Monday November 24, 2014

An early start this morning as it was going to be a long ride due to there not being anywhere else to stay until Guiamaro (80 kms). We had a good breakfast and were on our way by 7:45, we managed to escape the busy city of Camaguey in quick time. The carrerata for the first 50 kms was a good well paved road. After 50 kms it became its usual bumpy self and the last 10 kms were really rough. Not only was the road rough but the temperature soared to 32 degrees, with the hotwind, it rose to 36 degrees.

We came through one small town and stopped for some cold pop and lunch. Unfortunately, she had sold out of cheese sandwiches. They had one other choice which turned out to be hotdog. I didn’t risk it and Ralf fed the dog half of his. An older guy flirted with me and gave me a flower.

With 20 kms still to go we stopped of at a gas station for some sandwiches and more cold pop to cool down and then finished the ride.

We stopped at the Guaimaro gas station to check where the casa was and discovered we didn’t have an address for one. There was a casa opposite the gas station but a fella came out of the gas station and said the owner wasn’t there, but he knew of a casa nearby. He hopped on his bike and we followed him to a very nice clean casa. The owner speaks English, which is nice, because sometimes I have no clue what they are saying as some of the Cubans can speak really quickly.

After we had settled in we wandered down to the main street. I found the Internet office and bought two cards, unfortunately they were about to close, I couldn’t check the email.

We tend to forget that there was the are of Independence before teh Revolution.  This square commemorated the names of Independence.

We stopped of and had a beer, and watched a dog wander up to a puddle of water near the gutter. She sniffed the water and decided it wasn’t drinkable, but she plopped herself full length into the puddle to cool down.

We chatted to a Mexican fella who has lived in Chicago for 35 years. He is now retired and had planned on going back to Mexico to live but said it was too dangerous. He is looking at moving to Cuba, he finds it very safe and relaxing.

It is still hot and the air conditioner in the room is only managing to cool half of the room and is incredibly noisy.

The heat and humidity have created a nasty heat rash again on my legs. The rash had gone after three days in Camaguey, but is back after our 80 kms ride today.

Tomorrows ride is only 45 kms. We are still going to have an early start. Hopefully I can get connected to theinternet office and update the blog.

Usually the casa owners ask us if we want dinner and breakfast. This lady was about to leave to go back to work, so I asked about dinner. She said we could eat at the casa. I wasn’t sure whether we could cook our own food or whether she would cook for us. After our wander around the town Ralf went into the small shop where she worked, to confirm that she would be cooking. Yes she would cook for us but only had pork. I guess we could have decided to eat at the restaurant in town, but we probably would have eaten pork there anyway.