Sunday November 30, 2014

We were going to get an early start this morning and set the alarm for 6:30am, we woke up to rain on the windows again. We did what any sane cyclist would do and that is turn over and go back to sleep.

The next time we woke up it had stopped raining and we got up and got ready to leave the wonderful casa. By the time we were ready to leave the clouds had moved in again and Iliana (casa owner) said that the forecast today was for rain and overcast. As we left it started to drizzle, by the time we got to the outskirts of Holguin, it had started to rain quite heavily again. At 11 kms I was wondering why we had left a wonderful casa, with an amazing shower to cycle in the rain.

We continued to cycle in the rain for the majority of the ride, which was a shame because the route had stunning scenery, and rolling hills. I wish we could have got some photos, because it really was very beautiful.

One of the necessities of a touring cyclists life is finding a public washroom. New Zealand had the most, followed closely by Australia and France. Cuba doesn’t have any and even the ones in the restaurant often leave a lot to be desired. It is often best to have a “wild wee”. Now I wouldn’t usually mention such a personal thing on the blog but today’s “wild wee” was a momentous occasion. As I mentioned, it had been raining and even though it was wet it was still warm and humid therefore you still have to hydrate which equates to having to find a public washroom or a wild wee. We had been cycling on a relatively quiet road and I figured that with Ralf standing guard I could have a quick wild wee without anyone seeing me. This is when it became a momentous occasion, not for me or though it was very embarrassing, but for the recently arrived tourists. The flight weary tourists that had recently been picked up from Guardalavaca airport to take them to their 5 Star resort in Playa Pesquarea saw my little white bum. It wouldn’t have been so bad if it had only been one bus, but no five tour buses in quick succession, I had nowhere to hide, although I was behind a bush, buses and their passengers tend to be able to see over the small bush that I was behind. Bus drivers honked and tour guides waved.

As we came into Guardalavaca, we were trying to decide whether to stay in a hotel (all inclusive) or a casa. We were wet and it was still raining. We both knew we wanted a good hot shower and knew that we were guaranteed a good shower at a hotel. We cycled up to the hotel we had last stayed at when we were last in Cuba. We checked in and managed to get our bikes in the room. Our clothes are drying in the bathroom, hopefully they will be dry by the morning.

As I was registering, Ralf chatted to people outside, who had stopped to enquire about the loaded touring bikes. When I had got my bags and bike in the room, I chatted to people whileRalf got his stuff to the room – teamwork. Fortunately no-one we talked to were passengers on the tour buses that passed us.

Unfortunately, this is the first room we have stayed in, that is a smoking room. It stinks of cigarette smoke.

This hotel is an all-inclusive hotel, which means that we do not pay extra for food or drinks. It is a little more expensive than staying in a casa but sometimes it is worth spending a bit extra for a guaranteed hot shower.

We had a wander around the resort grounds trying to find the “library”. Usually this is a small area in the hotel where people who have read their holiday books and leave them for someone else to read. Unfortunately there were no English books to be had. I still have some books to reread on the computer.

After dinner we chatted to the group of cyclists from London, Ontario. They had bought their bikes and were cycling routes from the hotel. We were all concerned about what the weather was going to be like tomorrow. Ralf and I have a short ride to Banes (37kms), they wanted to do a 100 kms or more.

It was nice staying at the hotel, but it was very noisy and we both realized that we may have got past staying at an all-inclusive resort. Unless of course when we get back to Canada we both decided to work at something stressful and needed a week to totally unwind and not have to think about anything other than whether we should have another pina colada or not. I don’t think that is going to happen – working at something stressful that is.