Updated Sophie photos

 

 

 

Last day in Panama

Spent the morning walking along the Cinta Costera that runs along the Bahia de Panamá that has been renovated and landscaped with palm trees, basketball courts and fountains with spectacular views of Panama City. It’s a very popular place for locals to come to run, bike, roller blade and walk with their dogs and we also watched the pelicans diving into the water to catch fish.

The Cinta Costera also runs alongside one of the main road arteries, Avenida Balbao, named after Vasco Núñez de Balboa, a Spanish explorer who crossed the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific Ocean in 1513, becoming the first European to lead an expedition to have seen or reached the Pacific from the New World. He was a busy fellow: in 1509 he set sail as a stowaway, hiding inside a barrel together with his dog Leoncico to escape from his creditors in Santo Domingo. That must have been fun!

We walked about 9 kms from the Fish Market and back again which is where we had agreed to meet Evelio. We were bloody hot by the end of it and scoffed down a plate of papas frites (chips!) with lots of salt and beers. Never did a beer taste so good!

Then back home to do house cleaning duties like washing floors. We'll pack this afternoon in preparation for our morning flight tomorrow.

In two week's time, Panama will host the Summits of the Americas; and the wet season will probably start.

The summit will force the city into lock-down as the security will be immense. Obama will be here along with all the head honchos from the Caribbean countries. On the agenda is the return of Cuba to the Organization of American States (OAS) and the re-establishment of Cuba's relations with the United States. Venezuela will be raising the issue of Obama's recent declaration against it as being a threat to US security.

All down the street past Kathryn and Regis' house will be armed guards as the American Embassy is just around the corner. Kathryn and Regis went there the other day to organise Sophie's US passport. She is a Panamian by birth but will have dual citizenship - triple actually as she will have an Australian passport also.

The BioMuseo

In the morning My Friend and I went out on Kathryn and Regis's bikes for a swing around the neighbourhood and further afield through some more gated communities like Clayton with their nice homes.

There is also a place called the City of Knowledge (Ciudad de Saber) which has a small shopping centre with lots of International agencies like the UN World Food Programme where Regis has his office. The guard wasn't too happy that I took a photo here. Very sensitive!

The guards at the shopping centre wouldn't let us take our bikes up close to the coffee shop where we planned to have coffee, wanting us to leave them further out in the street where we couldn't see them. Shows how we take these small things for granted at home. We declined on the coffee here and continued on where we found another shopping strip where we could park the bikes right outside and we enjoyed a nice piece of cake and a coffee.

On our return, whilst we were still hot and sweaty, we took Boba the dog for a walk and even braved letting the huge creature off his lead so he could have more of a run. He was very well-behaved although he did disappear for a time into a piece of jungle and was seen at one point like greased lightning dashing across the jungle floor - having a wonderful time - whilst we peered down from the hill above wondering where he was!

Just after lunch we drove with Kathryn to the BioMuseo. This is an amazingly brightly colourful piece of architecture designed by the renown architect Frank Gehry, although it is in fact not quite finished - with 3 rooms still to go: the ones housing the aquariums; a bit of cheek to be charging full price when it is not completed. Nonetheless, it is very good, especially the multiscreen immersive video installation.

I didn't realise that this was Gehry’s first building in Latin America, and he took the job in part because his wife is Panamanian. We have visited his museum in Balboa in Spain and I am real fan of his work.

The design centres on an outdoor atrium looped by galleries on two levels, the whole thing blanketed by metal canopies of different shapes and sizes, clad in blue, red, yellow, orange and green. They echo Panama’s traditional tin-roof housing and its Neotropical habitat. Viewed from afar, some say, it also looks like the ships that ply the canal.

It is a great concept I think to have a museum showcasing the movement of species between the north and south American continents across the isthmus and Panama's biodiversity. Just a bit bigger than Ireland, Panama has more species of birds, amphibians and animals (if insects are included) than the United States and Canada combined. The scientific content of the exhibits has been put together with the assistance of the Smithsonian Institute and with funds raised by the Amador Foundation.

As a by-the-way piece of information, not really to do with biodiversity, we also learned that the first steamship to pass through the canal when it opened in 1914 was the Ancon, and thus (I presume) the name of the Cerro Ancon that we climbed in our first week's visit here.

And another piece of trivia: I had never heard about the Darién Scheme which was a botched attempt by Scotland to become a world trading nation by establishing a colony called "Caledonia" on the Isthmus of Panama in the Gulf of Darién in the late 1690s. Scotland lost so much money that it had no choice but to join in a union with England in 1707.

Amazing what you learn!

Dinner at Segundo Muelle in town with Kathryn and Regis - and Sophie. Peruvian food - just great; probably the best food out that we have had on this trip. We left it to Regis to order and sat back and enjoyed a couple of pisco sours. Yum.

The gifts have arrived from Australia - via Regis' mom in Florida where she is holidaying. The parcel then came into Panama via special courier.

Kathryn and Regis are thrilled with everything and are overwhelmed by everyone's generosity.

The 2 Cs

A cemetery and a causeway.

There is a big cemetery down the road from where Kathryn and Regis live that we pass everyday as we go in and out of their community - and I was curious about it.

It is the Corozal American Cemetery. Buried here are more than 5,000 American veterans plus others who died during the construction and operation of the Panama Canal. Some died from Yellow Fever.

In 1914, the Canal Commission designated land for use as a cemetery for U.S. remains. The graves contain veterans from the American Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II and most conflicts that followed. A small visitor centre displays the history of the cemetery and American involvement in Panama. In addition to honouring members of the U.S. armed forces, the cemetery commemorates the deeds and sacrifices of U.S. civilians who contributed to the security and operations of the Panama Canal. Corozal became a permanent American military cemetery in 1979 when ownership of the canal was transferred to Panama.

We walked down there this morning with Boba the dog being pretty sure we wouldn't be let in with the dog - which was correct. But the guard went and got the superintendent to check on the rules and Mr Gutierrez walked down from his office in the visitor centre to greet us. A very personable man with impeccable English. He offered to take us on a tour when we returned (minus the dog) so we made plans to come back later today with Kathryn.

So Boba got a walk and we returned home to continue with our plan for the day which was to visit the BioMuseo with Kathryn who had Regis' car for the day for this purpose. As things turned out, there was not enough time when we got there - but it was closed anyway. So we will return tomorrow.

Part of the day's plan was to continue past the museum along the causeway with its nice views across to the city. Many expensive sailing boats are berthed here and it all looks pretty swish with lots of cafes and restaurants along the foreshore obviously catering for the well-heeled yachties. It was very picturesque.

The Amador Causeway is a road that connects the mainland of Panama City with a small archipelago of four islands in the Pacific Ocean. It was built in 1913 with rocks excavated from Snake Cut during construction of the Panama Canal. The site was originally part of a U.S. military complex known as Fort Amador, established to protect the entrance to the canal.

We then braved the traffic and headed into the depths of the city and its skyscrapers. Here we were headed for one of Kathryn's old haunts when she and Regis lived in an apartment when they first came to Panama: a nice cafe with lovely pastries and coffee.

Returning home in the traffic was real heart-in-your-mouth stuff. We got to the cemetery as planned and met up with Juan Gutierrez. He is a civil servant employee of the American Battle Monuments Commission which maintains American military cemeteries in foreign countries. He has been managing this cemetery in Panama for 2 years and is missing his wife and daughter who are in Sweden, unable to relocate because of some issue with his wife's Swedish pension.

The cemetery is very pleasant and nicely maintained. He has more plans for it including some bench seats for visitors to use to rest and reflect although he is somewhat ambivalent about this idea because he said they are most likely to be used by his Panamanian employees who he thinks may find the benches too tempting.

We had a lovely time with him wandering around and asking questions.

The Metropolitan Park

The 265 ha Parque Natural Metropolitano de Panama was inaugurated in 1988. It is located within the city boundaries and provides a tropical rainforest oasis with several walking trails which we did - ending at the short but steep summit, Cedar Hill Lookout Point at 150 m above sea level. Here there are great views of the Panama Canal entrance on the Pacific side, the Bridge of the Americas, Ancon Hill and an incredible panoramic view of Panama City. The trails pass by vines, bindweed, shrubs, orchids and trees between 30 and 50 meters high.

We saw a couple of agoutis running speedily through the undergrowth; these are a type of rodent related to the guinea pig.

The reserve is noted for the Geoffroy’s tamarin monkey but we didn't see any - but we saw several black monkeys at the mirador at the summit; I think these are howler monkeys. So we spent a pleasant couple of hours here in the parque.

 

 

Evelio's brother Roberto picked us up to take us to the Albrook Mall where we enjoyed lunch at the Crepes and Waffles restaurant (and free wi-fi! - it's terrible at Kat and Regis' house). Also did some supermarket shopping for them including Ketchup for Regis.

Then home via Roberto's taxi - and out of the heat.

 

 

 

 

Back to Panama

So we leave Cuba fascinated by the different experiences we have had and most particularly the stark contrasts in circumstances as revealed by the places we have stayed.

The 3 casa particulares - the one in Trinidad and the other in Havana were light years apart and then there was the very pleasant one with Ridel the doctor in Viñales.

But how do you explain a medical specialist living in a nice but modest casa earning 60 CUCs a month (!) - and no wonder they are supplementing his professional income by opening their home to tourists where he can earn 25CUCs a night plus another 10 pp for dinner - with the even by our standards sumptuously appointed city apartment in Havana of Staly and her husband? Does the husband have special favours afforded him because his father worked in the Embassy in London? Does he have connections with The Party? And not surprisingly they were charging more - and happy to accept payment in Euros. Savvy.

We enjoy a lovely breakfast (as usual of generous proportions): a platter of fruit, toast in this case - sometimes in the poorer places out in the provinces it was stale and inedible, cake and biscuit, eggs, coffee, jug of juice - papaya mixed with guava.

The taxi driver was on time in an ancient vehicle even though it was a Hyundai but this journey seemed to be longer than I had remembered when we had arrived over a week ago; about 10 minutes before the airport we found at why because the driver slowed at a roundabout crowded with people and asked in Spanish if we'd mind if he picked up a friend (at least that is what I thought he said) and it turned out this was the plan and a buxom woman in a uniform with large glamorous (probably pseudo) gold sunglasses and long gold-painted fingernails squeezed into the back seat with me. Turns out she worked at the airport.

The airport is very basic; we expected no less and even though we were 3 hours early there was already a queue forming at a very poorly marked check-in counter which appeared to be ours. This all took an hour but fortunately we arrived at the departure tax counter just as another window was opened. Emigration was well-staffed and uncrowded and we were processed through quickly with our previous docket with the visa we had paid for at Panama on leaving there and which we had conscientiously ensured we never lost for fear we would have to pay for it all over again. We were glad to be finally rid of it.

Keeping an eye on the documentation can be a tiring aspect of travel. My Friend had had a sleepless night because he thought he had lost his Yellow Fever booklet. We found it this morning.

Now we wait for the plane to Panama.

In many respects I can't wait to leave Cuba.

Last thoughts on Cuba

We have seen a good assortment of what is on offer. Cuba is interesting but not an easy place to travel; there are plenty of discomforts.

I can't believe the poverty and expected it to be more scenic. It had its lovely spots for sure but I wouldn't choose it as a travel destination for that. It was so barren in parts and the heat was hard-going.

We had good accommodation for the most part, plenty of food but little variety (we expected this): rice, black beans, eggs, devon (they call this ham), fruit: pineapple, papaya; vegetables: tomatoes, diced cabbage for the mist part. We were probably lucky to get this from all accounts. Good coffee! Supermarkets were poor in content and lack of customer service a real standout.

Having said that, the ordinary man in the street, so to speak, was pleasant. But for all of that, Cuba nevertheless registers some enviable and somewhat surprising social markers such as low infant mortality and high life expectancy -
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/salim-lamrani/cubas-health-care-system-_b_5649968.html

It has a literacy rate of 99.8% and is almost free of the drug trade and its accompanying violence. The murder rate is low compared to many other countries.

It is a country in a time warp. It'll be interesting to see where the detente between the US and Cuba announced by President Obama last December will lead. How will the country deal with an influx of tourists? Will it be over-run by US multinationals - especially the fast-food companies? Regis thinks things will revert back to pre-Castro times with the wealth skewed to a few and life made much worse for the poor.

This makes Cuba an interesting country to visit because it undoubtedly will change and not necessarily for the good. Many people fear the march of McDonald's into the country and want to visit it before this happens. No doubt many will find the socialist attitudes and creaking infrastructure challenging.

Interestingly, on the 17th when we were on our last day's ride out of Trinidad, the headlines in the New York Times stated:

"U.S.-Cuba Talks on Restoring Diplomatic Ties End Abruptly".

Apparently this is in response to Obama's declaration that Venezuela is a threat to national security, angering the Caribbean countries - including Cuba - which have rallied around Venezuela in support.

Cuba is just interesting. Simply that.

Viñales to Havana

Lazy breakfast. Chatted to the English couple who then disappeared off horse-riding.

It was very cool when we had breakfast at 8:00 a.m. but by 9 it was already getting hot fast. We walked up the street and around town which was busy with people both tourists and locals, the latter buying produce being loaded off trucks and queueing at banks. There was a crowd at the Municipal Popular which Ridel thinks may have been something to do with a court case. We located (with a bit of assistance from locals) the polyclinic where Ridel works. We suspect he gets called in when required as he is at home a lot.

By the time we returned a bit after 10:30 a.m., it was very hot and we needed another shower. We packed and Ridel said we could stay and use the facilities so I am sitting on the top verandah or deck looking out over the rooftops and trees towards the hills - in the shade! It is too hot to do anything else. We will walk in later to catch our 2 p.m. bus back to Havana.

Ridel has given us a bottle of local rum! We now have 3 (!) bottles - a lifetime's supply. He exhorts me to do a review on TripAdviser!

We read for a couple of hours in the shade on the deck (I am still working my way through Gabriel Garcia Marquéz's book News of a Kidnapping which is a journalistic-style reporting of a series of kidnappings of high-profile Columbians (journalists, relatives of the President, etc) by the druglord, Pablo Escobar, that took place in the 1980s when the Extraditables were holding the Government to ransom over their demands to not be extradited to the US. Their demands included that if they were to be imprisoned that their prison was to be one of their choosing and that it should be in Colombia. The Government was not capitulating however so the hostages had a long captivity - and indeed one (so far) is killed. The book is quite engrossing.

When we decided we should make the walk to the bus station (early) we were lucky because it turned out coincidentally that Ridel was just about to leave for work and he offered us a ride in his taxi (the policlinico where he works is just down the road from the bus station).

It really was our lucky day as we were not looking forward to what is probably close to a kilometre walk in the hot sun - and dragging our 3 bottles of rum in our luggage to boot!

The staff at the bus station yesterday had said to arrive 30 minutes before departure but the ticket said 60 minutes and in fact there was a staff member there even earlier, so we had no queue and it was much more friendly and civilised than yesterday in Havana.

My Friend disappeared off to the exchange place to change more euros onto CUCs - hopefully for the last time! We have one more night here in Cuba - in Havana tonight. I have already put aside the CUCs we need for the taxi to the airport and the departure tax. He arrives back half an hour later because he had got stuck in a long queue.

A welcome stop once again at Las Terrazas enroute to Havana; we were more organised this time and got a coffee and a local snack of a block of nuts mixed with honey AND a 'loo' stop. A little rain here - the first I remember since leaving home!

It was easy to while away the time on the journey watching the various modes of transport as the bus overtook them. There were some bemusing (to us) spots along the autopista where there were overhead concrete bridges but they didn't have roads attached to them. And of course the banners everywhere painted on buildings proclaiming the Revoluciòn es Invincible. And I wonder when or whether the pictures of Fidel will ever disappear?


Well! Unbelievable! Just when you think the day is done and all we have to do is get to our accommodation, one episode after another unfolds.

First of all, the taxi experience: I (in my wisdom - sometimes I'm not so sure about my brainwaves!) decide that getting a taxi right outside the bus station when we arrive in Havana is NOT such a good idea, so I decide we'll walk a little further beyond.

We are immediately set upon by taxi drivers of course outside the bus station and so I ask "Cuanto?" which, by the way, you are told you MUST do before buying ANYTHING in Cuba as after-the-event is too late and you'll be charged anything and more-fool-you. I am told "diez" which is 10 CUC and I am quite sure that is rubbish based on previous rides into the Old Town which are longer and more complex when we were staying much further out. So I said "no thanks".

Next thing, we are approached by a guy who appears on foot and he says 8 in answer to my question of how much and I said basically rubbish and suggested 6 and we agreed on 7 and the next thing we knew he was saying to wait and he went off and did a similar exercise with another couple and I could hear them agree to 8 but I knew also they weren't going to the same place as us. Question was: where were they going? I thought this was all a bit cheeky and started to get my back up and then he said to follow him and across the road.

I could see a dilapidated vehicle and I thought "he wants to fit 4 people AND luggage into THAT?" So I said "no thanks" and the other couple seemed to be backing out also. I kept walking to pick up a taxi out on the main road - which had been my original plan - and Our Friend turned up in hot pursuit because he had by now lost both sets of customers. Despite my reservations, we allowed ourselves to follow him and he went up to his vehicle and popped a plastic black and white "TAXI" sign up on his dashboard (can you believe it!). Alarm bells rang again by which time he had opened the boot and I packed my gear into the back seat and said to My Friend not to put anything into the boot. We climbed in and he couldn't start the engine!!!! I tried to get back out but couldn't open the back door from the inside. Fortunately My Friend could get out of the front seat where he was and meanwhile the "taxi driver" asked us to wait indicating the engine would be started shortly. He tried several more times to no avail so I asked My Friend to help me get out and thank goodness we hadn't put the luggage in the boot or we would have been stuck.

The "taxi driver" was still desperately trying to start the engine while I had gone back to the main road and was trying to flag down a real taxi which didn't take long. I heard the engine start from Our Friend's vehicle and he shouted out to us but fortunately by now we were in negotiations with a proper taxi who without hesitation to the "cuanto" question had answered 5 (or "cinco") and I said "perfecto" and we were on our way. The driver was seriously ancient but he knew how to drive and he knew where to go and his dilapidated vehicle got us to our destination. I had no hesitation in tipping him.

We are staying in Avenida Los Presidentes and the apartment building is another one of those nondescript concrete Soviet constructions you see everywhere but, my goodness, on the 5th floor we are met by Staly and inside it is the most unbelievable haven. Nothing in Cuba compares! The reception area on the 5th level is decorated with the most fabulous antiques: furniture, glassware and porcelain.

It turns out that her father deals in antiques which must have come from Europe; her husband tells me pre-1959 (=pre-Castro). His father worked in the embassy in the UK for 3 years which is where he (Staly's husband) learned his English. Our hosts are both fluent in English.

Staly takes us up to the 11th floor with a sitting room and balcony and our room is exquisitely furnished with all modcons, the bathroom fitted out with modern facilities, aircon, hot and cold water and our windows on two sides look out to fabulous views of the city and the sea beyond. We can't believe it. We are invited back to the 5th floor for fabulous mojitos.


We ask about dinner and Staly uses her influence to book us into a nearby restaurant which had been booked out, provided we can be there by 7:30 p.m. Which we promise we will be.

We quickly power-walk down to the seaside promenade - the Malecón - several blocks away to see it in the late afternoon light and then power back again for a superfast shower and change of clothes and arrive at El Idilio for a beautiful meal. We both have lamb which is succulent and tender - cooked to perfection - after delicious starters, beers for My Friend and a glass of French red wine for moi. The entire thing including an expresso for MF is a shade over 32CUCs.

We count our remaining CUCs and shout ourselves another drink at the nearby Hotel Presidente which is very old world with a vast verandah where people are enjoying the cool breeze, drinks and a band.

We return to our casa and its fabulous views from our balcony and watch the world go by lit up in lights.

Staly has ordered our taxi for the airport for 9:00 a.m. in the morning.

Viñales

We sail off into the "wild blue yonder" today - independently (without the gruppo), heading west via Pinar del Rio to Viñales.

We have a few hurdles: first to catch a taxi to the bus station, negotiate the bus station and find our casa particulare at our destination. The journey will take about 3 hours and we need to be at the bus station an hour early.

Up and breakfasted early in the vast dining room of the hotel in Havana where we stayed when we arrived. Ghastly!

Walked down a block to get a taxi and had an odd fellow (but probably not for Cuba) who spoke little English, wanted to show us the Bosque de Havana (a wooded park) on the way to the bus station, even offering to stop for a photo as we went past it (we declined) as he extolled its fair qualities - he kept saying how beautiful it was - but we equally extolled our need to catch a bus.

He kept beeping his horn as if this was a way to communicate with his fellow drivers on the road. The music also was head-thumpingly loud - particularly in the back where I could feel the vibrations of it into my back.

Duly arrived at bus station and another episode of Fawlty Towers; OMG we are in a Communist country you are reminded.

The information I have read says that bus travel is very good in this country but the bus station is something else: like a lottery as to whether you will get on or not and next-to-no information. Definitely no customer service. Forget that! Old computers, dot matrix printers. Staff constantly talking to each other but not to the customers: as a customer you get little more than a grunt, a shrug of the shoulders, a jab of the finger. Everyone seemed clueless amongst the passengers waiting to buy tickets and when people asked any questions - even in Spanish - they often didn't get an answer, or at best any semblance of a useful reply.

We stood forever as the staff completely disappeared at one point and emerged 10 minutes later. Still no effort to communicate (even in Spanish), no smiles, no eye contact.

The driver was more friendly - when we finally were permitted to board with our precious piece of torn-off dot matrix printer paper that substituted as a ticket.

Drove out through the smog. Such a shame. It is a city with great potential. Much is being renovated but there are enormous concrete buildings crumbling badly. By night it is really beautiful and we saw last night delightful squares lit up like fairy kingdoms alongside dark laneways you wouldn't walk through. Not that there has ever been any reason here to feel unsafe.

So back to the bus: which is Chinese - in good condition and air-conditioned. These are the more comfortable buses primarily used by tourists; the local ones are in poor condition and crammed with people and belching large volumes of black smoke generally.

Didn't take long to exit the city and we were soon on a 3-lane road out with a nicely kept median strip, attractive with lawn and gardens. A few would-be passengers tried to flag the bus down but it was full so it didn't stop.

Through to the Bosque de las Terrazas for our first stop - it was quite attractive with its lake, waterlilies, thatched roof cabanas and lovely palm forest surrounding it all. There was a welcome band playing Cuban music and people used the 20-minute break to go to the baños, buy a coffee, snack or souvenir and enjoy the music. All very Cuban.

The bus travels on, at one point stopping when two men (who looked to be official) in black trousers and crisp white shirts stepped out onto the road from each side, smiling big toothy grins and pointing at their watches. A long conversation ensued involving one of the 3 (!) bus employees on board. Off we went again, no change appeared to have occurred and the non-stop conversation continued between the three bus men: one the driver, the other 2 conductors of some sort sat on either side of the aisle behind him regaling him with what sounded like jokes or gossip.

Another time, after passing through the centre of Pinar del Rio, the driver pulled up at a house and chatted to an elderly man for 5 minutes. Another time he pulled up at a property and sounded the horn and a young woman came out and removed two sacks from the luggage hold under the bus.

Along the way were a cavalcade of transport options: bikes - a little lycra, some bikes just being treddled along and sometimes 'dinking' someone else, some carrying loads like wood, crates of eggs (!!); local buses belching black fumes and crowded; trucks which also seemed to transport people sitting facing each other on benches down the length of the trunk??? and some with loads of goods in the tray AND people standing, sitting or just hanging on within the load wherever they could fit; also horse and carts; alongside could be seen bullocks ploughing fields; and people walked along the road shoulder sometimes carrying enormous loads on their shoulders.

What fascinates me in Cuba is the rocking chairs. Most homes have them - nearly always two of them, matching, and in various styles but basically the same - on their front verandah.

From Pinar del Rio it was a lovely trip up high into the mountains. As we approached Viñales, descending into the valley, one of the remaining conductors (the other seems to have got off at one of the stops) announced (in Spanish but we got the gist via the hand-waving) that there were nice views to our left if we wanted to take photos and the driver kindly slowed down to accommodate this!

It was a "bun-fight" at the bus station: first time this has occurred in Cuba. People were flapping cards in our faces and trying to get us to take up their accommodation offer.

Fortunately we were booked into a casa - Ridel y Claribel - and I was enormously relieved to see a card with my name "Pam" on it! I hadn't expected to be met so this was a nice surprise. We had a 20-minute walk and Ridel's brother-in-law kindly carried my bag. The sun was hot. My Friend dragged along behind...

Our casa is a simple little place, very well-appointed (especially by Cuban standards) and reflecting wealth above the norm; and they couldn't do more to please us. THIS is customer service.

The trouble is that the Cuban government has defended the principle of their socialist state for so long that they can’t bear to admit (or perhaps they just can’t see) that it doesn’t work any longer. And in trying to maintain the system artificially, they have created a kind of economic apartheid. Those who have access to CUCs live relatively comfortable lives compared to those who have to make a living from their government wages.

Yes, the Cuban system provides a safety net so that Cuba has none of the social problems that its neighbours suffer from. There is no homelessness (but plenty of overcrowding), no-one starves (but the diet is very monotonous), there is hardly any drugs culture and its accompanying violent crime, but neither are there many opportunities for the highly educated Cuban people to get ahead in life. And so the vast majority of Cubans struggle to do more than survive on the bare necessities.

Casa owners like Ridel are supplementing their CUCs from their jobs by renting their homes to tourists.

We hung up yesterday's washing which hadn't dried yet - it is lovely to have a clothes line and also to get the clothes out in the sun! Ridel also gave us a nice cold fresh fruit juice each as a welcome drink.

We walked into town, such as it us. A somewhat disappointing place really with a stretch of restaurants and cafes. Pretty touristy. Pretty pricey.

Pink is a very popular colour!

We sat in the town square and shared a very yummy ham and cheese pizza with a fat base which was amongst some of the best "bread" we've had this trip. Paid $US10.

Went back to the casa to prepare for our hike. This is what we have come to Viñales for. By the time we got going, it was after 3:00 p.m. and still hot but we were hoping it would start to cool down soon. Bought some water and headed down a road past lots of casas and then pineapple and tobacco fincas (farms).

It was interesting but hot and the red dirt painted our shoes and the lower parts of our legs a colour they have not seen before. We walked in shade where we could and My Friend did a good job of navigating from the poor quality map we had. We wound past big properties, horses, pigs, cows, fields recently ploughed - the red dirt very colourful - vultures and eagles soaring above, little wooden houses /shacks and always the backdrop of the mountains populated with palms and pocked with caves.

It was not an unpleasant walk but it remained hot. We re-applied suncream and drained our water. We walked we think about 12 kms but My Friend's Fitbit says we walked 21 kms in total for the day including the morning walk to the taxi and we have walked back and forth through the town of Viñales several times.

Am now sitting on the veranda of our casa as the sun goes down: a beer for My Friend (the Cuban local one called Bucanero) and a piña colada for moi. Very nice one too - it is up there with the best. And watched the sunset from the upper deck.

We are eating in tonight: casa-cooked food. Ridel emphasises to us the best food in Cuba. Shouldn't be too difficult.

Turns out the food IS good and we have some nice company with a couple from the UK joining us (Cheryl and Rob). We chat until about 10 p.m. over dinner of black bean soup which had some red capsicum in it, fried sweet potato, rice, tomato (and guess what? Yep, shredded cabbage) and I had chicken and My Friend had lobster. In every aspect there is more food on each dish than required. They are at pains to ensure we have enough to the point of being overly generous. There was a very nice dessert too: a small flan with fresh fruit followed by (Cuban of course) coffee actually from a plantation Claribel's father owns.

Turns out Ridel is a maternal radiologist at the local policlinico. He worked in Venezuela for a time earning 700 CUCs (in Cuba, Ridel earns only 60 CUCs a month), 500 of which went to the Government. This is why medicine is regarded as THE biggest earner in Cuba with thousands of local doctors working overseas.

Ridel also confirmed that his education was paid for by the Government but then he has to work where they say to and he cannot move overseas - because he is too valuable an asset to the Government.

Anyway, it was an interesting and entertaining evening.