There's music everywhere in Cuba!

The day we got in I went out in the evening for supper and to explore. Most of the restaurants in Havana had their own live band at night! The restaurant we went to had a Latin band that was amazing. Havana looked a lot like the European countries that we had visited in terms of architecture. We walked a lot that night exploring the streets and squares. There were a lot of nice parks hidden in the city. There was another tall ship docked right next to us. It was a Swedish school ship! There were about 45 students our age who were sailing on the ship for two months. They did school by correspondence while being a part of the program. We talked with the students on gangway for a long time. They were really great and we wanted to tour their ship and they wanted to tour ours. The only problem was that Cuban immigration laws are really strict and since technically our ship is Norwegian soil and the Swedish one is Swedish soil the Cuban authorities wouldn’t let us see each other’s ships. It was really too bad.

The next day I went out for another day exploring the city. It was a relaxing day spent walking, going to a market and restaurant hopping. We went to so many cafes and restaurants! We would go have coffee then
walk around, and then we’d want to sit down so we’d go for a snack then we’d walk around more and this continued past our second supper. It was a good day though. The next day was very similar to the one before. More walking and food. The only problem was that I got my wallet stolen! It must have been while I was in the market because I bought something there and then ten minutes later when I was trying to buy cigars I realised that I had no wallet. Everything’s fine though. My passport (which we had to carry around to get into the port) was hidden somewhere else. I’m getting a new Visa and debit sent to Bermuda. My parents were so quick at cancelling cards and getting new ones ordered. Thanks mom and dad :)

That night we had a port program that went past midnight. We all thought that it was supposed to be a Cuban dance show but it turned out to be a Cuban themed Parisian cabaret! We still had fun even though it wasn’t what we expected. The next day we got up really early for a port program. We took a two hour bus ride to Veradero Beach. We spent the whole day at the beach. It was a great day! The sand was white, the water was turquoise and there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. We swam a lot. I also rented kayaks with a friend and we went sea kayaking. It was so hard to get into the kayak! I was trying to jump in while the waves kept throwing me out and washing me up on shore. I finally got in and paddled away from where the waves were breaking, slightly sandier and saltier than before. We rode the waves back in like we were surfing. The next day we left Cuba. We got shore leave in the morning though. My watch went for a  breakfast. We bought about a million pastries and ate them in the park. We then went for final internet.

coco taxi!

there were lots of old 50s cars on the streets

view of the square

kayaking