Saturday December 6, 2014

A late breakfast and a relaxing day to celebrate one year on the road. Well technically not on the road, we started cycling in New Zealand on December 9, 2014. We left Canada one year ago.

Breakfast consisted of a cup of hot chocolate, Cuban coffee, omellette and cheese, good bread, banana, papaya and freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, really good.

I was going to clean the bikes today and update the blog, but decided that I would wander the town today and clean the bikes tomorrow. Everything will be closed tomorrow, so it made sense to me to investigate the Town today with Ralf. There is a hotel in Town where we can use their wi-fi (not free) but I can update the blog tomorrow.

The downtown of Baracoa is very nice with parks and pedestrian area.

We needed to buy some water, and had to leave the tourist area to find the “real” shops. There is still a shortage of items in Cuba. Actually we are not sure if the items are in short supply or if it is the distribution system that isn’t working. Today we couldn’t find any bottles of water, we may have to resort to tap water with a purification tablet in the bottles. We have never had a problem with the water in Cuba on our other visits, but this time people have been telling us to buy bottled water. To be on the safe side we will use the purification tablets.

On the other hand we needed some Advil (Ibruprofen). I had bought some in Spain and still had the package. I was able to go into a Farmicia and ask if I was allowed to buy some Ibruprofen or was it only for Cubans. Not a problem a package of 40 tablets (400 mg) for 3 pesos – that amounts to less than 12 cents.

We walked along the boardwalk and back into the main area.

Apparently Christopher Columbus landed here and said it was one of the most beautiful places he had seen in the West Indies.

There was no description about this rusting hulk.

I had to laugh at this sign, I thought at first it was a casa particular but this place specializes in hot dogs!– direct translation is dog hot.

What\’s for dinner tonight, pork or pizza?

The casa we are staying in has 3 floors, and the top floor has great views of the area.