Vinales was the location on Friday 1st February and Saturday 2nd February for 2 nights. It is a beautiful area in Cuba- the town is postcard ready- with tree lined streets and mountain backdrops. I really liked it here.

Friday unfortunately was a very long and draining day, and we were basically on the bus all day. We left Sanata Clara around 8.30, and made it to Habana at lunchtime. In Habana we said goodbye to 3 of the girls and swapped our tour leader. There was a bit of a comedy moment when we left- everybody crowded over to the right side of the bus to wave goodbye, only to see that James (who was supposed to be on the bus) was standing on the path with the others waving back. The head counting started after that. We all went for lunch in Habana at the Jazz Cafe, it was pretty flashy and the food was thankfully decent. We then spent all afternoon on the bus on our way to Vinales, where we arrived around 6pm. We stopped at a tabacco farm shortly before our arrival, and also stopped at a hotel to check out the views accross the valley, although we did get a little distracted by the disco ball. The hotel was about 8kms from the village so we stayed there for dinner tonight. The hotel was nice, but the bathroom wasn't so good, quite a few ants. It was definately a flip flop shower. Also, instead of windows, or screens, we had louvres, so any bugs that wanted in wouldn't have an issue.

Saturday was a free day and a few of us went on the Vinales bus tour to have a look around. We started at this place called El Jardin de Caridad. It was pretty off the wall, as you'll see from the piccies (when I eventually figure out how to upload them) there were dolls heads at every turn. It was a little voodoo and very memorable. We checked out the lookout at another hotel which had views of the town, and had a look at the mural de la prehistoria before stopping at Palenque de los Cimmarones where we walked a few hundred metres through a cave to reach a restaurant on the other side of the mountain for an overdue lunch. It was here that Brendon showed me the grass that recoils when you touch it- that kept me amused whilst waiting for the bus. I passed on the cave tour that most of the others did having had my fill of confined spaces for the day. Apparently I made the right choice, as it turns out that the 40 minute tour involved a 30 minute queue followed by a 5 minute tour. That night we headed to the best restaurant in town for dinner which had had a blackout. They could still cook so we sat outside at a table with candlelight. I actually preferred dark dining, its quite entertaining and I was actually disappointed when the lights kicked in again. Tonight was the night when Emma showed me and Annora that she could unlock our door from outside through the louvres. I kind of wished that we'd found out about that the next morning when we were leaving, as opposed to before we went to sleep.