The serious team building began when we (the gallant five trekkers!) arrived at The Atlantic Hotel in Paddington – a vast+ seedy warren of a hotel that reminded me of all the worst moments of my past student life. The test was to get our huge and heavy backpacks and our day packs up to the 3rd floor- without the luxury of a lift!!! This accomplished we knew that we could live and trek together for the next 10 days.

We arrived in Havana in the early hours of the morning after a 10-hour flight with some extremely grumpy and matronly members of the cabin crew having made us feel like giggling schoolgirls. Our guide Luis, who was to be with us for most of the trek, met us and took us to our hotel. Before we set out on the trek we had a tour of Havana’s old city with its fabulous colonial Spanish architecture. Many of the buildings are in a state of decay, but some have been renovated and as money from tourism comes into the country it is being used to rebuild the City and conserve these fantastic buildings- many of which house ‘ordinary people.’ The streets were full of old American cars like Buiks + Chevvies – crammed with people. It was like journeying back in time!
A local carnival was happening during our stay and in the evening we joined with the hundreds of people celebrating and enjoying the spectacle. Cuban people seemed to radiate warmth and good humour. As we wandered among the crowds we felt safe, there were no violence or aggression.
Following our acclimatisation, we journeyed by minibus through Matanzas Province towards the start of the Escambray Mountains. We had a spectacular detour to Santa Clara to visit Che Guevara’s mausoleum. A statue of Che stands on a tall plinth surrounded by other impressive visual images. For me, this was quite an emotional moment. Che, one of my all time heroes, had died in Bolivia and his remains and those of 17 other revolutionaries had been recovered in a mass grave in 1997 and brought back to Santa Clara to be commemorated in this way.

The trek began on the slopes of the Escambray Mountains with the Hanabanilla Trail. This trail wound its way around a vast man made lake with spectacular views as we climbed. As well as Luis, we had a botanist who walked beside us pointing out unusual plants and animals. They were both amazingly knowledgeable – and their explanations gave us time to catch our breath as we gained higher ground. After lunch and a short boat trip across the lake to, we were met by the transport that was to take us across the rugged mountain terrain- a large antiquated Russian military truck. Travelling in this was more fun than any ride at Alton Towers!! We arrived at our first hacienda- (Casa de Callega) where we would camp for the night, but before we settled into our tents we trekked to a beautiful waterfall ( Salto del Rocio)The journey back to the hacienda was extremely difficult- mainly because about 20 minutes in nightfall descended!!! Luckily our ‘new’ guide, Elios, had fantastic vision and was the most sure-footed human I have ever seen. He spent much of the remainder of the trek leaping up, down and over really treacherous terrain without once stumbling or falling over- unlike the rest of us!

That night I slept in a tent – on my own. This was the first time I had been away from my family for such a length of time – and the solitude was bliss.
Early next morning we took the truck to La Chispa and walked to our next Hacienda Codina. This was a beautiful place surrounded by an ecological reservation, which we explored later that day. This trail called, Encantes de Codina (Codina’s Wonders’ or La Alfambra Magica – The Flying Carpet) included an orchid garden where rare orchids were being propagated and a bamboo garden with a collection of many different bamboos. In the middle of this, next to a tranquil pond, was a meditation space built by Fidel Castro’s brother.
Over the next two days we trekked through lush vegetation, surrounded by exotic plants and trees laden with bananas. We trekked to another large waterfall, Salto Javira, where everyone (except me) swam beneath the cascading water. (I am terrified of deep water!) We visited a coffee plantation where beans were lying on the ground roasting. The experience of seeing the family home on this plantation, a small 3 roomed, single storey building made of wattle and daub, was a singularly moving moment. Each room contained the minimum of furniture and very few personal belongings; a saddle and spurs in one room+ a change of clothes in another. The walls were bare except for a picture of Che and the floor was cleanly swept mud. I now try to keep this picture in my mind when the excessive demands of our western consumer society beckon. Being there –and being offered freshly brewed coffee and home grown bananas from people who appear to have very little materially, made me question our society’s values even more.
A few other related things spring to mind about Cuban society. When we were travelling we often saw women hitch hiking- and we questioned how safe this was, mentioning that women in our society would be literally taking their lives in their hands if they did this. We were told that because the Cuban economy had been supported by Russia – and that now that the Russian economy was in such desperate state, petrol was a luxury. People had to hitch. However, there was an extremely low incidence of rape or murder. Also that people tended to still live very much in extended families/communities and still look out for each other, in a way that seems to be rare here. If there was an incidence of fighting in a community then the police would be called- but also individuals would intervene and stop the fighting. I thought about us- and our reluctance to get involved.
From the mountains we made our descent towards Trinidad. For me this was the most arduous day’s trekking. This was mainly because of the need to concentrate fully on where we placed our feet. Most of the time we walked in what seemed to be dry riverbeds, walking downhill all the time on sliding stones. I finished the trek feeling a real sense of achievement, but with a thumping head from the need to focus.

I want to recommend a trek like this to all of you. It was hard work: from finding creative ways to fund raise; maximising publicity for the trek; finding the time to do all of this, keep working, doing family stuff- and trying to train to be fit enough!!! However, I spent 10 days with 4 fantastic women and shared stories, experiences and most of all laughs. We had time to reflect on life and to learn about another culture. Each of us set out to raise £2,500 for The Haven- to support their work with women who experience domestic violence; something we were all committed to – and have achieved.