Slept well again and woke at 6AM, showered, dressed, finished packing and left our bags outside our room as instructed by Boston Bob, our fearless, funny, intelligent and accommodating Globus tour guide.

Our room at Hotel La Ronda was spacious and comfortable.  We are happy to recommend it – it is centrally located in Trinidad, close to many paladars, with a fun terrace bar and a fine restaurant of its own.

On the Havanatur bus at 8AM, we departed Trinidad and retraced the route we took yesterday to Cienfuegos.  Continuing northwest we arrived at Bahia de Giron (Bay of Pigs) and toured the museum dedicated to the martyrs who died during the disastrous CIA-orchestrated invasion attempted by Cuban ex-pats who had fled during the 1959 revolution.

We then drove ten minutes to a large paladar where we were presented with a lunch of rice, beans, fish, crab, octopus, soda and flan.  After lunch we were treated to an interesting lecture given by a naturalist who enlightened us about the local flora and fauna in the nearby park (crocodiles!)  The area we are in is called Cienega de Zapata.

Back on the bus for two more hours (still have not seen one plane in the sky) until we finally entered the magnificent city of Havana with its mixture of old Spanish architecture (sadly, many of these beautiful old buildings have been neglected and are literally crumbling) and modern post-Mafia high-rises.  Bordering the northern edge of the city is the famous, spacious promenade, Le Malecon.

Checked into our hotel, the skyline-dominating high-rise Melia Cohiba and settled into our large room facing the Malecon and the blue-gray Atlantic Ocean to the north.  Our seventh-floor room is quite spacious but the air-conditioner struggles but does a poor job of cooling the room.  Everything smells like cigars and the room is warm and damp, even the sheets.  We should have requested a room change but we were exhausted and did not feel like dealing with the logistics.

Showered, unpacked and rested until 6PM, when we met the Bob, Ramiro, Hermes and the rest of our Globus group in the lobby and then boarded the Havanatur bus which took us to the world-famous, majestic and elegant Hotel Nacional, where we perused the ancient canyons, Spanish cannons and spent time in the Hall of Fame feeling the vibes of so many celebraties, politicians and mobsters whose legacy live on in this historic place.  Click HERE for more information on the Hotel Nacional.

Then we were led into a large hotel meeting room where a jazz/salsa band entertained us for an hour with much audience participation.

Back on the bus for a ten-minute ride to a large government restaurant called El Aljibe for a sumptuous dinner of rice, beans, fish, chips, soda and ice-cream while a talented group of musicians and singers wandered from table to table.

Well-sated, Hermes drove us back to the Melia Cohiba Hotel where we couldn’t wait to fall into our large, comfortable, damp king-sized bed.