So, in our newly acquired flashpacking item ´guapo´the green car we began driving through the country. Its great having the freedom to up n go whenever you want and its actually cheaper than the bus here. I lost my virginity in driving on the right hand side and began learning how to career around craters, cowboys, horse and carriages, people selling fruit whilst in an electrical storm, with bald tires...oh and how to bat my eyelashes at the police when they pulled me over for speeding..and going the wrong way down streets during carnival ´perdon senior, please no speaking espanol´, unfornately Bruce hadn´t waxed recently so we got a fine. I decided not to impose my driving upon the many hitchers in cuba aswell as my mates. Anyway it was great fun and the scenery was so beautiful, passing through the countryside and little wild west towns, running over the suicidal crabs escaping from the sea (who also inhabit bedrooms, bags, bathrooms, curtains, seen walking to the bar)
After a slightly dodgy drunken night blagging it gratis in an all inclusive hotel in Santa Lucia...by breaking and entering, we made it to Santiago de Cuba for Cubas hottest carnival, reggaton central and we just so happened to be staying down the road from it. We were blessed (or totally humiliated, delete as appropriate) enough to be given a salsa fiesta on our rooftop by the Cubanos whilst the neighbourhood got fumagated for dengue fever. The carnival was brilliant, quite a memory, Cubans sure know how to party thats for sure. Driving around Santiago was a complete nightmare with some shouting roads were closed, others that we had a puncture, and the rest just shouting ´eh linda´,´guapa´ ´psssssst´´mira´whist checking their crotches were still there. Still, i cant believe how friendly the Cubans have been since we´ve been here (not the crotch boys, everyone else), we cant stop saying how lucky we are and met such genuine and interesting people who are all so ready to share their stories, and a small bit of their lives with us.
The day after one of the carnival nights we left one of our friends behind who had no hope in hell of trying to catch her bus back to Havana while still pissed (lovin ya work hon ;) )while we tried to get out of the way for a wedding reception that was taking place at our casa. The girl had married a italian and had already had her wedding day ruined by the police who´d arrested her and said she was a prostitute, another fine example of police work here...so we carried onto Granma for the big 26th July in hope of seeing Fidel speak.
