Sunday 11th November - Hotel Ancon

I lazed around on the beach with everyone in the morning, then me, Clare, Jools, Steve, Pete, Chris and Andy went into Trinidad at 10:30am to do some shopping.



Trinidad is a beautiful, old city full of colonial buildings, 50's american cars and cobbled streets. It is also a UNESCO world heritage site.

We wandered around the artisans markets through the streets then stopped in a bar which was called Canchanchara and drank a potent cocktail by the same name from a terracotta mug. It tasted of honey and lemon in a very non-alcoholic kind of way, but I only had one and by half way through it I was felling a little bit dizzy! I moved swiftly on to coke after that one as it was a bit early in the day for me!

There was a great live band, playing such classics as Vacilon and Guantanamera which also provided Steve with a chance to buy yet another CD. I followed suit so I'm only one CD behind him.









We got back to the hotel at about 2pm and all spent the afternoon on the beach.









The whole group took a taxi into Trinidad at 7:30 for our last night. We ate in a restaurant with a MENU! I had lobster and rice. There was an incredible band playing (Cue more CD sales). The singer had an absolutely incredible voice and played a tiny guitar. Steve joined in and played another rendition of Guantanamera with the band.


We then all went to Casa Musica near the main square. This was absolutely incredible. It was an open-air dance floor with big stone steps leading up to it, and tables and chairs and an outside bar. There was beautiful Cuban music and hundreds of people dancing with each other. Men would just pull different women from the crowd and ask them to dance. Cuban dancing is the most beautiful, sensual dancing that I have ever seen in my life. It was truly enchanting to watch. I did receive a marriage proposal, but kindly turned it down as I have a husband in England. I was told that I could also have one in Cuba. I had to dance with him, which quickly put him off me thank goodness!

At 2am, me Julia, Jane, Steve and Jeff were the first to bail out as we were exhausted. We went in search of a taxi and could only find an unlicensed taxi (exactly what Alex told us to avoid at all costs)! However, as it was 2am and it was the only taxi around we didn't really have much choice. The car was a battered old blue lada which had a huge crack all the way along the windscreen which was cleverly sellotaped together. The headlights barely worked and we spent the 20 minute car jouney back to the hotel absolutely terrified as the driver sped (drunkenly?) along the potholed roads at breakneck speeds (with swamps to either side of the road). I was far too sober to find this in any way amusing and could only see the funny side of it once we miraculously made it back to the hotel in one piece. I went straight to bed.