Hasta la Victoria Siempre!

So we made it to Santa Clara and did the tour of Che monuments. The Cubans REALLY love Che Guevara here, even more than middle class students of British universities do, if you can believe it, going by the money and effort they´ve invested in the museums and memorials in this otherwise pretty provincial nothing-town.

Also more surprisingly, they love their instrumental versions of British and American pop hits. We were sitting at dinner last night in the place we´re staying listening to the theme to Fame, Abba´s Fernando and most brilliantly Bonnie Tyler´s TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART which made me laugh so much I almost fell over into my miserable vegetarian plate of rice, beans and potato (as an aside, I never want to eat rice again when I get home. I have eaten enough here to last me a lifetime). Today in the internet cafe they have been playing us panpipe versions of Everything I do I do it for you, I will always love you, Celine Dion´s bloody Titanic theme song, and that song from Ghost. Why, Castro, Why? On the panpipes for fuck´s sake.

We´re back up to Havana tomorrow, where we´re intending to invest some more time in rum and cigars, and maybe some more beach time to the east of the city. I am still working on the tan, my interweb friends, it´s a slow process. Mostly I just look a bit dirty. Anyway, it´s back on the bus for us tomorrow morning, and time for me to log out now. So long, chums xxxx