New Year Greetings To Our Friends Worldwide From Cuba

well I hope that you all had a super Christmas and new year and are already enjoying this the start of 2015. we have been out of touch as we travelled though the heartlands of Cuba as there is not much ei fi outside of the largest two cities. after leaving the comforts of the parque central hotel in Havana we were picked up by our driver Jose and his mother in law although other than taking up the front seat appeared to have no function other than to annoy us , neither of them had a word of English and it was a frustrating start to what should have been a self drive trip. it was really nearly impossible to communicate they really just seemed to think they were there just to relay is from one hotel to the next, they had no idea of geography, couldn't read a map and the old woman insisted on constantly shouting in Spanish and had animated phone calls from and to what I presume was their controlling office . the first stop off was a Cienfuegos south east from Havana and it had a fairly functional bus service which I used as the hotel was at the end of route 1. the other end was the depot and a busy road junction and in the middle the city centre. the girls did a bit of sightseeing using the limited resource of Jose and mother in law . there was a fair amount to see, each town seems to have a basic minibus service pretty standardised and then lots of horse buses and other forms of para transport from cycles to taxis although Yankee cars less prevalent outside main centres .
the hotel there was the pits really only suited to north koreans on a cultural exchange, the jagua is best avoided but it was our base for Twp nights and we put up with it, Mandy was managing yo use her wheelchair but disaster struck as sues foot slipped helping Mandy up a kerb her ankle was badly hurt in Havana and was really proving bothersome . thankfully the Chilean wine was readily available at a price but really food was a bit of an issue. the guaguas are the truck buses which are everywhere and are the source of some of the oldest and best looked after golden oldie trucks and before we left Cienfuegos I saw a ford thames trader lorry the first British lorry although there are a lot of British oldie cars about. as we headed east the hotels became characterful but very random, the transport scene was similar although it took a bit of doing to locate bus stations etc as the drivers added nothing and were a hindrance not a help it was hard for example to pull up at stuff you spotted en route. at Trinidad which is touristy we had an excellent bed and breakfast boutigue type hotel which excelled, I managed to avoid tourists and located the truck buses etc and we enjoyed two great evenings there in some comfort with great staff,private enterprise shined through. the next morning Jose and mother in law had vanished, a new driver and bigger taxi with Pedro noe our chauffer . any way more of our adventures tomorrow as we are now enjoying relaxing at the melia hotel in Santiago de Cuba where we stayed 5 years ago and has three swimming pools and nice quiet rooms which after two nights blasted with noise in all directions and a general absence of food we are revelling in our new found luxury. sues foot is getting better,Mandy's cough is still there, mine is almost gone.