Amanda Palmer and the 48 crew experience life in Havana, a city with two distinct faces - one for the tourists, and one for the locals. So this week on 48 Amanda and the crew experience life in Havana, a city with two distinct faces – one for the tourists, and one for the locals.

An elaborate system of different currencies and licenses allows the country to reap the rewards of tourism, whilst encouraging foreign visitors not to stray from a pleasant, government-approved vacuum.

In this 48, Amanda Palmer breaks the seal and talks to Havana's locals about life in one of the few communist countries to have survived into the 21st century, despite the best efforts of some of the world's most powerful nations.

Last July Fidel Castro, who has led the country since the fall of the US-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959, underwent life-threatening surgery. Months of intense speculation about the 80-year-olds health ensued, and there were suspicions about the authenticity of the regular videos released by the government to assure them of Castro's improving health. He temporarily ceded power to his brother Raul, and many beyond Cuba's beaches anticipated an end to the maverick regime. However, in a recent article Castro declared he is on the mend, and colleagues insist it is only a matter of time before he resumes office.

Old Havana is the first destination and where Amanda meets nurse and legal tourist rickshaw driver, Pepe. The Cuban authorities are cautious about foreign film crews – here news and television are heavily censored - but even armed with the relevant journalist permits, the crew is stopped and questioned five times in the first hour of filming. But Pepe's tour persists regardless; he is eager to show Amanda everyday life in the Old City.

The once palatial Spanish-built homes, which are literally crumbling, are causing a serious housing issue in the Old City. The government is restoring them, but with so many other priorities for funding, it is a slow process. In the meantime its residents must move or bide their time amongst the rubble.

Food rations and sporadic power and water are also everyday realities, and many Cubans work illegally to supplement their state incomes. The Cubans Amanda meets have mixed feelings – some blame the flaws of Castro's leadership or the limitations of communism, but many also see 46 years of US embargoes as the root of the country's problems.Over the next two days Amanda's local guides introduce her to Fidel Castro's vision of a perfect society. Seeing culture as the ideal balm for a country in withdrawal from capitalism, he has massively funded the development of Cuba's home-grown art, dance, music and sport.

Amanda meets the eccentric local artist Fuster, who transforms his talents and socialist ideals into public property by adorning his neighbourhood's houses with elaborate mosaic art. Baseball is a national obsession in Cuba, and the country has nurtured some of the world's best players. A night trip to Havana's largest stadium gives an insight into why the people – and Castro himself – feel so passionately about the sport.

'Danza Voluminosa', a ballet troupe for those of ample figure, proves that dance is something that spawns from the souls of all Cubans, regardless of their size and after a session with a band of young Hip Rock musicians, the crew is swept into the heaving crowds of an open-air salsa party. Whatever the hardships of everyday life, the Cuban spirit lives on.

If his dodgy health permits, in less than two years' time Cuba's Fidel Castro will celebrate half a century of communism in his tiny Caribbean island nation of Cuba, but with the 80-year-old leader still looking pretty frail like Cuba's economy, many are asking whether his stubborn Marxist revolution will survive his inevitable passing. It's hard to know what Cubans think of his regime because most are afraid of speaking out. But Dateline reporter David O'Shea, armed with only his trusty video camera plus his fluent Spanish, hit the streets of Havana to see what he could find out. As you will soon discover, not inappropriately, David has called his report "From Cuba with Love."

Epic colonial architecture, libidinous young salsa dancers, Che Guevara murals, white-powder sandy beaches, swaying fields of sugar cane - the images of Cuba are as transfixing as they are timeless. This is an island of unique historical heritage floating amid a sea of encroaching globalisation.

Travel in Cuba can involve anything from sipping mojittos at an all-inclusive resort in Varadero to scraping the spit and sawdust off your shoes outside the Casa de las Tradiciones in Santiago. The burgeoning tourist sector rubs up against the Cuba of communist myth.

The best time to go to Cuba is between December and April, after the lashing rains of the hurricane season and before the hot and sticky discomfort of the scorching summer months. However this is also when planeloads of Canadians and Europeans arrive in pursuit of the southern sun, and room prices soar by up to 20%. Cubans take their holidays in July and August, so local beaches are very crowded at this time. Christmas, Easter and the period around 26 July, when Cubans celebrate the anniversary of the revolution, are also very busy. August to November is the worst time for hurricanes, while the winter months can bring in cold fronts when temperatures in the north and west of the island can dip under 15ºC (60°F).

Weather aside, Cuba has few other hurdles for visitors. Culture vultures should keep a close eye on the annual arts calendar for festivals and events; baseball fans will certainly not want to miss the post season, which runs from April to May; and political junkies may want to catch important days in the socialist calendar, particularly Día de los Trabajadores (Labor day; May 1) and Day of the National Rebellion (July 26).

Fidel Castro

The socialist nature of Castro's government sent many members of the elite and professional classes into exile. Government seizures of properties and business holdings, the suspension of elections, the militarization of society, control of the media, and the politicization of education convinced conservatives and moderates to seek exile in Spain, Mexico, France, and, primarily, in the United States.

In 1956 Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro and about 80 armed followers returned from exile in Mexico and landed on the southern shore of Cuba. Government troops killed most of the rebels during the landing, but Castro and a handful of men escaped to the mountains of eastern Cuba, where they continued a guerrilla campaign to oust Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. Batista fled the island on January 1, 1959, and Castro emerged as the leader of the new government in Cuba. During the 1960s through the 1980s, Castro allied himself with the communist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR); in addition, he supported revolutions of national liberation in Latin America, Africa, and Asia and became a leader among heads of state in nations that had recently won their freedom from colonial powers. Castro and his socialist government faced strong opposition from the United States, which formerly had been Cuba's ally and main trading partner. United States businesses with holdings in Cuba opposed Castro's seizure of their property and many U.S. politicians saw Castro's socialist policies and alliance with the USSR as a threat to the security of the United States.

In 1956 Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro and about 80 armed followers returned from exile in Mexico and landed on the southern shore of Cuba. Government troops killed most of the rebels during the landing, but Castro and a handful of men escaped to the mountains of eastern Cuba, where they continued a guerrilla campaign to oust Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. Batista fled the island on January 1, 1959, and Castro emerged as the leader of the new government in Cuba.

Cuba, largest and westernmost island of the West Indies. It forms, with various adjacent islands, the Republic of Cuba. Cuba occupies a central location between North and South America and lies on the lanes of sea travel to all countries bounded by the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. For most of its history, Cuba's fertile soil and abundant sugar and tobacco production made it the wealthiest island of the Caribbean. The Republic of Cuba is an archipelago, or group of islands, consisting of the main island (named Cuba); Isla de la Juventud, the second largest island; and numerous other islands. Havana is the capital city with a population of 2,189,716 in 2000. In 2005 the nation's population was estimated to be 11,346,670.

Cuba's proximity to Haiti, the United States, Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, and Jamaica has allowed people to migrate easily onto and off of the island. This movement contributed to the rich mixture of people and customs in Cuba and throughout the Caribbean area. Although agriculturally rich, Cuba exports only a few products, such as sugar, tobacco, citrus fruits, and several manufactured products.

Cuba's rich soil, abundant harbors, and mineral reserves have enticed foreign powers such as Spain, the United States, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) to use Cuba for their own interests. For 400 years Cuba was a colony of Spain. Spain's conquistadores (Spanish for “conquerors”) launched their invasion of Mexico and South America from the island. In the mid-19th century, the Cuban people formed an independence movement, decades after most of Spain's other colonies had become independent. By 1868 Cubans began to fight the first of three wars of independence. In 1898 the United States entered the war against Spain and declared Cuba independent but under the protection of the United States. In 1959 Fidel Castro and a number of other revolutionaries overthrew the Batista government. Since that time Castro has been the head of state and the ultimate authority on all policy decisions. In the 1960s Castro split with the United States and became an ally of the USSR, then the world's leading Communist nation. In 1961 Castro formally embraced Marxism, the political philosophy that forms the basis for communism.

Cuba adopted the form of Marxism that had been practiced up to that time in the USSR, where a highly organized Communist Party controlled the government. Cuba has since been governed according to socialist economic and political principles, with a centralized economy and a government under the control of the Cuban Communist Party. Under socialism, individual freedoms were sacrificed for the social advancement of all Cubans. In addition, religion was discouraged, although not forbidden, so that the allegiance of citizens would belong solely to the state. However, Cuban socialism could not and did not directly mimic the Soviet model because Cuban history and culture were entirely different from that of Eastern European nations. Governing offices and agencies were similar, but in Cuba Castro personally retained ultimate control over the Communist Party, all governing bodies, and the military.