Sorry, that list is too long! I’ll write it down in an “about me v2.0″ section at some point in time but not now. (Yes, there are some background developments going on with regards to this website, so stay tuned!)

So, back to business. From city to city, bus to truck and the hills to the coast; time to complete the loop! After Bayamo (sshhh, be quiet!) it was time for some more coastal work; off to Trinidad! FInding a place to stay is easy as there are about 1200 rooms for rent and 400 tourists scattered throughout the city… so you’re pretty much being nailed to the wall by casa owners desperately trying to rent their place to you - lol! Having to deal with such a thing a 6am is all the more fun! Other than that, this has definately been the nicest city I’ve been to in all of Cuba, though I know a lot of people will argue this :) Trinidad forms a nice mix of Caribbean and Latino/Cuban culture, along with beautiful surroundings in the inland as well as a pretty beach. Quite the place to crash down for a couple days and get drunk so that’s what I did! The days merely consisted of city-viewing, beach-bumming, exchanging stories (and laughing my butt off) and dancing! Great to be there so go watch pictures like you always do!

Next up; a final visit to Habana! Since I knew I’d be passing through here a couple more times I decided not to visit all parts in one go so here’s part 3! You know, buildings, old cars and stuff… so on to Vinales; tobacco country, backed by limestone rocks and a lot less linear than the rest of Cuba - or so it seemed at first sight :) I got there together with this guy (you’re welcome Trav!) and went on cave visits, biking trips and some longer hikes, in the middle of the day while it was 33C (what were we thinking again!?). Visiting local tobacco farmers, discovering (well, sort of) a cave nobody told us about and going on bike trips is fun after a lot of city-flavour!

After Vinales it was time to crash down in Las Terrazas, a Soviet-style model eco-village (try to say that 10 times in a row), pretty much out of the way of most places. Pretty fit to chill out for a while and explore a little more nature, after all I now realise I like being near nature more than being in big cities :) Part of the fun was staying in a bird’s nest-style house but I forgot to take a picture, sorry!

Then, the final stop: Habana, getting ready for the return leg to Guatemala. This basically meant I re-re-re-reconfirmed my flight for the 5th time - although it was fun I didn’t want to go through this hassle again - and found the time to help Travis out trying to file a report for his stolen camera… NOT!!! A couple hours, three different police stations and A LOT of talking later, we were simply being told this: “Your story about this theft is strange, so how about we start investigating your story and hold you in custody until we sort this out?”. Ehmmmm… (sweat, tremble, gnawing for breath) … not quite what we need only 4 hours before our flight’s departure. Anyway, we eventually managed to get the hell out of the police station and subsequently the country :) Socialism, at some point it just gets to you… bye bye Cuba!

The next article will be posted on Wednesday night so stay tuned and come back soon!! Hasta luego!!

-René

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A church! After all it's been a while!

Trinidad's street "life"

Trinidad - unique rooftops and hills ;)

Update 20-Feb: comment function is now open. Sorry guys!

Dear diary Whatever. As promised, here`s a post which - in terms of quality - should exceed the previous two. Can`t be too hard, right? At least my predictive capabilities (”worst viewed posts ever”) still seem to work after all these travels, which feels like a delight ;)

Well then, so after having fun on Cozumel and spending most of my time in fairly small places, I felt it was time for some big city life. The place of choice: Mérida, famous for Yucatec culture, its “bustling” weekends, markets, architecture, people, surroundings… in other words: quite the place to get stuck in for a while! What can I say… the weather was nice (nothing but sun, 28C and rising temps), the company was very pleasant (hi guys!), the food was great and the beer was cold - what more could you wish for?

The city functioned as a base for exploring nearby cenotes (3 in total) - which was both fun and stunning. The latter is because in order to see one of the cenotes you need to climb down an 8-meter ladder… and the top step broke while I was climbing up, so I was almost part of yet another bodycount (sounds familiar?). I keep wondering how the people that were still down there got out though! :)

Also, we visited the Chichen Itza ruins (yes, more ruins), which were a bit of a Disneyland-experience but still pretty impressive. Other than that the city itself was good fun, providing basically everything one could look for. Cultural events such as traditional Yucatec dancing - which seems boring at first but then all of a sudden gets impressive - provide a little extra.

Still happy about cities, I moved on to Campeche and hooked up with some people I also met in Merida… yes, I`m still on a well-trodded trail at the moment! Campeche is nice but VERY quiet, the old city centre feels like walking through a candystore with all those hard-coloured buildings. Anyway, the company again was very good! Next day took a night bus to Palenque and after a nice little ride and even less sleep went to visit (MORE) ruins! Anyway, these were the most impressive so far and by now I`m getting a little ruin-tired (and so should most readers) so I promise I won`t post too much on these things anymore.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures (bigger series this time too, whoo-hoo!!) and on to… CARNAVAL! (This way, not this way!)

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One very weary traveler

This is how the Maya kept their kids under control

Chichen Itza skyline

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