Help! I can't see Cuba for the cars. I see that Mrs. K let you buy a cigar. Did she let you smoke it?
Heh, purely a prop, supplied by our driver. The smell of cigarette and cigar in the hotel (yes, you can still smoke at the bar and in the lobby of even the top hotel in Cuba!) was driving me crazy! As I keep saying to Alison, even though I've completely given up not, there'll never be a point in my life when I
won't want a cigarette. It's far too ingrained.
Apparently, there are something like 60,000 old American cars still in Cuba. Out in the countryside, the preferred mode of transport if horse and cart, but there are still old cars being used in the middle of nowhere by farmers.
Top Tip
When out of the hotel around Havana or anywhere else on the island, even on excursions, take a toilet roll, or a large amount of loo paper with you. There is
NO bog roll in
ANY public toilet, and in many bars, in Cuba. Instead, you'll usually find a woman sat on a chair just outside the entrance handing out a couple of sheets to people going in, and which you are supposed to tip her for on the way out. Honestly, how comfortable would
you feel saying "nope, gonna need
waaay more than that babe!"