Cuba - 2008

CUBA! finally we're off without much idea what to expect, except its tropical and communist. Contrary to what we had heard Air Cubana was fine, not much in-flight entertainment but the food was much better than we had been lead to expect. Most importantly the plane got us there in one piece.	our first encounter with the local wildlife, a frog climbing the balcony wall.	we spend the first day, slightly jet lagged getting to know Guardalavaca. the view of the beach from the hotel. Not bad.	The view of the beach from the bar. mmm :)	the pool
keen to explore the reef, Stu persuades Jules to pedalo out then gets thrown overboard.	and she thinks this is funny?	orangey coral, perhaps called elk horn coral?	small brain coral	more coral, very different to other places we've swam, lots of gorgonian sea fans which look great undulating with the current.
more coral	big, soft, tree-like coral.	big coral covered, kind of fury with little hairs, perhaps this is the elk horn coral?	more coral	ah, out of the sea for a moment, we explore the grounds of the very nice hotel and come across cupids love nest, a pear where they do a roaring trade in marriages, seemed to be about one a day while we were there.
cheesy pic, but nice Cuban food	more cheese	the infamous flambéed bananas, every restaurant seemed to do their own variation on this, some more dangerous than others.	keen to try all the facilities Stu finds himself propping up the swim-up-bar. considering the amount of alcohol consumed it's a miracle more weren't found at the bottom of the pool.	today we chose the left bank, overlooking the pool, spot.
between bouts of sunbathing and swimming, Stu finds time to explore looking for snakes but only succeeds in finding a cave full of hermit crabs :(	going further afield we come across the next beach along the coast, it can best be described as idyllic with paradise topping. and considering its only 10 mins stroll from the hotel, almost deserted.	lizards, lizards, everywhere lizards, these little fellas kept us entertained while waiting for the poolside drinks service to bring another Pina Colada.	bigger curly tailed lizard	small fast lizard
green with funny head bobbing motion lizard	blue/green clinging to palm lizard	just for some variation, some ants, carrying a dead lizard. they would have got somewhere too if they were all going in the same direction.	one of the many restaurants on the hotel grounds, this one specialized in drawing pro tourism propaganda on the deserts using chocolate sauce. tastes great.	red buoys
the things you see, a boat with a propeller where the outboard motor should be, strapped to a hand glider,	very cool, gorgonian sea fan, intense purple stem.	fish sheltering under a coral overhang, good exercise chasing them around.	spot the stone fish, yes there is one there really. you might be able to see its eye, middle two thirds up. amazing camouflage. a good reason if you needed one not to walk on the reef.	cool, flying fish, well underwater, only 7cm long, poisonous looking spines on its back. it did this great gliding over the seabed thing whenever I got close.
the hotel by night. The free bar was much more entertaining than watching the evening shows.	for some crazy reason Jules got it into her head that we should tear ourselves away from the beach and go cycling! 40degC in the shade, 85% humidity. however our guide Michael proved a source of great gossip and insight into Cuban life even with his cockney accent. We learnt that all Cubans get paid the same (no matter what job, (well almost) 20 pesos/month, that's ~£10GBP/month. kind of puts things in perspective.	red flower	Stu, beach, silly hat.	us and two silly hats.
bananas and banana flower, growing in the gardens.	windy plants.	every day would bring another surprising towel formation.	more good food, five star ultra all inclusive restaurants don't help our waist lines, but then you only live once.	continuing the tradition of picking the weirdest thing on the menu, Stu goes for baby eel salad, yes those are baby eels and very tasty little critters they are too.
the ever burning candelabra.	back underwater and finding more strange life forms.	some amazing soft corals		one guest gets picked on by the band to help entertain us while we lunch, turns out he wasn't bad.
Stu	Jules	urchin	nudibranch (sea slug) very cool	electric blue spotted fish
beach	sunset	Jules at sunset	sun even closer to sunset	breakfast on the balcony
Jules overcoming the most frightening bit of diving and doing her first backwards roll off the dive boat.	scary looking barracuda	Jules rediscovering the underwater thrills. the hotel included free diving!	practicing buoyancy control	the barracuda proceeded to follow us around for the rest of the dive.
green tube like coral	Jules off in the blue	which ways up?	another dive and we find some huge grouper like fish	and a sunken buoy
following the grouper, these were about 1m long but very friendly	heading for the swim through, this one I dived on my own leaving Jules sunbathing. we went to ~30m	coming out of the hole	you can see the little hanger on fish following the grouper	more cool tube like coral
flowing bushy coral	blue coral	poolside vegetation	the snorkeling was just as good as the diving and after covering both extremes of the bay Stu discovers some weird underwater critters. this was a kind of centipede thing crawling along the seabed	under most rocks were these fast moving starfish like things, once uncovered they would run around looking for another rock.
big shell critter	sea anenome	the teppanayaki chef in the Japanese restaurant, very entertaining with his Japanese coca-cola.	us looking Japan-cheesy	cooking the seafood in rum
Stu having another go at trying to master the art of windsurfing.	after an hour or so I was actually making some progress	on a walk around the grounds we came across the plan nursery and the gardener who we didn't share any language in common with showed us his crab	a mean looking thing a good 200m inland from the sea	the orchid hatchery, dozens of bits of wood hanging, with baby orchids taking root in them.
the spa, Jules would have spent as much time here as Stu did on the reef if she had her way.	another snorkel, spotted a small ray hiding in the sea grass.	Jules on her way to the reef	as we arrive at the reef we bump into a local spear fisherman with an impressive catch dragging along on a line behind him.
underwater flying	the only moray eel I found, a small one in the sea grass	more flambé, each time we have one the flames seem to be getting bigger.	Jules?	Jules seemed to think it was a good idea to make me play tennis a few times to work off some of the fantastic food.
in an attempt to make ourselves appreciate the hotel we take a trip inland to see some of the real Cuba, a stop at a farm for a cup of coffee, helps bring home just how poor people are but at the same time we haven't met a more friendly and happy bunch.	a selection of local fruit. I can recommend the sugar cane and mangos but they can keep the little green plums.	Stu makes another friend among the locals. going to have problems getting this one back through customs though.	everywhere we go transport is mostly by foot, bike, or horse. here a mother arrives at the clinic with her baby. for all the problems, every village has a clinic and a school.	we have a look round a Cuban cigar factory, (can't take pictures inside in case we steal their top secret manufacturing methods) the people work all day for £1GBP
lunch and Jules gets dancing with our guide, any excuse!	a horse ride sounds like a good idea...	typical country Cuban house, pretty basic.	look driving with no hands! now how do I get this thing to stop.	the summit
hedges made from cactus	after a mile of slowly deteriorating roads we realise why. they are being re surfaced with a bulldozer.	when not using hoses cows seem to be a last resort for getting around.	Jules modeling our open top jeep and her new hat	me. Jules, jeep as we stop off to give crayons to some locals.
we round the day off with some decadent speed boat racing. this was fine until we head out of the calm bay to see where the waves are so large we almost take off, Jules didn't like it much.	back to our bay for some more sedate snorkeling	weirdest crab I've ever seen, found scuttling across the sand.	last day and we come across an octopus, Stu proceeds to spend the next half hour playing chase.	these have to be the most fascinating creatures, from changing colour to match their surroundings to the way they move.
taking the hobie cat for a spin around the bay.	our trusty skipper. lucky someone knows how to sail.	Jules screaming with the excitement as we go up on one hull and the boat leans at 45degrees.	more tasty food, our last night and the hotel lay on a couples dinner, mostly people we've watched getting married over the last 11 days, still we keep quiet and they don't realize we aren't newlyweds.	more fine dining.
OK, after a great 11 days by the sea it's time to head 800 miles overland to Havana, we have heard rumours about the quality of the transport and arrive at the airport to find our engine missing. sometime later the real plane turns up.	Jules flirting with the locals again.	Havana, heaving with character, once we dump our bags we head out for an explore. the preferred mode of transport seems to be the rickshaw.	Stu, square, old building.	ultra post modern communist arrow graffiti.
Havana is a city of extremes from beautiful architecture to crumbling slums round every corner.	one of the many old cars somehow kept running	kids on a street corner at the shooting gallery. luckily only tin cans.	we thought how good it was they were saving the old facade rather than just knocking it all down then realised how long the scaffolding must have been there for all the creepers to grow all over it. maybe some time in the future there will be enough money to finish doing it up. and only a block from the capitol building.	another old car
Jules taking advantage of the roof top pool between bouts of exploring Havana.	The view west of old town Havana from the roof top as the sun sets over the slowly crumbling city. Something about the beautiful architecture just left to weather rather than getting continual prinking we would give it if it was a town in England.	Parque Central and the capitol building, we were offered a free horse if only we would take a romantic carriage ride.	the most flamboyant and explosive flambé yet! a veritable mushroom cloud sized explosion of rum fumes. Baked Alaska in El Floridita, a restaurant Hemingway used to frequent (apparently)	said baked Alaska, one desert and your over the driving limit (thought they probably don't have one in Cuba)
street view	peering into the gloom at the wiring, Health and Safety need not apply.	more beautiful architecture enjoying a period of fading glory before (hopefully) being snapped up by foreign investors whey Cuba opens up as everyone we speak to seemed to think was inevitable just how long.	raking up the Mojitos in a bar with the "cradle of the Mojitos" claim to fame.	hope I'm not under the balcony when it finally goes
more street views.	the coconut cabs, compete for street domination with the rickshaws	between bouts of exploring old town Havana Jules recovers with poolside Pina Coladas.	looking north to the coast	another old car, slightly better looked after.
the entrance to the best find restaurant in Havana.	cheesy pic of possibly the best find of the holiday, tucked away alond a deralict street, jules is recomended a retraurant by the lady we booked the holiday with, we reserve 2 weeks in advance and only just get in. through the crumbling but amazing architecture, up two floors past fallen walls and hols into bedrooms. we knock on an inconspicuous door to find a fantastic restuarant. www.laguarida.com but book early.	dessert, home made ice cream in a pineapple.	three chocolate extravaganza	the happyest waiter in Havana.
these are going to be such collector's items.	far from the tourist track we come across a fruit and veg market. £1 buys more pineapples than you can carry.	the takeaway orange man with ingenious hand cranked peeler.	couldn't resist one.	in need of some modernisation but has own stairs, light and airy feel, good central location, one careful owner.
how streets look once they've had the makeover treatment.