World Cup fever has hit Guantanamo Bay. Wherever you go on the base - the dining halls, rec rooms or the camps, it's all about football. I thought Americans hated soccer, but maybe it's a bit of cross-cultural pollination from the detainees.

When we finally get to see the Camp 4 recreation area, it's deserted: the detainees are all inside watching the game. We're standing in one of the guard towers and have a view of the whole place but the only sign of life is the laundry hanging all around the camp - white and brown cotton uniforms that most of the men wear. What, no orange jumpsuits? Stupidly, I'm a bit disappointed. It's like going to Amsterdam and hearing that no one rides a bike anymore. These days, the orange suits are only for detainees on discipline in some of the higher security camps.

Camp 4 is minimum security and it's set up for communal living. There are five separate blocks within the camp. One's a classroom and the others house between 5 and 20 men each - they won't give exact numbers but say the whole camp has fewer than 75 detainees. Every block has two living quarters and a small outdoor rec area which inmates have access to 20 hours a day. Today we can see bowls of fruit and juice mixers sitting on outdoor tables in the small rec, along with some exercise mats and a box containing outdoor prayer rugs. Food is delivered to the blocks in communal quantities and the men serve themselves. They get three meals a day - all Halal - and have a choice of regular, vegetarian, high fibre, and bland.

The blocks also share the large rec yard in the middle of the camp where they can play soccer or basketball. "They have some really good soccer matches out here," the sergeant showing us around says. "They go through a lot of soccer balls, too. They kick them into the wire and they pop." I can believe it - the whole place is surrounded by huge coils of razor wire. But face the other direction and you see nothing but the deep blue sea. It's a juxtaposition I still can't get used to. There are also iguanas wandering all over. Everyone here treats them very carefully - particularly when driving: they're an endangered species on the island and there's a $10,000 fine for killing one.

The blocks all have a self-designated social structure including a block leader, spokesman, prayer caller, etc. The spokesman will take complaints and requests to the camp watch commander, while the leader sorts out internal disputes and makes decisions that affect his block, like whether or not to have a TV - many of the men don't want one, presumably for religious reasons - and if so, which channel to watch. "There's a good chain of command on both sides," the sergeant says.

If any of the men at Camp 4 misbehaves - by verbally or physically abusing the guards, or refusing to following orders - they can be sent to Camp 5 on discipline. "It's their choice, which camp they're held in," says the Camp 5 Officer in Charge.

The camps
Camp 5 is the maximum security facility at Camp Delta. Delta comprises camps 1- 6 as well as the detainee library and hospital. "When I say maximum security, it is the ability for the detainees to follow the Camp Delta rules. It has nothing to do with the allegations or the reasons why they're here at Guantanamo Bay," the IOC tells us. The only detainees who are housed according to what they are alleged to have done before they got here are those at Camp 7. Camp 7 is where they keep the "detainees of high value" but that's about all anyone will say about it. The number of men there and even its location on the base are classified.

Camp 5 is the most restrictive of the Delta camps and detainees live in cells where they're monitored every 3 minutes. The building was shipped over to Guantanamo in pieces and "put together like Lego blocks" once it got here. It looks much more like a prison than anything else I've seen so far at Guantanamo - except that it's so clean! I've been to a few different prisons in the UK and US - as a visitor, I hasten to add - and there's always something grubby about them - the inevitable result of too many people and not enough space. At Guantanamo, they have fewer than 200 men total in facilities designed to hold several times that number. The buildings are also brand new for the most part and the men keep themselves and their cells pristine. "They're meticulously clean," one of our guides tells us. "Almost OCD."

Camp 5 has a central control and 4 living wings which each contain between 12 and 14 cells. Right now, we're told, the place isn't full - but again, no exact numbers. The cells are small, with a bunk, sink, toilet, mirror and window. There's an overhead light which stays on 12 hours a day, but detainees are given eye masks so they can sleep when they want to. They're also issued with blankets and sheets, up to six books from the library, as well as prayer mats, beads, caps and a monthly prayer schedule. Detainees on discipline have an orange uniform, the others have a brown one. Those in a "compliant status" get to use the movie room for 3 hours a week - a cell furnished with a big TV and a cosy looking recliner - and an eyelet bolted in to the floor that one of their legs get chained to. Everyone gets to use the rec yard - the number of hours and amount of interaction with others they get depends on how compliant they are. Most men only stay for a couple of weeks until they're moved back to one of the other camps, the IOC says, but some will be here for a couple of months. It all depends on how they behave.

Camp 6 is just next door. As we walk through the gate, there's a plain white van with its back doors open, waiting by the main building. It's about to pick up one of the detainees and we need to get out of the way. Absolutely no filming or recording. As we walk past, though, I can see the inside of the van is fitted with heavy steel doors - like a bank safe. We wait around the corner until the guards bring out a man with a long beard wearing a white uniform. It's the first time I've seen one of the detainees. He's around 40 or so, I'd guess, maybe younger, and seems completely impassive - neither resisting nor cooperating with the guards. They lock him in, drive off and we start our tour.

Camp 6 is more communal than 5 but not as open as 4. They eat communally but, unlike Camp 4, live in cells. There are a few communal areas that we can see through one-way glass. The first one's a classroom set up with 20 desks but only 3 men are in there today. "Right now attendance is low because the World Cup seems to be real popular around here," the Camp 6 IOC tells us. They're sitting at their desks reading, and one leg is shackled to an eyelet on the floor. It's weird and feels intrusive to be watching them when they can't see us. They look like prisoners anywhere - bored and resigned.

Classes they can take include English, art and life skills, which means stuff like financial management, how to write a resume, health and nutrition, and so on: "Basic skills that the detainees, when or if they get to leave Guantanamo Bay they would need to socialize and be back out in society," according to the IOC. There's also a communal area where today about 10 men are sitting around wearing headphones, their eyes glued to the TV. Yup, they're watching the football.

While we're visiting, some detainees are also meeting with the Red Cross in one of the other areas. "They're under observation by the guards, but that's for the safety of the Red Cross. We try to give them as much privacy as possible," our guide says. "They have their legal visits in private. For the safety of the lawyer, they'll have one leg restrained - a padded cuff, so they're not being chaffed or anything."

We continue through to another area where there's a lot of construction going on. They're adding sound-proofing to the cells and modifying them from two-person to one-person rooms. I ask why they're still working on the place when President Obama has said he's going to close it down. "To be honest, I'm well aware that that date just came and went," the IOC answers, "but I don't know of a future date or any future operations and I would infer it's not going to happen soon. I do know it was seriously looked at and a solution has not been found yet." The executive order to close the place is posted in all the rec yards, along with Article 3 of the Geneva Convention and news about detainees who've been released. The men were happy to hear about the order to close Guantanamo, the Camp 5 IOC say, "but anxious - they don't know where they're going to go, they don't know when they're going to go, so the anxiety's building up."

On our way back to the main entrance, we get stuck for a few moments at one of the many secure doors and have to wait for someone to come and open it up. "As you can see, it's easier to get in than to get out," the Camp 6 IOC jokes. It sounds like a metaphor for the whole place - it's easier to get in than out and, as Obama is finding out, easier to open it up than close it down.

Also read Hermione Gee's earlier blogs from Guantanamo:

• Rockin' in Fidel's back yard
• Welcome to Guantanamo
• Holiday in Guantanamo