Sunday November 9, 2014

Last night at the Casa we spent an evening chatting to two Belgian touring cyclists. They have cycled in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and China. It was interesting to talk to them about their experiences, although each of their trips were limited to 3 weeks vacation time. They did enjoy Asia and highly recommend cycling there sooner rather than later, as things are changing. However, he tried to explain that Asians looked at them as having a ‘backpack’ full of money! We told him that the Cuban version was ‘walking dollars’. He had considered doing something like we are doing, but he said he thinks that 3 weeks cycling at any one time is enough for him.

They also explained that they could not give up everything because in Belgium if an older parent gets sick and needs to go into a nursing home, they have to use their savings first and then the government will go to the children for the money to pay for the nursing home. They need their house and retirement savings, just in case. Also they have children and a grandchild and could not consider leaving them behind for two years.

They are cycling 100 kms a day and did the Pinar Del Rio region in one week, whereas we did it in two weeks. He said that he doesn’t see Cuba as a poor country. We told him things have changed a lot in the last three years, but the people are no longer as poor as they would like you to think.

They had left by the time we got up this morning. We had a great breakfast, the best one yet. Good eggs, bread, fruit, cheese and ham and really good coffee.

We set of at 8:30 and headed towards the carrerta and Matanzas.

On the way to Matanzas we passed three young boys on fixed gear bikes, feet off the pedals, tucked over their handlebars, flying down a hill. As we passed them I shouted to the lead boy the speed we were going (31.4 kms) and tapped my Garmin. After that the race was on, he passed us going up a hill and we caught up to him taking a break in a bus stop, waiting for his friends. He was a very strong cyclist. Ralf stopped to take a photo and they passed us. We passed the three of them again. Again I shouted the speed we were going to the last boy (28.8 kms). He tried to keep up with us and managed to pass us going down another hill. He constantly checked his shoulder to see where we were and then we passed him again. When we came down the final hill into Matanzas the lead boy was waiting for his friends, who were not far behind us, and I shouted to him that it was a good ride, he smiled back and waved to us. As I was talking to Ralf later on, he had no idea there had been a “race”.

We had a recommendation from the InfoTur office in Pinar Del Rio for a casa in Matanzas. We made really good time and were in Matanzas for about 10:45. A young guy showed us where the casa was unfortunately it was full. The casa owner offered us a coffee and was going to call another casa for us. Ralf and I were feeling good, the legs were strong so we decided to push on to Varadero – another 35 kms.

After Matanzas the road was fairly flat. It followed the coast for a while and then cut inland a little bit. We had a great tail wind and I was spinning quite comfortably at 32 kph.

After we had passed the airport for Varadero/Matanzas, I asked Ralf to take a photo of the scenery. If you are a tourist arriving from Canada on the tour bus, all you see is this scenery instead of some of the beautiful hills and valleys that we have been experiencing in the past two weeks.

We arrived in Varadero just after 1:00pm.   Varadero is a peninsula for beaches and hotels. We knew that there were casas available in Varadero and thought they might be a bit more expensive as it is a major tourist area. The first one I looked at was very nice but it cost CUC 35 per night – 10 CUCs more than Havana. We carried on towards the hotel we stayed at when we were last in Varadero about 8 years ago and I noticed a sign for Casas. We cycled down the short street towards the beach and there were about 5 casas. Mario stepped out of his car and asked if we were looking for a casa. His is on the beach and he charges 25CUC. He doesn’t provide food, because there is a little cafeteria on the corner where you can get good breakfasts. We are staying on the same street as the Canadian Consular!

We settled in to the casa and had a good hot shower, with mixer taps, no electrical wire running into the showerhead! We went for a short walk up the main street of Varadero. Very touristy, with markets that sell a lot of tat.

We are in an area of Varadero that caters for the Cuban tourist on holiday. Another change, eight years ago Cubans were not allowed to have a vacation in Varadero, it was strictly for foreigners – a “Special Area”. We had a nice meal at a Cuban restaurant up the street from the Casa. We had assumed we would get the same portions as in the casas in the rural area. We asked for one half-roast chicken and then rice and salad for two. We could have eaten a full portion each. We will know better for tomorrow.

We spent the rest of the evening watching TV – the weather channel – Wanda’s favorite channel.