Monday December 29, 2014

We were a little late starting this morning due to the fact that the Casa Particular Police arrived at the casa. They arrive unannounced about once a month to check the books of the casa owners. Unfortunately, yesterday we hadn’t signed the registration book and Gustavo and Charel were in a little bit of a panic as to what to do with us. It was too late as the Inspector had already seen our loading touring bikes out front. The Inspector signed their book off up to yesterday and we had to sign the registration book for today.

This could have turned out badly for Gustavo and Charel with a minimum fine of 250 CUC, but I think the Inspector was in a good mood as Gustavo said there was no problem. I don’t think he will forget to get the paperwork signed again.

We were still on the road by 7:30 and once again we had that great tail-wind. The road was not as bad on our side of the road as the other side of the road. It was still like a washboard for most of the 69 kms and at times it was smoother on the gravel shoulder than it was on the “paved” road.

The road was very busy with trucks and cars. At one time an ambulance came flying past us with lights flashing. Not 200 metres up the road from us the ambulance came to a screaming halt, the back door of the ambulance had flown open and revealed a poor man on a gurney. It was like something out of a Carry-On movie. The attendant leapt out of the front slammed the back door and off they went again at great speed.

We made great time again and arrived in Ciego around 11:00. We are staying at the same casa as before as it is very close to the downtown area.

After going through our usual routine of rinsing out cycling clothes, updating the Garmins and charging the Garmins we went for out for lunch and to update the blog.

As we got close to the Telepunto Office we could see the big crowd milling around the door. I went straight up to the front to make sure I was in the right line (or mass of people) and asked about the internet. The girl at the front pointed to the guard inside, I turned to the milling crowd and asked if anyone was waiting for the internet, no they were all waiting to recharge their cell phones! I asked the guard about the internet and he took me straight to the counter to buy a card. I already had one, but decided to get another while I was waiting for a computer that I could use to connect to the internet.

Can you imagine waiting outside of a store for over an hour to then be allowed inside the store. Then waiting again inside the store again possibly for another half an hour before you can add credits to your phone or pay a bill. I am amazed at their patience, because if I had to do that every month or every time I needed credits, I would not have a phone.

While I was updating the blog Ralf went to the bank to change the 20 CUC notes for smaller denomination notes. We often find that in restaurants or bars they cannot make change on a 20 CUC note. He also wanted to do the same for the Cuban peso notes that we had. He had to go to two different banks to do this. I now believe that my husband has the patience of a Saint.

After updating the blog we wandered down the pedestrian area to buy some water. Again Ralf waited outside until he was allowed inside to buy water. Now I often wandered why they do this until I was in a line inside a store to buy an ice-cream. This little man barged in front of me, elbowed me twice and got served before me. Now as most of you know I am a very patient person. I left without buying the ice-cream, because I was about to smack the little man upside the head and I didn’t want to be arrested in Cuba. Ralf commented that I had no patience and a short fuse. He only just found that out about me after 29 years of being married.

We sat in the square and ate an ice-cream that we bought at a different shop and watched people.

We spotted the bike parking area and these two child seats.

The one on the red bike is for babies and the other one is for toddlers. I am not joking, we have seen babies in these seats and toddlers hanging onto the handle bars on the other seats.

As we made our way back to the casa, we spotted the local bike shop.