An ice-cream stall at La Boca beach.

Photo: Steve Woodhall

Cuban milk is very nice. The cows are obviously very productive and committed to the revolution.

Combine that with a plentiful supply of sugar and a hot climate, and you get a nation committed to eating ice cream.

Workers roll tobacco by hand at Cuba's cigar factories

Even fervent anti-smokers will find a tour of a cigar factory fascinating.

You walk round watching people rolling tobacco by hand and packing the cigars in wooden boxes. It's meditative to watch but no doubt boring to do.

Still, there's an obvious camaraderie between the workers, and they are apparently well paid.

A bicycle-taxi driver waits for customers in Trinidad

You'll spend a lot of time in Cuba shaking your head and generally avoiding jineteros.

You'll get sick of answering the question: ''What country are you from?'' which is the standard pick-up line of someone hoping to get you into conversation so that they can later extract some of your convertible currency.