Where am I? Oh yeh, Colombiaaaaaaa!!!!

So we got to Cartagena on our boat, eventually, the captain got pissed and stoned and took us 6 hours in the wrong direction, in very turbulent seas, 10 foot waves no exaggeration, it ws quite an experience, but more of that later, still trying to catch on Cuba.


Cuba, an ongoing essay, by Mark Stangroom, aged 34 and 4 months.

I really liked Cubam, thats why I'm perservering with the stuff i wrote down when i as thee, kind of got a bit lost with the notes, so here goes on picking up the pieces.
Click here for photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32203076@N02/sets/72157610586811709/ Theres alot of street hustlers, they are known as "jineteros". These guys will offer you everything they can think of, which includes guided tours around the city, bars, restaurants, a place to stay, a taxi, cigars, prostitutes and drugs. There are also the female equivalent, "jineteras" who kind of "escort" rich foreign tourists, in exchange for having some money spent on them. It is pretty sad really, but unfortunately not unusual it would seem, and it makes it alot less flattering when a gorgeous girl hits on you in a club or even in the street, I know i'm hot stuff but offering to come home with me one minute after introducing yourself is a bit too forward, even for me.

Anyway, Havana. Wowser. Totally hectic, falling to pieces yet beautiful, old yet full of vitality, its an awesome town. Its old town is gorgeous and being restored, albeit slowly. Central Havana is where alot of the locals live, right next to the old town. Sadly, this is lower down the list of priorities to be developed, the streets are dirty and smelly, but they are safe. I stayed there for about 5 or 6 days, with a Budhist couple, technically they were breaking the law by allowing me to stay but they take in guests for the cash, and it is cheaper than a state registered casa particular, or private home which offer a kind of bed and brekfast service. this is by far the best way of staying in Cuba because you get to meet the locals, rather than stay in a shoddy state run hotel.

Huge American cars from the 50s cruise the busy cobbled streets, classic Chryslers, Buicks and Fords are everywhere, relics from a bygone era of American expats pre revolution. These relics now run on spares from Russian tractors, trade which came about when the US rejected Castro, so he became a Marxist and embraced the Soviets. Although they arent supposed to pick up tourists I managed to get a lift home a couple of times, they call them Collectivis, and they just run routes, picking up people as they are flagged down as long as thereis space in the car, so you end up squashed in between the locals, trying to look inconspicuous!

I spent a week in hvana, and saw pretty much everyhting I wanted to see. It was a relief to get out of town eventually, when I headed West to Vi;ales, a little village in a national park dating from the Jurassic era. the weather was gorgeous, as opposed to Havana where the sunshine ws intermittent, hot but not uncomfortable and my uber tan that I developedf in Ibiza this summer is coming back at last.

Vi;ales was hit by the last two hurricanes, Ike and Gustav. Many trees were ripped down and houses were destroyed as well as crops ruined. Although they were not the worst affected in the country the effects were noticeable, as is the community spirit. It is a close knit place where everybody knows everybody and helps each other out, a practice prescribed by Che Guevara, who advocated through indoctrination that one should put the good of the state above individual motivation.