Gemima partyduck

The boys called on Sunday morning, they were going out day drinking at the Casa de la Cerveza. There’s a casa for pretty much everything in this place. I was very firm with my no. I was pretty much penniless and felt like i’d drank enough. By five pm I was wandering around old Havana looking for them amongst a festival and hundreds of people. I heard someone shout my name, ran and jumped. They handed me rum and off we went to dance and drink the night away. After a thousand conversations with Francel about keeping myself safe he was true to his every word. A great egg. Solid as a rock on the inside. He is some kind of martial arts genius with a mind to match.

I’m sat in the airport again but this time heading home. I miss it already, the people, the music, the dancing, the blue skies and beaches. I have 4 magazines and 5 books all in Spanish along with a set of bongo drums in my backpack whilst my clothes are on the floor in my casa..I dont know what happened. I think i’ve changed.

Jordi went back to Matanzas and I left for Viñales. Set in the countryside it's very oldy worldy, tropical farmland producing coffee and tobacco. Today I went out walking in the National Park with a local guide, you can't go alone apparently. Anyway, it obviously was stunning, tabacco fields and horse and carts everywhere. We crossed paths with the brother of my guide and he let me have a bit of a play on his horse. I haven't been on one in a year and I forgot how much fun it is. A local guy showed us how cigars are made and I had a little try, not that my lungs were impressed. He only gets to sell 10% of his produce, the other 90% goes to the government for production. Yet again learning about life in a communist country.

Lisette's nephew, Jordi and I went to the beach together where me met some local boys and drank rum until the sun went down. After a play fight that I lost quite drastically we got the local bus back, crammed with people singing.

We met the boys later at a bar and ended up sat at Malecon by the sea with more rum until 4am.

Today we woke up at 2pm! So our day was pretty much lost. We mostly stayed at the house and then spent a lot of time in the evening walking around looking for chocolate. An impossibility in Vedado and we didn't find it. We went home and watched a great movie sat in the rocking chairs.

The boys dropped me off in Monteverde and the drive there was stunning, as i’m realising I say with most of my journeys, but it was. A lot of steep, uphill driving on terrible dirt track roads in a truck with beautiful views I was pretty happy.

My first day I didn’t do much, laid in hammocks and wandered around town. My second day I was up at 4.45am to see the Costa Rican sunrise and go bird watching. I know i’m taking the bird thing a bit far but toucans, tanagers, white hawkes, parrots and a sloth..totally worth it!

It’s true, I am in love.

I arrived in the early hours and after a little grilling at the airport the taxi driver put me in his car, turned up the music and drove me in his old car to my house. When I arrived I could hear music and the unmissable sound of bongo drums coming from a bar up the road. The family were up and waiting for me.

My first day in the city I was head over heals. What a beautiful, beautiful city..without a doubt the best I have visited. I was completely in awe.

I almost feel like I shouldn’t write about it, i’m not sure it’s a place I can do justice. The buildings are so old and grand and there is colour everywhere you look. They are also dusty, worn and falling down which somehow only adds to the charm and beauty of the place. And then when you walk around it is brimming with friendly, welcoming locals and there is great music and dancing on every street corner and in every bar.

I have been looking for an old book, Love in the Time of Cholera, since day one of my travels and upon getting out of the taxi I appeared in a square selling nothing but old books including Amor en el tiempo de colera. A great sign.

I met Raul and we watched street entertainers, ate, danced in a bar, walked Malecon and sat by the sea with some local musicians.

I got home late and went out to see a local band with Lisette's nephew and friend. We drank $1 beers and danced.

If truth be told Costa Rica wasn't really what I had hoped. I looked everywhere for language barriers and street music but it was nowhere to be seen. I did however see some very pretty stuff and after leaving Monteverde with a bag full of Manzanilla tea bags 'borrowed' from the hostel, I went to Montezuma where I met some backpackers who made the place lovely.

We did great outdoor Yoga, swam in waterfalls, beach hopped, watched monkeys, ate great food, drank smoothies, played on a balance board, had a night of music with Rory and I finally learnt to love red wine. We were a great group from more nationalities than i've ever seen around a table in one go, all solo travellers, all different and at least five of us were women. I hate to jump on my 'go girls' wagon but 'GO GIRLS!'.

My only dislike of the group was that not one would say i'm mild in character and they presumed I had grown up with lots of brothers and no sisters. Honestly, all you have to do these days is lick someone's eyeball and you get a name for yourself. It wasn't even partyduck. Other than that I loved them all.

So far i've manage to keep Partyduck in her box and we've had a really nice few days of beaches, beers, sun and food.. but yesterday was New Years Eve. I was the first to wake up and had the best intentions. I had melon and a cereal bar for breakfast only for the boys to wake up and give me pancakes, Nutella and a beer. By the time we got to the beach I was drinking rum from the bottle. We went home after the sunset and the boys went for a nap whilst I drank rum on the balcony and watched the start of the fireworks.

The rest of my New Years Eve, i'm not so sure, but after continous reminders and flash backs it seems to have gone like this..