Spent most of the day in the car with Ariel travelling from Havana to Trinidad.  The highway goes straight through the centre of the island and being a communist country it’s in good condition.  It was countryside pretty much all the way, miles and miles of lush green farmland growing sugar rice and oranges.  The farms are all state owned and there’s no money for machinery so there are many farmhands working the fields in scorching temperatures, using oxen to plough and transport produce and scything the land.  As you get further into the countryside there are fewer cars, the village houses are roughly constructed shacks and the main transport seems to be horse and trap.  

We stopped at Santa Clara to see the memorial to Che Guevara.  They really do love him here and his image is omnipresent.  Just as well he was so handsome.  Fidel was the main man though.  He might not have such pretty branding for t-shirts and fridge magnets but the word is that he held huge respect and although his brother is not exactly unpopular he doesn’t have the same influence.  You can’t talk to anyone here without the politics of the situation coming up.  Things are changing and they’re on edge.    I’ll write more about that later when we’re in a country with proper wifi.  It’s so complicated!

Tim and Ariel talking. politics.

Me and Che.  Viva la revolucion!

Near Trinidad is the Iznaga tower, owned by a sugar plantation owner who was so rich that built it so that he could climb to the top and watch his 15,000 slaves working his land.  Shame he never fell over the edge.  

In Trinidad now.  A much smaller and more touristy version of Old Havana.  Off to explore now.