Cuba is a great place to cycle, at the moment. Although the roads and the infrastructure are crumbling and there are very few cycling lanes the car and truck drivers are used to slow moving vehicles and give you lots of room when they pass. The only vehicles we had problems with were the tour bus drivers, rushing to take their load of tourists to the next location. They drove recklessly for the most part, not giving an inch (or a centimeter).

As mentioned throughout the blog the roads are in poor condition, which actually helps to keep the car drivers sticking to the speed limit. There are two motorways, one heading west to Pinar del Rio Province and the other heading east. The amazing thing with these two major highways is that cows can be seen grazing along the centre median, and horse and carts and bicycles are allowed on the very wide shoulder.

The scenery in the west and the east (two opposite ends of the country) is stunning. The hills and mogotes of Pinar Del Rio province are very beautiful. Cycling through this rural area was amazing, the people were friendly although a little reserved. We enjoyed cycling along the roads going through the valleys and watching oxen plow fields. Almost as if you have stepped back in time. There are few big towns and cities in this Province but there are a lot of independent tourists visiting the area. We were surprised to discover in Vinales (a relatively small town of less than 25,000 people) there were 350 to 500 casas. How they all made money we don’t know.

Guantanamo province where the Town of Baracoa is located was incredibly beautiful. The mountains were stunning with different vegetation than the west side of the country. Again these areas are sparsely populated but we would often find ourselves surrounded by people trying to sell us bananas, mandarins and cones of sugar and coconut.

The south coast from Santiago de Cuba to Pilon was also one of my favorite areas. Amazing coastal and mountain scenery, we cycled along a very rough road with few settlements but the people were very friendly. Waving at us and calling to us as we cycled along.

There were days when the calling, staring and kisses blown were annoying, but we came to realise that this is their culture. People coming in to stores would often kiss the cashier on the cheek. It is a very touchy feely society. Whenever we left a casa we would get a hug and a kiss on the cheek. If we returned to the casa on our way back, we were treated like long-lost family.

Would I come back to Cuba to cycle again. Yes, probably but not for three months. I would pick the areas I wanted to see again (Pinar del Rio, Granma/Santiago and Guantanomo) and spend maybe a couple of weeks in each area.

There is poverty in Cuba, but not like in other countries where people are starving for lack of food. The “system” does not allow for that. Every adult has a ration book, where they get the staples: eggs, oil, powdered milk, rice, beans and flour, and bread. Meat and vegetables are available in the rural areas where they grow their own vegetables and pigs, chickens etc.

Cubans do not pay rent for their houses, they pay a small amount for electricity and do not have to pay for water or sewage. They can apply to the government for land where they can build a house, if they can get the supplies. Therein lies the problem the supplies or the distribution system. We heard in one casa where they could not get toilet paper. We were told that another Cuban had discovered where the truck was distributing the cases of toilet paper and bought half the supplies from the truck driver. The black-market is huge. If it is not at the government run stores you can find it (with a bit of searching) down a back-alley somewhere being sold off the back of a truck.

Education is free right through university. Although if you are a Doctor, Engineer or other sought after profession, you are “requested” to go on a “Mission”. Cuba trades its well-educated workforce to other countries – Argentina, Venezuela etc. for oil and other commodities. Missions usually last four years and is very hard on the families at home. Although the professionals do earn extra money while they are away and that does help out the families financially.

The medical system is free and of a good quality. We saw an old fella in the middle of rural Cuba with the tell-tale signs of a pacemaker. Again the problem is not the quality of the system but the lack of supplies. We spoke to a nurse who was in charge of 300 junior nurses at a training hospital. She would tell them what they were to do, but there often wasn’t the supplies for them to do it. There is a “Policlinico” in almost every town. These are clinics that have a doctor, a dentist, nurses and are capable of small operations. There is a pharmacy in every small village and the drugs are cheap.

Cubans pay no income-tax or taxes on items that they buy. They often have no concept of how expensive things are in Canada or the rest of the world or how hard we have to work to get the things we buy.

One of the things that drove us absolutely crazy was the lack of customer service. If the staff went much slower they would go backwards. There is no incentive for them to work hard.

• Telephone company – There are often three lines outside of the Telepunto Office. One line for the internet, one line to buy credits for your phone (this cannot be done on-line) and pay your bill and one line to buy a phone and get your contract. Ralf waited 20 minutes in line to buy a case for his phone. There was no key to open the cabinet, because the lady who deals with that cabinet was not working, on that day. Ralf wanted to buy a USB stick, he had to deal with another lady for that item. Fortunately she had a key for the other cabinet. A third lady dealt with Internet cards, which you have to buy before accessing the internet. The internet is available at the Telepunto office (and some hotels) and is expensive. I think I spent almost $85.00 to keep the blog updated in the three months we have been here.
• Restaurants – regardless of the standard of restaurant if you ordered the same food all the food came out together – appetizers, main meal or if you order different main dishes they often came out at different times – on several occasions Ralf had almost finished his meal before I got mine.
• Restaurants will substitute dessert if they don’t have the one you requested, without telling you!
• Banks – there are usually long line-ups for the banks. Again there is a procedure to go through. Line up outside to get in. Line up inside to get to one of the cashiers that have access to on-line banking. Line up to get the paperwork signed by another person, then go back to the cashier to get the money. However, we can access our account at the bank and withdraw money from the account and not use visa cash advance. In Havana there are ATM’s that Ralf has been using.
• Stores – come in many shapes and sizes. All of them sell rum (except the stores that sell kids stuff). Again you have to line up at each counter to get the items you want. If you want candies, there is a counter for that, if you want tuna there is a counter for that and if you want liquor or beer there is a counter for that.

We were told that there is a culture of theft. Things are stolen from hotels. We stayed at many casas where the crockery was stamped with Cubanacan Hotel logos or the towels had Iberostar on them. However, stealing from tourists (pick-pockets or muggings) very rarely happens, we never heard of one mugging while we were here. We felt safe wherever we walked, even down the back-alleys of Havana at night. However, the constant request for one dollar drove me crazy.

One of the things that did surprise us was the sex tourism trade. Lots of young girls selling their bodies to older men. We saw many lovely young girls walking down the street on the arm of an older man. They would sometimes be married and get all the stuff they wanted from their “sugar Daddy”. We were in a Casa in Las Tunas where an older Italian was staying with his young girlfriend, I was working on my blog on my Mac and she spotted the apple logo. “That is what I want, I want one of those lap tops”. The Italian came over and wrote down the name of the Macbook Air and smiled happily at his young girlfriend.

The noise in Cuba is constant. Whether it is the music, people shouting, loud conversation or general street life, it is a very noisy society. Maybe that is the Latin-American way, I am not sure.

The casa particulares that we stayed at varied in size and amenities. Most of them were nice serving good food, albeit very similar, and very nice people.

There is an emerging class system, in Cuba. There are some private businesses, the casa particuleres, taxis, small cafes and restaurant and the little hole in the wall pizza/sandwich places. These people do pay a “tax” on their income, but these are the only people who do pay taxes. They also have the ability to buy the extras, mobile phones, televisions, computers, some have cars, nice clothes etc.

Most of the people we spoke to regarding the renewed relations between the US and Cuba feel as if the goose has laid the golden egg. However, I am not sure what is going to happen to the country when they realize it is not necessarily the US blockade that has kept them poor, but their own government.

They want more, but don’t necessarily want to work hard for it. We watched Maria in Havana clean three rooms, it took 4 people six hours to clean the rooms. They said that they were exhausted because they had a very hard day. Ralf and I could have got these 3 rooms done in three hours and the bathrooms would have been shining, the floors would be gleaming there would be no dust on the side tables. It is all down to organization.

They have had 56 years of not having to work hard and still have housing, food and the necessities of life provided to them. There are going to be interesting changes over the next few years, some for the good others not so much.

The problem is not with the system it is with the nature of human beings. If I work hard I should get more. Why should I support the lazy bugger down the street, if he can’t or won’t work. Whether this attitude will come to Cuba will be interesting to see. It is prevalent in most developed countries. The “Me” society. I think it will come to Cuba, but how quickly will be the question.

In Havana and other major cities there is a lot of rebuilding. But I feel it is Cuba putting on a face. Look we have survived without the assistance of the mighty US, but look at this picture below. The top floor is only the façade the building was renovated at the bottom but not at the top. This is Cuba a façade. We have free education, medical, housing, food etc. we look after the poorest of the poor. The people cannot get any richer and people who work hard cannot move forward, unless they have an in with the government.

Everyone tells us Cuba will change, Cuba has to change.  Maybe when the Castros have gone, but they have their successors in place ready to keep the country as it is.