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I was only in Camaguey overnight on Sunday 27th January so in theory at least this entry should be much shorter than the others. I woke up feeling very delicate thanks to the rum the night before at Tropicana. Thankfully the huge bus that arrived at 8.30 to take us from Santiago de Cuba to Camaguey meant we could all spread out and the air conditioning helped. The journey was due to take us about 4 and a half hours, plus stopping for lunch etc. The roads here make for a very bumpy ride. There are plenty of potholes, and the driver had to stop frequently in order to safely cross large potholes and to wait to pass horse and carriages and other slower traffic. Tourists stand out from miles away on the brand new buses, and overtaking the buses that the locals use is cringeworthy when you see the difference between their transport and ours. The distinction is far from subtle. Anyway, by the time we made the first stop i was ready for breakfast and thankfully my ham and cheese sandwich tasted a lot better than it looked.
We arrived at Hotel Colon at 2pm and were instantly won over by its charm. The rooms were tiny, but there were rocking chairs outside them overlooking a pretty courtyard below. It was so full of character. We had our city tour on rickshaws at 3pm. Annora and I got the first choice as the others were running late after lunch, and we chose an English speaking guy who turned out to be the local guide. We stopped at a number of places, including an artists studio where Emma and I bought paintings. It was an afternoon of who could get there first (we won!), punctures, broken chains, dropped phones and all in all was the best city tour so far. I would highly recommend it.
Afterwards we headed to the hotel bar and Emma got behind the bar to make a cocktail for our tour leader- Otto. I stuck to drinks of the non-alcoholic variety. We headed upstairs to the rocking chairs with the drinks. I was extremely pleased when Louise said I could borrow her hairdryer and straightners and actually went to dinner that night feeling composed which made a nice change. Mariachis entertained us at dinner- I particularly liked their version of Hotel California. It was a quiet night tonight and we went straight back to the rocking chairs after dinner.
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