I
was awake again before my alarm (I think I may have caught up on all my sleep)
and had some breakfast before taking a walk to the bus station to check in. The
bus was pretty uneventful with me sticking to my book.

Once
in Santa Clara I reserved a seat on the bus to Havana for tomorrow before
finding a Casa. There was only one guy who really showed any interest so I
started chatting to him. The rates were rather high but I didn't have many
other options (and I wanted to get going as I had limited time here) so I
accepted and we were on our way.

Once
in my casa and settled I made my way to the Che Guevara Mosileum where I had a
look around the monument outside before waiting to enter the museum. The start
of the museum is a wall with stone impressions of some of Che's soldiers as
well as one of Che. The next section was a museum which had artifacts of the
various stages of the revolution as well as some from Bolivia. There was no
mention of his time in the Congo (or very little). What does amuse me is the
artifacts and descriptions they have. For example they would say pen used by
Che or water bottle if soldier X.

Once
I left this site I headed to the centre where there seemed to be some parties
for kids in celebration of Fidel Castro's birthday. I then kept walking for a
few more blocks before finding a few more plazas and then made my way to a
cigar factory.

Here
I met an English speaking guide who told me the at the factory is closed in
August for summer holidays. We chatted for a bit before he took me to a house
around the corner to sell me some cigars which I didn't take him up on. He then
gave me a cigar and we went across the street to grab a drink and enjoy the
cigar. We kept chatting and he explained the difference between the different
brands of cigars and that the thicker they are the less strength they have.

The
cigar process he explained was as follows. The best tobacco leaves are grown in
the Viñales area and the leaves are sent to Santa Clara where they then go
through the fermentation process and are made unto cigars. The tobacco is
fermented in a honey and rum mixture of 20/80 (Monte Cristo), 50/50 (Cohiba)
and 70/30 (Romeo y Julieta). The higher the rum content the stronger the cigar
but that also depends on the thickness (thinner is stronger) and which leaves
are used to make the cigar. There are 3 different types of leaves (blonde, dark
and I'm not sure of the other one) which all come from different plantations
and are used to make the cigars stringer and weaker depending on the
combination.

After
this talk (and some haggling) I decided to buy some more cigars and started
haggling some more. I managed to get a half a box on Monte Cristo's before
leaving. I have no idea what I'm going to do with all of these but goes the
best place to start is by smoking them.

On
the way back to my casa I stopped at the Tren Blindado monument. This is
dedicated to the soldiers who took over the armoured train in Santa Clara
during the revolution. It looked like the time was coming for the typical
afternoon storm so I headed to my casa for a much needed rest. Unfortunately it
was locked when I got there so I waited a while before jumping over the gate
(the only one I didn't have a key for) and headed to my room through a few more
gates. In the room I enjoyed the cooling powers of an aircon while outside it
started raining. I lay on my bed for a while reading (it felt like a while but
was actually longer than I thought) before having a shower and heading out for
some dinner.

The
local I was chatting to earlier suggested a local place just off the main
square called El Alba and I loved it as I walked in. There was a mural on the
wall depicting different sights around town with people talking (in Spanish so
I'm assuming here) about the restaurant. The menu seemed reasonably priced in
local pesos. Oh yes, I haven't explained this. So, on a tangent, Cuba has 2
currencies. One the CUP or Cuban Peso is the local currency and you cannot
leave the country with it and the other is the CUC or Cuban Convertible Peso.
This is pegged at 1 : 1 with the USD and about 25 CUP to 1 CUC. It does make
things interesting but generally tourists just pay in CUC and CUP is kept for
the locals.

Back
to my dinner, I had some roast port with rice and beans which was very tasty
but still overcooked. The question that comes to mind is that do they cook it
so well due to the meat not being so fresh. I haven't had any problems but have
seen little refrigeration in the food chain. Anyway, with a bit of salsa picante
it was tasty and hit the spot once again.

After
dinner I took a walk back to the main square and found a bench to enjoy the
last of the twilight but within seconds of sitting down a bird dropped a bomb
within inches of me so I decided to move out from under the tree and find a
place to drink, smoke and watch people. There was a place just around the
corner where I enjoyed a few mojitos and a Monte Cristo while chatting to some
very crazy locals. I didn't understand much of the conversation and they did most
of the talking. I guess I'm an easy target sitting on my own and being
friendly, but I will always be friendly my degree of Spanish knowledge is what
varies. I tried it and it works... Until they speak English!

Once
my cigar was finished and not much was happening I decided to return to my casa
and my book to enjoy a few beers before bed.