Friday November 28, 2014

What a great nights sleep. We woke up to the pattering of rain on the windows and outside patio. We turned over and went back to sleep for another hour. We had our breakfast cereal this morning and it made a nice change. We waited until it stopped raining and then we went out to update the Blog and have a little wander around. Today was a very relaxing day, nothing to do and not much to see.

Ralf’s merino wool cycling jerseys are giving up the ghost. My red one disintegrated in Spain. I bought a replacement top in Spain, which is for running (no pockets in the back) I have been wearing it every day and rinsing out at the casas. It has worked well for me. We spotted an Adidas store and popped in to see if we could get Ralf a replacement top. We bought him a high-vis (interpret that to read bright yellow) top, which is supposed to have sweat wicking capabilities. My new top cost EU 15, Ralf’s cost $21.00, bargain for both of them.

More importantly we found some WD40!!! I have been using the good oil for the chain, but for the pedals and other moving parts it is good to have some other oil and spotting WD40 was almost as exciting as having the awesome shower yesterday.

One of the things we still cannot get used to is the appalling service in Cuba. There are times when we just shake our heads and suck it up. We have been using some electrolyte powder called Turbo, but you cannot always find it in the stores. Today we spotted it in a store and we lined up to get it. Then something went wrong at the cash, the only person on the cash started checking on the box of cookies. She checked every package in the box, checking them against the sheet of paper she had. In the meantime the line-up got longer (I was third in line), she totally ignored the line-up and continued with checking the cookies. We hadn’t seen the Turbo for a couple of days and had run out, we knew from past experience in Cuba when you spot something you need to line-up and get it. Eventually after about 15 minutes another woman arrived and took over the cash and started to deal with the now diminished line up because other people had returned their purchases to the shelves and left. I stuck it out to the end and bought every single package of Turbo they had (40 packages) – it should last us until we leave.

Then we went into the next grocery store and there Turbo was again, then the next grocery store and there it was again. Ralf figures the word had gone around that there was 2 crazy Canadians buying up the Turbo and better get it out on the shelves.

Our evening meal was at a nice looking Cuban restaurant and was quite busy, always a good sign. Unfortunately, the service left a lot to be desired and we had to send the rice and the plantain fritasback as they were cold. There was no “I am sorry”, just a sigh and back to the kitchen. O.k. we only spent the equivalent of $4.50 for 2 porkescalope’s, rice, tomato salad, fried plantains, one glass of wine and a pina colada, plus a bit of aluminum foil in Ralf’s pina colada (that was free).

We met a Canadian cyclist today in a cafeteria. He has cycled in Cuba but always staying at a resort and doing day trips around the resort. We told him about our ride around Cuba. He would like to do some touring cycling and asked us a lot of questions about our bikes, equipment etc. His only issue is finding someone to do it with, he is a social guy and needs company. We told him about warmshowers, maybe he will get inspiration from visiting cyclists.

Although Holguin is not as pretty as other cities, we have decided to stay an extra day. Tomorrow we will go up to the top of the “Loma de Cruz” – Hill of the Cross, you can get a great view of the city from there, we will have another relaxing day and then head out to the coast again and towards Baracoa.