We hadn't got far when it started raining! It didn't rain for long though - by the time we got where we were going, it had cleared up and remained very hot!
The first stop we had was an old sugar plantation. Cuba used to be a massive exporter of sugar - until they turfed all the Americans out of the country as they owned 80% of the property and everything else. The Cuban government confiscated all the American owned property, so America decided not to trade with Cuba (there's more to it than that but I don't want to turn this into a Cuban history lesson).
Anyway the place we visited used to be run by the Spanish using black slaves. We were shown the tower where the Spanish would keep an eye on the slaves. What confused me though was that it was so high up that if they had a problem with the slaves - what could they do about it?! It would take 10 minutes to get all the way back down - its not like they had mobile phones!
Taken from the top of the tower - we had to climb up lots and lots wooden steps and ladders in the heat to get here!
we were then given a demonstration as to how they got the sugary liquid (cant remember what they call it) out of the sugar cane and we could buy some of it to try it - and it was errrr....YUCK!
Our next stop was a pottery place where the guy was an expert at making pottery 'stuff' he was really good but we didn't really want to buy anything. On the way out we got quite a bit of hassle from people begging, which is awkward but if you give anybody anything you got swamped by everyone else! One girl who was dressed quite well was making hand-to-mouth motions as if to say she needed money for food, and her mother was saying she needed to buy clothes for her mother...felt guilty ignoring them but didn't really what else to do.
Next stop was a town called Trinidad which has remained the same since about 1850. To be honest it looked exactly the same as all the other towns we had driven though in Cuba. It was a Sunday so most things were closed (although I didn't see anything that could have been 'open'. Because it was quiet we were sitting ducks for people begging again. They wanted money or pens! If I had known I would have taken a load of pens and handed them out.
We went into a museum - which didn't really have much in it - then we were given an hour to wander on our own. That was about an hour longer than we wanted, because all there was to do was wander around trying to avoid the people either begging or trying to sell us dodgy cigars which they apparently make out of banana leaves!
This is a picture of the main square in Trinidad - taken from the roof of the museum. We tried to hide in this square a little while later while we waited for the coach to come back - but we were followed anyway!
A picture of us all in the museum!
Killing time - getting pictures of us in the reflection in Andy's glasses!
We spotted a few people from our coach in a bar/restaurant so we went in and got a much needed cold drink - in every single place like this they have musicians and singers, who come around for tips before you leave. Whilst we were there the weather went a bit weird and stormy and there were a few really strong gusts of which knocked over a few things in the restaurant but by the time we left 10 minutes later it was all fine again!
We finally got back on the coach and continued on our journey. Our next stop was at a little place where they did fresh coffee. We got tiny cups with black very strong coffee (expresso I suppose) it was the first time I had drank coffee like this and with a bit of sugar it was really good! We bought some!
Our next stop was the hotel we were staying in that night. It was very basic! It had an air condition unit sticking though the window with gaps all around it and didn't really cool the room down.
We got our swimming stuff together, really looking forward to plunging into a cold pool after the hot sweaty day we had. However, it was an indoor pool and was full of people and the sound was deafening so we gave it a miss. We decided to stay in the lobby and play cards. We went to the buffet restaurant had some basic food and returned to the lobby to play cards. While we were there it started raining - extremely heavy rain!
We decided that whoever lost at cards would have to stand in the rain for 2 minutes! Luckily for me Connor lost! hehehe. He was a really good sport though and did it - even though he got pretty drenched! We decided that the next loser would have to eat octopus - which we were bound to come across while on holiday. Andy and Lissa ended up losing - so I escaped! However, I had already tried octopus in whilst in Dubai so it wouldn't have been too bad if I had lost - and as it happens we didn't come across any octopus so they both got away with it anyway!
That night I hardly slept because I just knew that insects were in the room - at one point I heard something scuttling and then heard something drop to the floor. I needed the loo most of the night but remained in bed with the sheet right up to my neck! The next day the twins told me that they had been up in the night because they thought they heard something and found a huge cockroach on the table which ran off. Lissa went into the bathroom and found another one (or possibly the same one) and they also found it difficult to sleep!
The next morning as were left our room the maid took our key off us. I actually said to Andy, we shouldn't give it to her because reception wont know we handed it in...
we all piled back on the coach and headed off - only for the coach to be stopped - we were all asked if we had handed the key in. When I said we had given ours to a maid, the coach had to turn around and go back and we were asked to go back! We had to find the maid and get her to verify that she had the key - I was so relieved when we did actually find her and she confirmed it. Andy was quite annoyed about it when we had to get back on the coach with everybody watching us! But hey-ho - off we went!
We went about 10-20 minutes on the coach, then stopped at a place where we were to go walking in the mountain. It was sooooo hot!! We set off - mainly upwards on paths and steps and I must admit, I was worried about how hot it was and how far and how steep we might be going - but luckily after the initial climb it basically flattened out and was okay! Took lots of pictures, and went over stepping stones over little streams, and saw Cuban birds and woodpeckers - and insects!
We stopped after a while and were given sweet tea at a little cottage/hut, where there were chickens and little chicks, cats and a skinny dog!
sweet tea!
It was soooo hot and sticky!!
Then we got to the waterfall!
and went for a swim!
there were bats flying around in this cave to one side of the waterfall!
Connor decided to jump off the side!
We then got dried and headed off back down the mountain! We had lunch once we got back down and I had best drink of Sprite I had ever had! lol
We then got back into the coach and made the journey back to our usual hotel again! We got showered ready and went out for a meal at one of the restaurants that we had booked i.e. not the usual buffet restaurant. It was a steak grill or something like that - only there wasn't any steak! lol. I think we had chicken on skewers - which was average. I think we were put off because we couldn't tell if the chicken was cooked!
If I remember rightly - we all ended up in bed pretty early again!
A fun busy two days!
