Baracoa

boats down rio toa
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The last destination on our Cuba tour was Baracoa. This is a much smaller town by the sea in the far East of Cuba where we spent the last couple of days.  We stayed in another homestay here which was great and on the day we got there we wandered around town, past the (crumbling) cathedral to the park where we ended up playing baseball with a huge rabble of local children. This was hilarious to watch, one of the guys on our tour had played a lot of baseball in Australia ao was teaching the kids how to swing with their hi-tech equipment (a stick for a bat and a roll of medical tape for a ball).

amazing honeycoconut stuff - baracoa speciality
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The next day we visited Rio Toa where we visited a cocoa plantation and were rowed down the river its mouth where it met the sea. We had some free time here so wandered off along the coast where we eventually came across some farms. We met a friendly local guy who offered us some of the local speciality, a sweet made from Roasted almonds, honey and shredded coconut. When we agreed he ran back home and brought us some that his Mum had just made! Rob absoutely loved it and is apparently going to make some whe he gets home..

grapefruit drink - with rum of course - after a hot day
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Further on we met a young girl walking from school to her home (one of the farms) and I gave her a notebook and some colouring pencils. We later started to walk back and she came running back with an armful of mangoes as a thank you present! It was a really good day and we had the chance to talk to lots of friendly local people, not just people who wanted tips (as it sometimes is in Havana)!