Cuba.....Just the name conjures up images of Fidel and Che's revolution and the socialist state that has frozen this country in a 1950's time warp. This alone should make you want to book a ticket right away!

It's a place that you visit with an open mind and leave with countless unanswered questions. The longer you spend there and talk to the people, the more unanswered questions hang in the air. It's incredible that this country alone has shunned external influences (not withstanding the communist influence though!), yet loves to embrace the busloads of camera totting tourists.

The roads are shocking with potholes, cattle and some that just abruptly stop because the money's dried up.

If something is broken....then fix it, modify it or change it yourself, because ya just can't wander down to the local "Bunning's" or "Argos" to get another.....consumerism here just doesn't exist ( a refreshing change....).

Two separate currencies exist (one for the locals and one for the tourists) that now appears to be dividing the country back into a class system...something that Fidel and socialism fought hard to wipe out.

Food rationing is alive and well and the architecture is amazing with colourful, rambling old buildings that have drying laundry waving about off the balconies. The streets of Havana beg you to get lost in with antique Buicks, Oldsmobile's and Fords limping asthmatically through the narrow cobble stoned streets.

Spontaneous music breaks out in the streets and there's always constant chatter from the open doorways facing the streets. Kids playing stickball on the streets (literally a stick and bottle cap) knock these bottle caps around and jump to either side of the street to let another beat up Buick cruise past.

There's always the constant whispering of buying "black market" cigars or the whispering of some lady wanting you to head back to her place for a cheap meal instead of frequenting a state run restaurant.

Ohhh, and the music.....Salsa, Rumba and Jazz oozes from every corner bar and restaurant and the country thrives on its dancing. The musicians are fantastic and know how to keep you entertained. Mojitos and Cuba Libre's are the staple drink of choice here and boy can they make both....."What's coke for?"

Last but by no means least are the people that make this extraordinary country what it is. Friendly and genuinely hospitable people tie this country together and everyone seems to know someone on the other side of the island to stay with, great networking.

Now, if you're not already on the blower to the travel agent and booking tickets...keep reading below about our adventure...

Habana...or Havana (depending if you're Spanish or English...) was such an electric place. Your first impressions are one of "wow" and just wanting to check in...throw the bags on the bed, grab the camera and explore.

When you see your first 1950's ford spluttering down the road with a guy hanging out the window chugging on a cigar...you know you've arrived in Cuba. Enough can't be said about just wandering the streets of old Havana and taking in the sounds, smells and constant activity around you. Enough though that we were lured into buying a few cigars by one fellow on the street that got the ol' ticker racing. We trudged up 3 flights of dodgy stairs into a tiny room that had the guy's wife, mother, sister, aunt and grandmother living there. After we bought a few cigars he disappeared onto his balcony for a minute...came back in and gave us the "all clear to leave" signal - hey, what the! (Nothing like a bit of danger to wake ya up).

Our 4 days here went in the click of the fingers and we loved every minute of it. We managed to fill up each day with museums, rum tours, cigar factory tours, wandering the streets, lotsa late night music and Mojitos in some of Ernest Hemmingway's favourite joints...

After Havana we decided to hire a car for a week and explore some of the country. Now driving in Cuba is a completely new experience. I've had my licence for 20 yrs and Julz for 18, but experience means nothing when navigating or driving on these roads. There are no road markings, no signs, pot holes on steroids, a 6 lane highway with no markings that stops 3/4'rs the way down the country, no cars on the roads (well, almost no cars...) and traffic that consists of horse and carts, bicycles, tip-up trucks overflowing with people, any model of car between 1950 - 1959 (Fidel stopped the imports then) and the occasional nice rental car (us!)

Anyway, after miraculously ending up in the right direction (we kept the setting sun on our right) we arrived into "Cienfuegos". This was a cool little place and we watched such an amazing sunset whilst sipping perfect Mojitos. On the way back to our casa particular (B&B) we watched a couple of blokes paddle into shore and then push this boat down the street. What made this slightly unusual was the boat was made of polystyrene!

The Cubans can make anything work with next to nothing. Their circumstances have determined their ability to keep things working, and they rely on huge back scratching networks. Considering they aren't allowed to import anything personally (only for the state), their cars run, and are maintained with whatever that's floating around. More often than not when you look under the bonnet of these cars they resemble nothing of the original, but a hybrid of different manufactures. The saying "runs on an oily rag" is very much a reality in Cuba...

We left Cienfuegos and headed to Trinidad, a Unesco heritage site. The scenery on the way there was stunning. Combine that with pot holes, mismatched tarmac and the odd limping Oldsmobile makes a memorable trip.

Trinidad was a quaint, picturesque place and we enjoyed wandering around chatting with some of the locals and watching the oldies in their rocking chairs. They hang cages full of budgies outside doorways and in their courtyards and it seems on every corner a game of dominoes is taking place.

The outdoor salsa evenings were good fun also. We ended up doing a crash course in salsa one afternoon with a guy that Julz danced with whilst I was away getting the drinks the night before (most opportune...). 1, 2, 3...1, 2, 3...1, 2, 3...1, 2, 3... (along those lines somehow), or cha, cha, cha...cha, cha cha...etc etc. what's that saying, "white men can't dance"...it's true.

After a couple of late nights in Trinidad we headed across to the other side of the island to a little place called "Remedios'". Along the way we picked up quite a few hitchhikers. Everybody hitch hikes in Cuba. Doctors, Lawyers, Police...everybody. They're meant to stand at a major intersection, get their name put on a list by an official and then wait your turn. Apparently if you have a blue licence plate then you legally have to stop. We didn't know this until we dropped the car back in Havana (ours was white in case you're wondering...)

The drive over to "Remedios" was the worst road we've ever driven on...period. It's one of those undescribable roads that you need to experience first hand. Suffice to say the rental car would need a few nuts tightening after this!!! Over this road we picked up a couple of Doctors, a shop assistant and an Engineer. It was quite fun stopping for people, but after our dribbling use of basic Spanish the majority of the trip was silent. We did however try and match make a Doctor with an Engineer...ha ha ha.

"Remedios" was a really cool place. The main square was relatively quiet, but the people were so friendly and happy. The buildings were quaint, old colonial styles and in varying states of condition. The one thing that stood out here was the amount of different types of doors. Almost every building had a huge door!! Bizarre thing to notice but these really stood out.

We enjoyed wandering around this place. It was full of old cars, old people, old buildings and our new rental car... I've gotta say, Cuba's a photographers dream. The amount of people who wanted to have their photo taken beside their cars and houses was huge. Especially in "Remedios", people wanted us to take their photo and get us to send a copy back to them. This makes perfect sense as developing film in Cuba is like paying to go to the dentist...

After a few days in the Eastern part of Cuba we headed back West towards Havana and beyond. We gave two policemen a ride back to Havana with us. A bit weird to start with, but when I was pulled over for not stopping at a railway track and for not slowing down through a slow zone, these blokes were worth their weight in gold. One look in the back seat by the officer, a wink and a hand wave and we were through.

Into the tobacco country we go now...

The majority of the tobacco for cigars comes from the western part of Cuba. This area is surrounded by mountains and red soil, perfect for tobacco leaves.

We drove to a little place called '"Vinales" and booked into another casa particular. What made this casa particular different was as soon as we'd arrived our hosts, Roberto and Lola, proceeded to roll us up a couple of big fat cigars and poured a couple of Cuba Libres. Roberto had just been to a local 'cock-fighting' event earlier in the day and so was pretty jolly. Cock-fighting is illegal, but like most things in Cuba a blind eye gets turned.

"Vinales" was a great place for a few days to chill out and see the beautiful country side. We ended up going to a cigar plantation owned by a guy called 'Alejandro Robaina'. Robaina's cigars are world famous and Alejandro is the only person in Cuba that has a brand of cigars named after himself.

One night after rocking in one of the chairs with Roberto on his porch and smoking cigars with him we asked about buying some cigars. Like most people he knows someone. So after 20mins we were looking at quite a varied selection of fine Cuban cigars in the little outhouse behind the main house. We now have a couple of boxes of fine 'Cohiba' cigars for a 10th of the state run cigar shop prices.

On our last morning and as we were about to start breaky we heard some pigs squealing...and you guessed it, they were slaughtering and skinning one. Seeing and listening to this emphasises the necessity for survival to these people and the primal way in which to do it. Watching this let the whole of the last week sink in for us, and opened up a different side to Cuba not witnessed in Havana. Anyway, after watching the liver, heart and other slimy organs brought into the kitchen for dissecting (pâté springs to mind...) we needed to head off back towards Havana...

Last stop..."Las Terrazas", a model eco-village. An interesting place built as a completely self sufficient, sustainable community of approximately 900 people. The funny thing about this place was that in order to make it self sufficient the government built a state run tourist resort in the village and brings in "by the bus load" tons of tourists...go figure. I personally thought the place looked like a concrete correctional facility with a couple of yummy restaurants, namely a gourmet vegetarian one...superb.

We stayed a night here in a bungalow in the camp site which was pretty cool, and gave away our Spanish/English phrasebook to one of the park guards to help his kids practice and learn English.

...back to Havana for our last couple of days travelling before hitting LA. We drove back to Havana, picked up a couple of hitch hikers along the way. Fortunately they lived just around the corner from the car rental place. This probably saved us hours of driving around in circles finding our way into the city and when you think about the odds of it happening, well...

We spent our last night in Havana at a historic Jazz club listening to a fantastic jazz group and soaking up the entire atmosphere. Sipping Cuba Libres whilst listening to a pianist play off with a drummer was just what we needed to wind down, reflect and prepare to head back to New Zealand.

Well, that's all from Central America and Cuba. We hope you've all enjoyed these tales from afar. We enjoyed the replies from a lot of you and we'll keep your informed of our whereabouts when we travel through our own back yard (New Zealand) in Feb.

Until New Zealand, caio chicos...

Logz & Julz

PS: I sweated, went red in the face, had shortness of breath taking those cigars through Mexican customs...