When in Cuba......SALSA!!!

Today we met in the lobby of the hotel and jumped into Bicitaxi's! A bicycle at the front with two seats behind. They are everywhere, and are used instead of motorised taxi's. Sally and I had Manuel! He was quite young, fancied his style with the ladies, was eager to overtake everyone, a bit of a joker and cad! But he was really sweet. He cycled us around the labyrinth streets of Camaguey, stopping to visit churches and squares.

We stopped at one square which featured sculptures by a local artist, Martha Jiminez (whose studio was also by the square). The sculptures were of women gossiping, lovers, a man reading a newspaper. I thought they were fantastic and it was a great place to people watch. There was one guy teaching to young boys boxing moves! You could sense their concentration, and he was obviously a task master!

By the afternoon we had arrived in Bayamo, another of the seven original settlements. There was nothing spectacular to see, as the inhabitants had burned it to the ground in 1868 in an act of rebellion against the Spanish, but we stopped by the Casa de la Trova. A lot of the cities have a Casa de la Trova or Casa de la Musica, generally a building with a courtyard where you go to listen to music and dance! But obviously first you must drink rum! Then it was time to salsa!

Why do the Cubans pick such an energetic dance when it is already so hot?! Great fun though, and obviously the rum was key to the happy equation!

Further down the coast we headed inland to the Sierra Maestra Mountains. We had to transfer to jeeps this time to tackle the terrain over the steep passes. Once at our lodge in Santa Domingo obviously we were given "Welcome Drinks", which disappointingly was rum mixed with a Tango-like drink. Not many marks for originality!!!! Must try harder.

Dinner was further up the hill which involved torches and stepping stones across the river. Unfortunately I ended up sat under the one neon strip light, which all the bugs in the vicinity aimed for, hit and then fell on the person below....me! It almost invoked stroppage number 2 but I kept it together and just ordered a beer! Hey ho! The food was actually really lovely, rice and beans, boiled yucca with a citrus vinaigrette and slow cooked lamb stew, the first lamb we have been offered all week!

When I got back to my room I discovered that Colin the cockroach had also taken up residence, so I managed to chase him into the bathroom, close the door, and put a towel against the bottom of the door. He was allowed the bathroom, as long as he didn't disturb me in the bedroom! I did get up in the middle of the night to nip to the loo and Colin behaved admirably, keeping to his side of the bargain, and staying where he was told!