Today, Regis, Ingrid and I went out horseriding with Vladimir's brother. I asked his name a few times but didn't catch it... It was a bit scary at first as we went up into the mountains and Regis´ horse slipped.

We went very high and then back down again, through the sugar cane fields, and I mean really through, the leaves were cutting into our arms. We did some trotting and galop, which was really great but slightly painful occasionally.

About two hours into the trip, we came to the waterfall, which was not very impressive as it hasn´t rained much in Trinidad, so there wasn´t much water. But still, even though it wasn´t The Blue Lagoon, the water was still nice if a bit chilly and there was a cave with bats. The other two people there were from Belgium as well. Is there anybody left in the country?

We got back on, under great protest of our knees and ´culo´ and Perico, my horse, started on his way back. We went back at slightly greater speed, both because it was getting very hot and because otherwise the horses get too tired. We came across the others again and did some more galopping. The other guide said I looked ´cómodo´, comfortable, which reminded me of the saying that a horse is dangerous at both ends and uncomfortable in the middle.

They were really calm horses though and it was a lot of fun. I did nearly get strangled by a branch though, as it caught me around my neck. My body aches in all sorts of places you don´t want to know about. Vladimirs brother dropped us off on the edge of town, and the walk back was painful to say the least.

After a nice shower I had a misunderstanding with Iris which cost me my Latin American phrase book. She was saying she wants to learn English but Elliot does not have the time or the inclination and she does not have a dictionary, so I wanted to show her what mine looked like. She thought it was a present, and I didn´t have the heart to tell her. Anyway, I should be able to get by without it now.

Dinner was lovely, black bean soup, chicken, rice, avocado, cucumber and fried bananas. It was just me as Regis and Ingrid are going to try out one of the restaurants.

In the evening I met Regis and Ingrid at the Casa de la Musica. They had met some Swiss couple but they were not very nice, him with a big cigar and a bad attitude, her with a small cigar and a bad perm. We went to sit on the stairs, which was quite painful considering the circumstances.

I got to talking to Reniel, a black guy with a Peter André t shirt. How uncool is that? He wanted to dance and I am not sure if it´s the t shirt but he must be about the only person in Cuba who cannot dance to save his life! We danced one song apart from the crowd and he was absolutely lousy!

Elliot seemed out of sorts somehow and didn´t say much. Regis had the munchies and bought a dodgy looking piece of fried chicken. It took them ages to make and Regis was getting impatient. When he finally got the plate in his hands, he dropped it. I tried very hard not to laugh but failed miserably.

It´s so great to walk the streets here. People still approach you, for soap or money or to get you on a horse, but they are a lot more timid about it, and leave you alone a lot quicker. Plus I´ve not had to fend off one marriage proposal yet.

I went to bed at one as I was really tired and Regis and Ingrid went to the open air disco.