The minibus arrived to pick us up at 8.15am instead of 8.30am ... the biggest catch is we slept in till 8.10 am so it was a 2 minute shower, 30 second dunnie stop, 10 second pack up and the rest for a quick coffee that our host had made - very nice cuba coffee indeed, then we were on our way at 8.20am.
The rest of the 4 hour trip was uneventful other than our driver getting pulled up by the feds for not wearing his seatbelt and two goats crossing the road around a blind corner which saw our driver slam the brakes and the ABS doing its work very well indeed.
Arriving at our new Casa Particular we were welcomed in and shown to our room which was $20 US per night and very nice.
Taking a good look around town to suss things out we had a pizza for lunch and checked out scoota rentals etc.
Walking away from the gringo zone things change incredibly quickly, there is a real “them and the us’s” going on, we are not allowed to go to the locals bank to get CUP Cuban Peso which is 24/1 dollar, we were told no and where we were to go so would could exchange it.
They use the two currencies over here in Cuba, CUC which is parity with the US dollar and the CUP which is $24CUP/$1USD, everything in centro and cities/tourist zones is CUC until you get to the local scene where you can buy with CUP, a tourist trap is to buy in CUC and get given change in CUP so you have to look at what you are getting or you will pay through the roof.
Ural sidies are everywhere, they are all old dolls tho.
Also KHI from Russia, a watercooled stinky.
Our experience so far in Cuba has been great, people are very friendly, we have already walked through some very 3rd world areas and not once have we felt unsafe ... in fact the people smile and greet us at least in the smaller places... hola or buenos dias/tardes/noches depending on the time of day.
We did try to find the beach but too far to walk for the time we had, stopping at a small bar we had a chat with the bar manager and bought a cold coke, he was a neat guy and great to chat with despite our language barriers, all smiles and drawings on paper ... easy as.
A few sights to see like this garage door, if you car does not fit in just make a bigger bulge to take it
Heading back to our Casa we bought some fruit for breaky and nibbles, $20 CUP which is about 0.83 cents for four mangoes and four tomatoes
Back at our Casa for tea, Lobster .... what more could you want it was superb and cost $8 CUC.
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