us to the East of Havana pasted the fort and lighthouse. Around the fort there are massive cannons, presumably used in the revolution against the Spanish hundreds of years ago. We were to get off at the first beach Santa Marta as its the one that sounded the best in the guides and looked the nicest on the map, it was only about half an hour from the hotel, pretty good considering we thought or at least I did that we would never even venture out of Havana. The beach was fantastic, nowhere near as beautiful as the ones in Tobago but it was still beautiful. The sea was crystal clear and turquoise, the sand was white and the beach was pretty empty. We had a parasol and Frank got a sun lounger to put under the parasol because he can't really handle the sun, his skin gets burnt very easily and very quickly. I was in the sea more than on the beach, I can't stand sunbathing, to me it seems like such a chore and I don't want to risk anything because I have had some bad experiences on my trip, mainly from falling asleep in the sun and really burning myself. I tried my best to keep out of the sun as long as I could, I squeezed into a small patch of shade under the parasol as not to get burned again. No matter, I still managed to burn my right lower back and right thigh. My thigh really stung, like I had been slapped there continuously for hours. Frank managed to burn his face and shins, even though he spent most of his time in the shade. I did ask Iona a couple of times if she wanted to get in the shady parts but she was fine or thought she was fine in the sun all the time. She burnt herself good and proper, and it wasn't a straightforward burnt patch, there were marks all over her where she had really shoddily applied her sun tan lotion. I was ready a book by William Burroughs called 'the wild boys' she noticed it and took the piss the rest of the day. If only she had read some of it? Before we got too bored (I was already) we headed to the bar to get something to drink, I had a beer. I had been drinking this beer called 'buccanero' the whole time. Its a strong lager 5.4% abv and doesn't taste too bad, actually its quite tasty. We all had some ice cream, Iona was very fussy but for good reason as she was allergic to nuts so had to be very careful what sort of ice cream she ate. Time to kill before we had to get the bus so we played some more cards. Cards are a good way to keep boredom at bay and they are also social, rather than reading or writing or listening to music. We just missed the bus, it was driving off in the distance just as we got to the stop. This meant we had to wait another half an hour for the next bus to come. Straight to the shade, investigate our burns a little and keep an eye on the road in case the bus unexpectedly creeps up on us.

Iona filled us in on what she had been doing like working in Ecuador and the Galapagos and a bit of travelling, we compared stories of travelling and what not and ate. From what she was saying and how she described the Galapagos made me very jealous, it sounded like the paradise I had briefly experienced in Trinidad & Tobago and had been hoping to find in Barbados and the Bahamas but never actually making it to the latter two. She was some travel writer or something from some Ecuadorian based tour company and had also been making a underwater film about diving or something like that. I had attempted scuba diving once before but had a bad experience I would rather not talk about, lets just say I don't like wearing the mask. Back to the hotel to clean up, having showers. The humidity and undesirable hear make Cuba a very sweaty place. After getting cleaned up we all went for a walk, Frank and I showed Iona a bit of old Havana. Had a meal in a restaurant and played some more cards. The night was pretty quiet so we retired back to the hotel, or maybe had a drink or two in bar Monserrate (BM from now on). We arranged to meet up in the morning after breakfast and Frank and I checking in back at the Plaza, to go to the nearest beach, 'Santa Marta'.

We stayed a few more days at the Plaza and walked around a lot but I can't remember exactly what we got up to, obviously nothing that great as I cant remember, maybe nothing, I don't know. Then we had to check out by 12.00. When it came to checking out, we made the most of the breakfast in the morning, then checked out and headed across the road to the Telegrafo. Check in wasn't until 16.00 and we had arrived at around 12.30 so we put our bags in storage and headed for the bar, had a coffee and a beer then played some cards. We had got so bad at remembering the scores so I started writing them down in a note pad to avoid cheating and rid ourselves of forgetfulness. At the reception of the hotel, there was an English girl also waiting to check in, she made some joke, I never heard but Frank did and he chuckled a little. At the end of our first game she came over and asked if she could join us. We gladly accepted and she came over with a beer. We taught her how to play 'Scupa' the Sicilian card game we had been playing the whole time. Its such a simple game it only took about a minute to explain the rules and after one practise game she sort of got the hang of it. Her name was Iona, I have never heard that name and phonetically it is even weirder, 'Eyeowna'. She told us that if the rooms are ready you can check in early, I went up and asked and the receptionist said the room would be ready in about ten minutes, enough time to play a couple of games of scupa. We went up to put our bags away in our room, Frank took her number in order to be able to contact her at some point, we arranged to meet up after we put our things away and get a bite to eat in you guessed where... bar Monserrate.

We haven't done anything at night yet, the bars and clubs are either too expensive or just look really bad. I read the reviews and had a look at some and all the ones around old Havana don't appeal. As I am on my backpacker budget I can't really afford to do anything expensive which rules out a lot of the tourist bars and clubs, that pretty much leaves us with bar Monserrate like always. I really like the place though, it is exactly what I thought a bar in Cuba would be like and should be like. One thing I have noticed about it though is that the staff alternate daily, the really good and friendly staff are alternated with crap staff every other day.

When I had initially booked our accommodation in Cuba, I had only booked three nights and now they were up, I had to book some accommodation for the remainder of the stay. We both agrreed to stay in Havana as it would be less hassle and we had less than a week left, we were thinking about going to Trinidad and Santiago but would have wasted about three days in travel so there wasn't much point. Now we had made the decision, I had the go ahead to book some more nights. We looked at the options, the hotel Inglaterra was booked so couldn't go there, we booked the remainder of the time at the hotel Plaza but not Saturday, for some reason the website I used to book said that Saturday was full. We looked at other options and chose the hotel Telegrafo across the park from the Plaza, it was the same price but the website made it look and sound a bit crap. Once the accommodation was all sorted we could relax and drink some more rum.

Unfortunately for Frank, he had been suffering from constipation over the last couple of days. He had been unable to poo for three days now and was getting pretty uncomfortable about it now. He might hate me for writing this but to me its really funny, he has been so uncomfortable that he hasn't been eating. He claims to have no appetite but I don't know, I've never been in the same situation but I know that whatever happens I never seem to lose my appetite. He had been smoking cigars and eating fig bars to try and help his bowel movements, nothing seems to be working for him. Still, all I can do is laugh, I don't know how bad he must feel but to me it is absolutely hilarious.

After the factory we went to our local and had some food, played some cards and drank some beer and rum. We don't seem to be getting up to much, just going to a few bars, drinking mojitos, beer and coffee and that's about it really. We have gone for a few walks around Havana, we took a walk around central Havana then it started pouring with rain so we headed back to somewhere near our hotel. Had a couple of Pinacoladas and played some more cards. Literally the main thing we have done is play cards, and I have won nearly every game so far, I seem to keep beating Frank and I can tell he is getting pissed off with it now. Oh well, I think I will just continue to beat him until he gives up completely.

Before the tour, Frank and I had a look around the factory shop, they had all the brands of cigars that the factory produced, plenty of tobacco paraphernalia and rums. Frank got himself this big fat cigar, it was unbranded but was a very good quality one, it had just failed some inspection of some kind so had to be sold on cheap, nothing wrong with it, it just wasn't up to standard. When he smoked it he really enjoyed it, it was the best cigar he had ever had.
There was probably about ten people on the tour, including me and Frank so not a big tour so it would be more personal and better than a really large group like some of the others we saw going around. Our tour guide was a local, a former cigar maker turned guide and was a really friendly guy who spoke very good English, he was a much better guide than the one at the Havana Club distillery, he didn't waste our time making crap jokes and was very clear. The first place we were taken to was the sorting room where we saw men and women sorting out the tobacco leaves into specific piles, grouped by size colour and quality. The guide told us that the factory has been making cigars the same way since 1845, a little about the practises and said that it used to be just women who worked there, now there is about 80% women and the remainder being men. As the tour went on we got taken to different areas of the factory, it was a bizarre feeling to be walking and talking amongst the workers making there cigars, listening to music and even smoking. We were taken past the school where new employees are trained to roll cigars, from start to finish, it takes nine months to learn how to roll properly and get taken up to the factory floor. The workers are under a lot of pressure to complete their weekly and monthly quotas of rolling cigars, plus the cigars are all inspected and if they do not meet the standards are either taken apart and re-rolled or give to the staff in their free three cigars a day benefit for being employees of the factory.
All the areas of the factory received the same scrutiny and went through similar quality control procedures, even the labelling and packaging. The tour went on for about forty five minutes and was like nothing I would have expected, it was very good and I will be recommending it to anybody who comes to Cuba.

The next couple of days seem to have merged a little bit, not really getting up to much and getting into a routine of eating and drinking in the same bar all the time. We have ventured out but it seemed to be the best bar we have been to so far. One of the days we went for a walk in Central Havana, it wasn't that great, looked really run down and hadn't had the luxury of having a huge amount of tourists or monuments bringing in money so looked as if it would stay relatively derelict. Then it started to pour with rain, really pour like a torrential down pour. We didn't get too far into the centre as the areas began looking like slums and full of dirty looking locals, it seemed like a risky place to be as a tourist., so we headed back to old Havana.
One of the days we went to the Havana cigar factory, that was cool the building looked as if it had some importance not like the Havana club distillery. The cigar factory was right behind the Capital building, the Capital looks just like the one in Washington DC, I haven't seen it in real life but I have seen it on TV, in films and photographs. When we got there we had to wait about an hour until we could go on the tour, we had to wait for the group to finish so we could have an English speaking tour. The tour had a cover of $10 CUC but seemed worth it, I had been told good things about it and it looked like there would be lots to see.

Off we went back on our way to Havana club, on the way we stopped to check out some old Spanish forts and old buildings and squares. The distillery looks mediocre, not lavish or grand or having any real resemblance to what I would of imagined. In we went, had to wait for the next available tour in English. It came around soon, we paid our cover of $7 CUC and went on the tour. The tour guide kept on trying to make jokes that were either completely misunderstood or just plain crap. The guide briefly explained some stuff about rum, told us that a Cuban saying is that 'all roads in Cuba lead to rum'. The best thing about the tour was either the massive model railway showing what the sugar factory and distillery looked like hundreds of years ago or drinking the rum at the end. Most people on the tour wanted to try the juice from crushed sugar cane but they wouldn't give it to us, we had to pay for it but mixed with orange juice and rum. Like everybody else I just wanted to try it on its own. On the way back to our hotel after the tour, we came across a fast food vendor that had some freshly crushed sugar cane juice and some other local treats, mainly pork sandwiches or hamburgers. Frank bought some of the juice and we tried it, it actually tasted really nice, I can't describe it that well but it was very fresh tasting and sweet but not sugary sweet, it had a beige sort of colour and didn't have an odour. I would try it again, on a hot summers day it is pretty refreshing.

The next morning we followed the same pattern, drank some rum really early, but this time we actually set out to do things in the city, not just to find bars. On the way to the Havana club distillery/museum we bumped into some man, he claimed to be a teacher but I'm not too sure about that. He said he was going to give us directions to a local street festival that afternoon. He took us to this bar and was talking to us about being a teacher in Cuba and gave us the usual about it being really hard and everyone being poor and not getting anything. When we got to the bar, we ordered three mojitos, he said he would pat but Frank insisted we would pay. When they came out they were really bad, the rum used was the cheapest of the Havana clubs, the plain white one. The mojito had no flavour and tasted very watered down. We stayed there to chat for a bit then eventually our fears were realised, he wanted money off us. Whether it was true or not, he said that he wasn't able to buy any nappies for his baby if we could buy some for him, Frank and I realised the error of our ways, gave him some money to leave us alone then settled the bill. We had been well and truly ripped off, he had taken us to this place, probably a friend of his and maybe he got some deal out of it. We were charged $5 CUC for a crap mojito. Oh well, I suppose you learn from your mistakes, this wasn't anything serious just a little annoying.

Frank had decided to try and give up smoking cigarettes for the fiftieth (not a real figure, just used to help illustrate how hard it is for some people to kick the habit) time in his life. He was absolutely gagging for a cigarette, Cuba is a bad place to try and give up, smoke is in the air and smoking is all around, pretty much still allowed indoors everywhere, like it used to be in England until the smoking ban came in. He was wearing nicotine patches and tablets to try and stop the craving, it never works though, nicotine is just too addictive, I know some people have a much easier time of giving up but some can never really stop craving. Another way to try and stop, he decided to smoke some cigars. In theory cigars are good as they don't contain all the nasty chemicals in cigarettes and you don't take draw the smoke into your lungs so in that sense they are mush better. Just trying to find some good cheap cigars was now the problem, we had no idea what ones to get or where to get them. We went into a few shops near our hotel but had no luck, in a last ditch attempt Frank went into a restaurant just to ask, the man behind the counter said he could get some and to hold on a sec. In the mean time I waited outside and some little old man who spoke very good English came up to me and started chatting. He began telling me about all the hardships in Cuba, some good things but mainly bad. He was saying that the tourists never get to see the real Cuba or hear what it is really like. All the tour companies show all the good things, the hotels are all fixed up and look very civilised when on the streets there is poverty everywhere, most of the city and the rest of the country is run down and nobody has any money. The locals and tourists have separate bars, shops and even a different currency. He seemed genuine like he wasn't trying to rip me off or get any money out of me in any way, it was cool speaking to him however brief it was. I went in to check on Frank, he was just being given the cigar. The man had got them from God knows where and had two, Frank only asked for one and wanted one and I got a drink and he bought the lot for about $8 CUC the tourist currency, Convertible Pesos. To be honest I don't really remember much about the rest of the evening, only that we had dinner in Bar Monserrate then went back to the hostel at some point, Frank passed out and I watched a couple of films on the TV in Spanish then I fell asleep.

To make it a more logical walk, we headed out in a planned route starting at one place then going to all the others along the way to the canal then back around and back towards the hotel. The first place we went to was a place called Bar Monserrate, a good start, it had a couple of locals in, friendly staff, great Mojitos, good food, and wasn't too touristy even though it was right next to the main square with all the hotels on it. Frank had brought some Italian cards for me, this is good because it will give us something to do when we get bored, something to do in a bar whilst we are waiting for one thing or another. I hadn't played the cards for so long but got into it really quickly again and thrashed Frank. After Bar Monserrate we moved on down the main touristy street with all the bars and restaurants on, it was tourist central, everywhere you looked, there they were. With it being so touristy it also meant for a lot of the very poor local where out on the streets trying to rip people off with scams or just generally trying anything to get even the slightest amount of money out of them. Most of the bars down here looked a little bit crap, well, they were empty and basically all looked the same, same food, same drink, just worse staff and empty. The restaurants were more pricey and it was the same food they were serving, even at night these places were relatively dead, Bar Monserrate always had a few different groups of people in it, so was never dead, mainly because of this, it being so close to our hotel and the food tasty really nice and good value, we made it our local. We checked out this restaurant/bar that was apparently a regular of Ernest Hemmingway but it was just a complete and utter tourist trap, very similar to J.Cruz in Valparaiso, Chile. We were both pretty drunk now and it wasn't much after lunch, we carried on though, Frank used his usual excuse of 'being on holiday' to make it seem better, not that it was right or wrong, all I know was that it was fun.

The next morning we had breakfast, it was a buffet, much better than the continental breakfasts I have been used to. There were fruits, cereals, sweet pastries, vegetables or sorts and some meats, plus there was a chef at hand to cook up some eggs any way you chose them to be cooked, I didn't care to much and would settle for simply fried sunny side up or an omelette or something, Frank was a little more picky and had the eggs fried on both sides. As he is a vegetarian he didn't have the luxury of enjoying he hams and other lovely processed meats, he had to settle with a plate full of potato croquets and eggs with a bit of rice and black beans on the side. The breakfast was of the 'all you can eat' sort so it was an opportunity to save some money on food so we stuffed our faces in the mornings eating as much as we could handle without getting too uncomfortable.
After breakfast, I went back to the room, had a shower and got dressed, Frank went to the bar downstairs to have some coffee and I was to join him after. In about half an hour I met him in the bar and he had already had two glasses of Havana Club 7 year old, and I joined him for another, bearing in mind it was only about 09.30am. We had set a precedent for the day so it was only right that we continued to drink. We went back to the room to look in the guide and on the map for all the bars and restaurants in the surrounding area, we marked down on the map the ones that looked or sounded good. Once we had pretty much exhausted all the information in the guide we set out on our journey around Havana.

As we were tired and had no idea of what to do and where to go we just drank some of my rum at the hotel mixed with some local Cuban equivalent of cola called 'Tukola', went to a restaurant to have some food and headed out for a short walk. Almost instantly we were hassled by the beggars and prostitutes. We got to this walkway on the main strip, it wasn't too lively, in fact most of Havana looked a little dead, it was a Sunday but for somewhere supposedly full of tourists it was remarkably quiet. On this walkway, two prostitutes came up to us, both were young and very attractive but that still wouldn't tempt me to sleep with a prostitute. They were asking us things and couldn't speak English, I did what I could to translate what they were saying to Frank and told them we weren't interested. They were shocked, they genuinely looked shocked that we had said no and asked why and wouldn't take no for an answer. Eventually we walked off and left them but that just shows how many people must come here and sleep with prostitutes on a regular basis. After that we just retired back to our room, turned the air conditioning on full whack and drank some more rum until we fell asleep.

The hotel we had booked was the Plaza and it was a very lavish **** hotel on one of the main squares in Habana Vieja (old Havana). It was different to most as was on a corner and was a triangular shape giving it a little more character than the rest. Like most buildings in Cuba it was run down, clearly it had been restored or looked after but still had peeling paint and cracks and chips and other things of the sort all over the place. It was cool, not pristine which would have seemed very fake considering we are in Havana after all. The hotel was on five floors, the fifth having a large open roof, smaller closed off rooms and the breakfast suite. The view from up here isn't that great but its still a spectacular sight, I'm sure there are better views in Havana but this will do me nicely. You can see all of old Havana and some of central and a little beyond, the sea is on the horizon and the big canal and the docks are in the distance. Right next to the hotel is the old Bacardi Building, a grand art deco style building with elaborate detailing and a huge Bacardi bat on the top. The roof looks like a church steeple which I think lets the building down ever so slightly but it still looks fantastic. Bacardi is a Cuban rum, it is just that the family was exiled to Puerto rico for some reason so not many people believe that its Cuban.
On the second floor is our room, its a smallish double room with two big double beds, the room is about two thirds the size of the room I had in the Bahamas but it feels better, older, it yells history. The room has a balcony overlooking a small corner square that springs into a prostitutes heaven at night. For some reason the shower curtain is a painting of a woman's face, it is some Cuban artist and its a painting from the museum of fine art across the road. Also on the second floor is a place called the 'tea terrace' I can see why its called that, there are iron tables and chairs and big stained glass domes supplying light to the bar downstairs, but there is no tea being drunk there and it feels a little quiet and closed off from the rest of the hotel. I sat quiet, its not that quiet as there are two bird cages, one with parrots in and another full of canaries. If it was a little cooler here (weather I mean) it would be perfect for drinking a nice refreshing mug of Earl Grey, its just too hot and humid.
The bar is not the best I have seen or been in but the light shining through the stained glass gives a bright and colourful feel to it, and there is a huge fountain just off from the middle, it doesn't spray the water out, it just seems to dribble over the edges and the bottom tier has gold fish in it. The overall feel I'm getting from this hotel is of neglected grandeur.

the airport in Cuba is so different to all the others I have been to, its rather large but there are no franchise fast food vendors or duty free shops, it is a very capitalist free airport. It was so easy getting through customs, not a single problem, they took my visa and waved me through in under a minute. The only problem I had was that Frank (my uncle) wasn't due to arrive until 19.05 so I had been told and my flight landed an hour earlier than I had expected or what was written on my itinerary, it said the plane would land at 16.30 but in reality it landed at 15.30 which meant I had about four hours to kill at an airport with nothing to do, my ipod battery had nearly run out, my laptop battery was on its last legs and I had read enough of my book for now, my last option was to play one of two rubbish games on my phone, either tennis or need for speed, I chose the latter as its easier. Time was taking forever, every so often I would check the screen to see how the flight was doing, I had been given the wrong details and the plane wasn't due to land until 19.55 meaning I had an extra hour of waiting to do. Time seems to go very slow when you are waiting for someone or something, even worse when you have nothing to do. Finally the screen said the plane had landed, now all I had to do was wait about twenty minutes for Frank to go through customs and get his bag and we'll be free to leave the airport and roam around Cuba. Given my recent luck, it didn't surprise me when Frank took over an hour to come out, I had been waiting opposite the arrivals door for over an hour now and he still hadn't showed. I was in a patient mood so didn't care too much, just that I was really bored. He finally came through the doors after I had been waiting for about five and a half hours. As soon as he came through we went straight out the doors, got in a taxi to take us right to our hotel, doing nothing all day had made me pretty tired and Frank was knackered from being on a plane all day. When we got to the room, first thing we did after putting our bags down was drink some of the Haitian rum I got from the Bahamas duty free. Well Frank didn't, he unpacked all his things first, then had some rum.

As I had chosen the cheapest and most complicated journey out, it meant I had to get a flight to Frankfurt, then change to get a plane to Miami, then change at Miami and get a plane to the Bahamas, then change at the Bahamas, annoyingly I had to get a hotel as I couldn't sleep at the airport terminal and the hotels all cost a fortune, then in the morning get my flight to Cuba. At the airport I met a man who was staying at a nearby hotel, the same hotel I had been recommended to go to by the immigration officer. I shared a taxi with him, it cost $12 US and they wouldn't leave until we paid a tip. Then worse news, the hotel had no spare rooms, even more annoying, it was cheaper at $70 US per night. The Bahamas is so expensive for accommodation, ridiculous in fact, probably why there were no back packers there at all. The hotel receptionist called a taxi to take me to another hotel, the cab cost me another $15 US then the hotel cost $90 US, it has to have been the most expensive single night so far on my trip and I had to pay for a taxi to take me to the airport the next morning. The room was massive and had two very comfortable double beds and air conditioning but still, I did not foresee this at all and was not expecting to have to pay any money and have now spent about £100 seemingly unnecessarily. Possibly in the future I will return to the Bahamas but for now its well out of my price range, and it looks amazing, turquoise water as far as the eye can see, white sandy beaches and plenty of palm trees all over the place. Got my flight to Cuba soon so I will actually be continuing my travels after my small hiccup that left me being sent back home.

My brother had a spare ticket to go to a masquerade ball but it was on the Friday night and my flight was on Saturday morning very early, too early in fact for the tube. Flights all booked now, big weight off my shoulders, it was a very stressful time trying to sort out my journey back out again. The ball sounded fun, dressing up smartly, wearing a cape and a Venetian mask, with food and drink and naked girls strolling and laying around, what fun indeed, unfortunately I couldn't go. From what I was told, it was nothing spectacular, interesting, just a club with masks and naked women, and men I have to add just so the females don't get annoyed. Maybe I missed out, maybe not whatever, I wasn't able to go anyway, I had a long two day journey to look forward to... yippee!

Since I have been home I have spent most of my time at The Regent catching up with some friends and making the most of all the ales I had in front of me. They will definitely be missed once I'm out of the country for a prolonged period of time again, at least I will be in the US soon and I know that there are some good beers over there, although most of the beers people know tend to be the really shit watered down lagers. Bring on Samuel Adams summer ale, can't wait, plus going to Boston means I will be able to check out the brewery, I like breweries especially when they give free tastings.

The next day I attended one of my best friend's mother's funeral. I hadn't seen my friend in a good few years so it felt very awkward for me but I was pleased I would actually have a chance to go and pay my respects in person. I was expecting the worst, I really hate funerals, they can be really depressing and most of the time everybody cries but this one was different, my friend, his brothers and father did a really good job of keeping it together and didn't cry too much. Throughout the whole funeral all I could think about was the good times I had when I was younger around their house, all the good times and the bad. It brought a tear to my eye thinking that but I knew that she would have been very happy to see me again.

Getting the Cuban visa only took a few minutes, all I needed was a photocopy of my passport, an address of a location for my first three nights, form needed filling in and I needed to pay £15 for the actual visa. All sorted and I was able to relax in the knowledge that I will at least be able to go to Cuba problem free. After sorting my visa out I didn't want to go home so early so I stayed with Frank and went to check out the British museum. Whilst in there we had a look if they had any Inca artefacts but they didn't, the native American things they had were from North American or from around Mexico. Frank told me of an exhibition there that is just about clocks and watched, I have to admit, I am interested in clockwork mechanisms and old watches so I was quite excited about checking it out, I don't think I had ever been there either. It was a very interesting exhibition, I would recommend it for anybody with a slight enthusiasm of watches or clocks, even time in general. The best part had to be the ball bearing clock, it was a big clock in a glass dome but instead of having a pendulum or weights and counterweights, it had a ball bearing rolling along a specially grooved piece the shifted the weight when the ball bearing got to either side and that wound up the clockwork mechanism.

Before I left home, I had a quick look online checking for flights, the quick look ended up seeing me through lunch and into early afternoon. The cheapest I could find was just under £1000, that's money I shouldn't even have to be spending as I already had my flights and everything checked out with them, except some prick decided to deport me back to England. This added stress is costing me a fortune and has in theory cut my trip to being much shorter than I wanted, in fact I don't really know if I even have enough money now to continue on and do the USA and Canada, might need to borrow a bit of cash. The cheapest option I found is also the most complex but if it will save me an extra hundred or so pounds then it is the one I'll choose. There is one thing that is worrying my now about the rest of my trip. I worked out that my proposed dates of being in the USA exceeds the 90 day visa but I don't have enough time to get a US visa in the UK. Hopefully I'll be able to get a US visa at the US consulate in Toronto, Canada. My only other option about my visa is to leave the US and get a flight to another country so that the 90 day visa resets and I can stay there for another 90 days. Hopefully I can sort out a proper visa, it should be easier.

The next day I made some calls, tried to sort out my insurance and get some money back for all the shit I had to go through, no luck, everybody I spoke to just passed the blame on to the airlines, they said they weren't responsible, blah blah blah. Apparently I wasn't firm enough with them. I was starting to get a bit depressed about being back home now so I hurried up to get ready and head out of my house. I went up to see my uncle in London as I needed to get a Cuban visa and the embassy closed at 12.30 so I had to either leave my home early to get there or just stay over at my uncles flat. The way to his flat, I was delayed on the tube (what a surprise on London's famous underground) and had to wait at Piccadilly circus for ages, change trains or walk to somewhere that had a direct train to Kings Cross. I got off, wasn't going to wait around for ages, I had plenty of time but wasn't going t waste it stuck on the tube. So walking to the next station seemed like the best option, plus it was a beautifully clear day, lovely and hot and sunny. On the way to meet my uncle, Frank, at his life drawing class I stopped off in a charity shop in Belsize Park to have a look around. I had the urge to buy some beige linen trousers, I thought they would make a good item of clothing to have in a hot place. I found some, they were perfect and only £6. I bought a load of books too, they had an offer on of three for £1, bargain, so I had a look and accidentally came away with seven, I had one in my hand to put back but it got muddled up with the ones to buy and ended up coming with me, didn't notice until I got to Frank's studio. Frank was at his studio early so I met him there. He was just chilling out, relaxing away from his flat and he had a couple of hours to kill before his class was due to start. The model was a very attractive young woman, perfect to draw and should keep my mind off the shit that I have just been through but it didn't work, I really wasn't feeling the drawing so I left and went to the nearest pub and had a couple of pints, drowning my sorrows in a way.

It was really nice to see my family again, haven't actually seen my parents or properly spoken to them apart from online for over three months now. I went with my mum and dad to the carboot sale down the road from my house. It wasn't very good, pretty crap actually, there wasn't anything worth taking a second look at. Not that I ever go to a carboot sale expecting it to be good and pick up something I don't even know I want yet. I remember back when I was a young lad the carboot sale was amazing, it was a great way to spend a Sunday morning, maybe even buy something I will later realise I didn't even need. Like I imagined I found absolutely nothing, just spent a couple of hours walking around surrounded by crap.
At least the weather is fantastic in England at the moment, I left paradise where it was sun all day long and extreme heat to home where it usually rains all time but it isn't at right now, far from.After the carboot I had the usual family dinner at my grandmother's house, my brothers and their girlfriends where there too. Felt really strange to be back doing exactly the same thing I would normally be doing apart from working as I left my job to go travelling in the first place. I surprised my grandmother before I went there to eat, I snuck up to her room as she was still sleeping, I slowly popped my head around the corner and she didn't believe it was me. She thought she was still dreaming, even when I gave her a hug and she didn't let me go for a couple of minutes, I was definitely a pleasant surprise for her.
Later that night I went to my local pub 'The Regent' to have some beer, I was really excited to be able to drink some tasty real ales again, none of those flavourless lagers I have been forced to have in south America. I met up with a few old work mates and a couple of other mates, obviously I ended up getting quite drunk, more than I thought I would and felt at the time.

The bastards at Barbados immigration didn't give me a single chance at all, in fact, the supervisor gave me an ultimatum. I had to decide if I was either going to buy a ticket back to Trinidad & Tobago or a ticket back to England. Both would cost me roughly the same, maybe the ticket back to England and then back out a little more but it seemed like common sense to take that option. I am certainly not ready to end my trip so soon but going back seems more logical right now, it makes it easier for me to sort out my insurance and tickets.