Cuban breakfasts come in two versions : the safe and the dangerous.

We started with the safer option : Cuban sausages, peppers and chickpeas with pork followed by donuts and coffee. Later at the tour reps welcome meeting held at Parque Josone (once the private summer estate of a sugar mill owner) in Varadero we experienced the more dangerous version : rum.

“Two good things about Cuba”, said the rep. “No Americans and no sharks. In fact we capture the sharks and train them to attack Americans then send them north to Miami”, he continued as we all sat out enjoying Cuba Libre.

Already we seem to have a happy routine with evening drinks at La Duna (tonight accompanied by thunder which sent the lizard scuttling into the lamp to shelter from any rain) and another successful blag into a restaurant we should have booked for. This time it was El Rodizio which offers a Brazilian style menu. With only a couple of tables occupied it was a little odd to watch Abel the head waiter insist that he could squeeze us in but if anyone asked we should say we were room 1125 (not our room number at all). All of this was imparted with a conspiratorial look over his shoulders in case we were overheard.

No sooner were we sat down and eating than the band arrived. The Spanish family in the corner had already asked for the tunes I knew and my bad Spanish and the bands lack of English didn’t really help communication but the leader took one look at us and asked “Romanticos ?”.

What we ended up with was Compay Segundo’s classic Cuban Son ballad Chan Chan.

After a chat to the band about the tres - the odd six string Cuban guitar - and a tip for the band we headed out, stopping to thank Abel and tip him as well.

Next door in the Don Cafe we discovered why last night was so quiet. Most people head here for one of the shows or music after a hard day in the sun. The drinks are a little stronger here but after the first few we adjusted…