Cuba

Cuba is a very tropical Carribbean island, full of colour and music everywhere you go. It is famous of course for rum and cigars, and for Castro and Che. It is one of the last remaining truly communist countries, and as such the US government absolutely hates it. Apart from the obvious things like the absence of direct flights from the USA to Cuba (even though it is only 90 miles from Havana to Florida, you must first fly to Canada or Mexico) and the cease in all trade since 1959, there are some really petty things too. Every self-respecting drinker in Europe knows that Bacardi was established in Cuba 1862. The American government has every bottle of the stuff state "Puerto Rican Rum" as they won't admit to the product being Cuban. Completely daft!

We visited Cuba in October '99, and our hotel had been damaged by a hurricane so we stayed in another place out at Marina Hemmingway, "El Viejo y el Mar". Unfortunately I don't have many decent photos of Cuba, I did have a nice one of the jungle at Vinales but I stupidly sent it off for an application for something and never got it back. Never mind, it's an excuse to go back and take some more, hopefully before Castro kicks the bucket and the Americans move in and commercialise and corporate-ise the whole place.

This is the centre of La Havana, taken from the steps of their Capitol Building which uncanilly resembles the American one (wish I had a photo of it!)

Here are a couple of suspicious looking tourists standing in the Plaza de la Revolucion, with the portrait of Che Guevara in the background. That particular image of Che is world famous, and appears in many student flats and on the t-shirts of people who have no idea who he is.

This is a student mural which was painted out at Vinales to the west of Havana, it was done quite recently and is a good summation of the colour which represents the country. Vinales is a tropical jungle area which interestingly had literally flocks of eagles soaring around. If you are feeling thirsty in the heat you can buy a nice cool coconut which the vendor will split for you then present you with a straw.

One of the other ways Cuba is famous is a result of the American trade halt in 1959, since then no cars have been exported from the US and those that remain from just before the sixties are still chugging around fitted with Russian Lada engines. Although most are fairly decrepit, Cuba has the finest collection of fifties American cars in the world.