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.