Hello from Cuba

Arrived OK and was met at the airport by the hostel owner an Italian from Rome married to an ex air hostess from Cuba so so far so good. Good food last night and breakfast . The Italians are good cooks. He says Cubans dont eat vegetables so will be interesting what food I will get elsewhere. Communicatons are much worse that even I thought, hence why Im using my hosts computer and gmail account. Apparently not allowed to buy SIM cards and also no WiFi the internet is by the old school dial up modems except in main hotels where they have computers like the old style cafes. The cellphone network keeps disappearing and at 3 pounds mer minute wont be getting much use. Bike assembled OK except the clamp nut on the headstock is broken but fixed now with a hose clip. My downloaded maps seem to be OK on the iPhone but how I´m going to find places to stay lawd only knows. The family are going to check flights down to Santiago so that I can start the ride proper for today I´m going to ride the 11km into downtown Havana and see the bike guy for the local tour and maybe get tips on places to stay elsewhere The satellite tracking system should be working and is receiving messages _thnks Nick_ although I wont be replying unless its urgent. Check my main blog for the link etc Havana suburbs 8.47 local time 6th Nov