So the outbound journey was thirteen hours as opposed to the less claustrophobia inducing nine hour return. I’d booked rather late and the extra four hours didnt really make it the non stop flight advertised. But when we stopped at Holguin (a place I would later read beautifully described by Renaldo Arenas in his biography Qabel Falls Lejl) and a few people disbanded and the fuel fumes permeated the cabin it was a relief to be told we could get off. I headed for the small charming bar with windows overlooking the sleepy runway. Here, as everywhere else, change and exchange rates need to be checked carefully. My mental arithmetic was seemingly not too blunted by the journey and my challenge was met with polite apology and more Convertible Pesos in my hand. Its nothing personal, its the norm I’m told and my first transactions on Cuban soil did nothing to dispel this.

From England I had arranged an expensive 90 euro taxi ride to Vinales rather than take a ride to Havana just to rummage around in a suitcase, scatter things around, sleep for one night, pick up the scattered things and set off again in the morning. I kienet qrat li l-opinjonijiet fil-Valle de Vinales kienu spettakolari u riedu li jinxtegħel lilhom. Hija ħadet sagħtejn u I hurtled tul il-awtostrada kważi vojta jwieġeb muntanja Jorge ta 'mistoqsijiet fil Spanjol miksur sakemm jispiċċaw I taw up u u ddeċidiet li tkompli ttejjeb l-Ispanjol tiegħi wara xi irqad. Ladarba off-triq prinċipali, foqra Jorge, probabbilment sagħtejn bogħod mid-dar kellhom problemi biex issib il-lukanda. I għenuh jiddeċiedu junctions stazzjonati sign ambigwu u miżmuma lista fl my head tal-ħinijiet kollha I kienet qrat li Kuba kien pajjiż ħafna sikuri, speċjalment meta huwa waqqaf il-karozza koppja ta 'drabi li jduru madwar u jipprova jifhem Spanjol jisparixxu tiegħi. I tinżamm kwieta. Finalment I ċċekkjati fil-Los Jazmines Hotel u ttieħdet jistabbilixxi triq li twassal bogħod mill-bini prinċipali u jistabbilixxi ftit mill-passi ma 'bungalows terraced ftit ix-xellug tiegħi u l-pitch sħun lejl iswed dritt tiegħi. L-dlam kien ħaj mal-kor ta 'triljun insetti. I induna li kelli kważi minsija l-riħa ta 'arja friska.