Cuba - viva Cuba!

Summary

• Old American cars, Buena Vista Social Club and gorgeous buildings!
• Cycling in Pinar del Rio - 170kms in 30-35 degree heat in 5 days......not bad I think

Havana
We fell in love with Cuba. The first thing you notice about Havana is the 1950's American cars which are everywhere! They provide hours of entertainment spotting different types and colours. They are used as tourist taxi's, private vehicles and collective transport for locals.
The old Havana is where we spent most of our time, in amongst the old buildings and plaza's. Mark especially loved Plaza de Armas with it's second hand book market and revolution paraphernalia. It's also one of the few places with shade!
We ate a few meals in and around Plaza Vieja which is ringed with colonial style buildings. In Cafe Taberna we were lucky enough to see the Buena Vista Social Club which was simply incredible. They were so impressive and really spent a lot of energy getting the crowd into it. We were suprised to see people leaving before the end of the show! We were there to the end and even sought out the members for pictures after the show - total groupies!

Sunset over Havana

Buena Vista Social Club concert - amazing!

One of the main streets in Cuba

A car outside our hotel

Cycling in Pinar del Rio
As many of you know, the main thing we did in Cuba was a cycling tour. I was quite anxious about it before we got there given I hadn't been on a bike since Uruguay and even then it was only for and hour or so...... The ride was tough going in parts, especially given the heat and lack of any shade whatsoever but we survived! I got on the support bus a couple of times but Mark managed to ride the whole thing (But only because I managed to block out the sun on my face - MK)!
Cycling was a fabulous way to see the countryside plus we met a great bunch of people on our tour which made it even more fun. It's definitely an experience I won't forget in a hurry - riding past horses and buggies, tractors converted into some sort of collective transport, bull & cart and not to mention the beautiful old cars! I think the best part was when people called out to say hello, especially kids in school - so cute!
We had the best meal ever on this part of the trip when we stopped in with a local family. It was delicious and nice to chat to them through broken English and Spanish. They were such generous and welcoming people despite not having much themselves. It was truly humbling.

Traffic congestion - some of our group over-taking

A stop for fruit. 10 bananas for a dollar!

The beautiful scenery we passed on out bikes

Mullah Mark our Bedouin rider

Lunch at the home of a local family. The grandmother was the sweetest lady ever!

A friend I made at a tourist stop

Our special bus which we nicknamed the "Party bus" on account of our driver Carlos pumping Cuban Salsa tunes and dancing in his seat while he drove behind us cycling.

This little girl adopted us and collected shells from the bottom of the river for us.

Evidence that I did ride my bike!

Last to arrive at the meeting point - exhausted!

There are a million other little stories about Cuba and I could go on for ages but I won't. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!