Our Man in Havana

After exploring South America almost in its entirety, on your behalf, of course, over a period of more than three months, it was necessary for just a little R&R. Do you feel we’ve deserved it, scaling mountains, penetrating jungles and hiking national parks, all in the name of research? Well, it’s pay-back time, and what better place to do it than Cuba? We feel that we have earned ourselves a day at the beach!
Picture this: white sand, completely clear water lapping just one metre away from our sun loungers complete with a wind-activated retracting parasol; turquoise blue, warm sea water to splash about in under a tropical, cloudless blue sky, and a beach front lined with gently undulating dunes and palm trees. The beauty of the paradisiacal water cannot be emphasised enough. Imagine a tiger that is neither orange, nor white, but has a stunning body of light blue, aqua, turquoise and dark blue stripes that ripple as the tiger sighs peacefully. The fresh breeze created a fair few white horses on the surface and also thrusted our parasol high out of the ground and up the beach. We found the spontaneity hilarious but judging by the shock on other peoples’ faces, they seemed to think that Mary Poppins had just had a fatal accident.
Such is the environment at Playa del Este, just 20km from Havanna. And in the name of a well deserved one-day vacation, this is exactly where we ended up. Bliss.
Then it was time to head off into the sunset towards Chinatown for a fantastic oriental feast, including a very hot and spicy shredded pork, chicken with peanuts in yellow bean sauce, sweet and sour balls and egg fried rice. To round off the evening we strolled back along Obispo to buy two types of ice cream: Fresa y Chocolate. Writing this, sipping copious amounts of Cuba Libres, it hardly seems possible that we have been away on our gruelling expedition for the whole of this year, and that by this time next week we will be continuing with our own, individual projects, onwards to pastures new. But what a way to go!