The words Hasta la Victoria Siempre translate as 'always faithful to victory' and the Cuban people have been. As a visitor there is a sense that the revolution is still ongoing, and in one sense it is. In the other communist countries we have visited the ( Vietnam and Cambodia) the revolution has been and gone, leaders dead or deposed. In Cuba, however, the Castro's, Fidel and Raoul, are very much still in charge.

Everywhere you go in Cuba the revolutionary heros stare down at you, usually, but not always, in their younger incarnations

you can find them on houses, as street art and on the front of garages.

Even on doors.

Che, Fidel and co are also to be seen imortalised in metal in the more formal setting of the Revolutionary Square in Havana

While Che and Castro are fathers of modern Cuba, the man looked on as the founding father of the nation is Jose Marti. Marti founded the Partido Revolucionario Cubano which united Cuban forces in favour of independence. He died in battle against the Spanish in 1895 and is buried in a mausoleum in the cemetery of Santiago de Cuba ,where an armed guard is maintained ceremonially changing every 30 minutes. Marti is the only individual or institution in Cuba so honoured.

and finally this is how the Cubans show the American base at Guantanamo on their maps

Music and dance is everywhere in Cuba, on the streets, in the restaurants to the the Casa de la Trove set up following Fidel Castro's degree that every town in Cuba should have its own Casa de la Trove where the troubadours were to be given regular wages. You couldn't escape it even if you wanted to - most don't!

most of the music played in Bueno Vista Social Club type salsa

Then of course there is the national song 'Guantanamera' or literally 'farm girl from Guantanamo Bay'. I have to admit that I, along with others in the group, had not previously associated it with Cuba but with Mexico! If you are trying to remember the tune here it is in a version by Compay Secundo of the Bueno Vista Social Club.

Company died back in 2003 and has been awarded the accolade of being buried in the cemetery at Santiago de Cuba near to the Cuban's founding father Jose Marti.

On one of our nights in Havana we went to see the band that had evolved from the Bueno Vista Social Club incorporating a couple of the original members it was chaotic but great fun with fabulous music and a fair number of Mojitos.

The music on the streets was the best

whether single musicians of larger groups, in this case discussing what to play next

or in the evening in Trinidad in the Casa de la Musica

so come and and join in!

Hasta La Victoria Siempre

Everybody Salsa!