'Mucha suerte' is what they say when you say goodbye, which means lots of luck. I wished all the friends I've made (tourists and Cubans) in Havana good luck and strapped on my way too heavy backpack.

The taxi brought me to Viazul, where immediately I ran into two other Belgians, Regis (a fisherman from Blankenberge) and his girlfriend Ingrid. Their experience of Havana had been one of being ripped off too, but they missed out on some of the better aspects, which was bad luck...

On the bus, on the six hour trip, I listened to my cd's while the landscape passed us by. I got a little sad when listening to 'Dejame un beso', which is a salsa song about saying goodbye...

The cars got fewer and further between, we saw a lot more horses and the occasional person trying to change their dollars into pesos convertibles, as here is not really a bank nearby! We also passed Cienfuegos but through a less nice part of town, so I didn't really see what it was like.

Trinidad, however, was love at first sight. Or at second, because the first thing we saw was loads of people trying to let us a room with a desperation that was quite chilling. One young woman looked like she was about to burst into tears. Regis, Ingrid and I were going to go to the address that Gaby had given me, but for some reason, we started talking to this young guy and he convinced us to go and have a look at his father's house.

And it was beautiful! An old colonial house, with a patio and balcony with nice views (which I had to take their word for as it was dark at the time) , painted light blue. I was smitten straightaway, but Regis and Ingrid were a bit suspicious after their adventures in Havana. In the end, we did decide to stay and settled in.

My bedroom has two huge single beds, and I am completely in love with my bedside lamp, which lights up when you touch it, in three strengths. Imagine that!

Rosita is the cook and she asked us what we wanted to eat, we decided on shrimp. She made us a lovely, huge meal with loads of shrimp, chips, cucumbers and coleslaw, rice and cookies for desert. It was the best meal I have had in Cuba so far (sorry Ivon).

Elliot, the young man who met us at the bus station, is the son of the house and he told us he was going to the Casa de la Musica, so we could meet him there. The Casa de La Musica is an open air place where they play live salsa and son, and where you can dance. And that we did!

Elliot then took us to Disco Ayala, which is a club in a cave on the top of the mountain. For ten dollars, you got to drink whatever you wanted for the whole night. Do I need to say that the other tourists accompanying us were English (one guy from Leeds was quite a character, cussing and swearing like a sailor)? Anyway, I started off with water but soon changed to mojito and Cuba libre as they were jummie and not too strong. And so we danced the night away...

There seems to be a lot less and a lot less persistent pursuing here in Trinidad. Elliot and I were talking and I told him about Keiron, and he said: 'So you are here alone? You are single, I am soltero (single) so we are going to have a good time together.'
Me: 'si, soy sola, pero no soltera' (yes, I am alone but not single) which I thought was a pretty good comeback, especially as it was in Spanish.

At about two o'clock the party was over so we got some sleep...