FRIDAY 28th

7.43am we had a phone call to say our laundry was ready for collection at reception and once again Keith’s watch was on hour out. When he decided to get up he asked for the spare towel which I had placed on the coffee table located between the chair and the desk on which the TV stood. He stared at the furniture and it was only when I gave him a description of chair, desk, cupboard etc. did he finally see the table and the towel. He was not as amused as I was!

Still a chill in the air but less cloud and whilst I went to order my omelette for breakfast Keith spoke to one of the hotel Chefs, Diego, who was prepared to take guests for a ride in his 1952 Chevy at a price to be decided by his passengers.

So, while most of the group were spending the morning visiting a cigar factory, rum factory and a school we went for a half hour drive. Before we left Mary Jane took a photo of Keith and I draped over the bonnet of the car. Down in the valley Diego took us to all the sites we had visited yesterday passing his brother’s house in the countryside. As I spotted hotel above we made a photo stop and I took the opportunity of taking one of him and Keith stood by his beloved car. I needed a convenience stop in Vinales whilst Diego took Keith across the road to his house. When I returned he was sitting in the rocking chair on the veranda having met Diego’s 14 year old daughter. Our half hour trip turned into over an hour and would have gone on longer but we asked to be taken back to our hotel and gave him a 20CUC note, which he seemed very pleased with. It’s difficult knowing just what to give and decided to base the ride on the price of the taxi fare in Havana, after all he wouldn’t get many miles to the gallon in that car. Keith had a look under the bonnet and saw it was the original straight six engine. He had loved the purring sound as we drove around – I on the other hand, sitting in the back, was not too keen on the fumes.

It would be some time before the others returned and so we asked reception to send a taxi to take us into Vinales. What a difference that ride was, the driver haring down the hillside bends at great speed so we were soon outside the bank where Keith wanted to change some money.

There was a queue outside the bank with the guard opening the door and letting one person in at a time. However we didn’t have long to wait and he let us both enter. The rate of exchange (l.42) was much better than Los Jazmines (1.33) and when we had finished our transaction went for a mooch around the town.

We saw Marion and Ivor (Printer) sitting in a cafe and joined them at the next table where the main topic of conversation was classic cars. The town was very busy this morning with most of the children in fancy dress or very smartly dressed. In the raised square older boys and girls were either line dancing or in small groups performing Latin American dances. Under the statue of Jose Marti (Cuba’s National Poet) someone had laid a colourful wreath of sunflowers and other yellow flowers. The buildings around the square housed an Art Gallery, Dance Centre, which also advertised Art Classes, and finally a Cultural Centre where a board outside gave details of entertainment taking place on the next 4 days. We saw that there will be entertainment in our hotel at 9pm tonight and tomorrow beginning at 10am there will be a Fiesta in the town. What a shame we shall be on the move again.

We decided to walk back to our hotel even though it was going to be uphill. Still time for more photos of the rows of colourful housing and different types of traffic - I loved it all and wished we could have longer in this area. Loved the sign on one house about not sitting in their doorway. We had been told about an Information Centre not far from our hotel that gave details of this National Park, again part of UNESCO. Looking at the information boards I had thought the whole range was limestone but the mountainous region formed three Sierras. Leaving the centre we took a rough road on our right that led to the dirt track we had seen people walking along. We passed a couple of houses and had an old lady overtake us whilst singing loudly to herself. The path brought us back to the viewing area so once again we stopped for our mojitos.

The old man who had the bull was losing business as he was fast asleep in a chair! Several tour buses pulled in and a couple of groups enjoyed a fruit juice served in a plastic cup. Their tour leader produced a quart bottle of Havana Club white rum and emptied the contents into their drinks. With fairly large numbers they wouldn’t get much of a taste! Goodness knows how many bottles the barman gets through with our lot!! One bus developed a problem and the driver attempted to get the wheel off before putting on a boiler suit. He was still struggling with a problem when we returned to the hotel.

Sitting on the back balcony in the late afternoon sun was Angela and Dean (Solicitor) who asked where we had got to today. Telling them about the Centre Angela decided it would be nice to visit and would drag their friends Bob (P & O Captain) and Jill with them. They seemed a little unsure as to where the walk started so I offered to take them to the beginning. Later they thanked me for the information and had also visited one of the little houses where the man was re thatching his roof with the palm leaves. It made their day.

Cocktails at 6.30. Our group was the first in the restaurant tonight as the large group of French tourists were late in arriving which was just as well as Mary Jane had arranged a quiz for 8.15 in downstairs bar. Good fun and she tested our knowledge on Havana, most of which was wrong. The winners were the SOLO team (Singles) and Tony came round to give us all a shot from the bottle of rum they had won, which was nice of the team.

9pm a somewhat nervous Magician began his act. Even some of the catering staff came to watch his performance so we guess it must be a first for the hotel. Once he settled down he was quite good but as we were sitting at the front we could see how he did most of the tricks. He finished his act with a flourish knocking over the small bottle of kerosene which landed on the marble floor. As the liquid spilled over the floor the fumes began to get to us so we moved further back in the seating area of the room. John and Esme said goodnight and witheveryone else disappearing we went to the upstairs bar. It was the old man’s night off and the relief barman did not make very good mojitos so we only had the one drink. The TV channel was turned to a live concert taking place in Havana and Cuba’s most famous group were performing to celebrate Jose Marti’s Anniversary.