Upon entering and leaving Honduras (which I did in the same day en route to Nicaragua), the army did a thorough baggage search. What they were looking for was pretty obvious.

“What is this book about?” asked the soldier, holding my Granta Special Issue of Travel Writing open at an article entitled “Cuba Revisited”. This was the book I was most worried about, but it had been so inspirational for writing these letters that I’d decided to chance it.

“Does it talk about Communism?” …

“What is this picture?” he asked. It was a photo of several black people, some in uniform.

“It’s in Africa,” I replied. It was actually in Angola, a country he may or may not have heard about.

On our way out, they debated most my companion’s copy of South America on a Shoestring. It didn’t seem to be the text, which did criticise certain governments in the region; the soldiers didn’t read English anyway. What caused the commotion was the photo of the author, who had long hair and a beard and a laughing face, so he must be a communist – maybe even Castro himself!