Monday November 3, 2014

We had a lovely breakfast at the casa and left at around 8:30 and headed out on the Central Carrereta to Pinar del Rio. Ralf stopped about 10kms out of Isabel Rubio to check we were on the right road. He had expected the Carrerata to be a major highway – No, it was a two-lane road with a little better road construction than the other roads we have been on. The road map book we have been following stated that the central highway “considered one of the wonders of Cuban civil engineering”. Its construction began in May 1927 and ended in February 1931 – we are not sure that much has been done to it since then! That is rather harsh, but there were times today when we wondered if there had been any renovations done to the road surface since 1931. Today was the first time in a long time that we had a headwind and it was a brutal one at that. I guess we will just have to accept this wind for a few more days until we get up to Matanzas, then I think we should get a bit of tail wind or at the very least a cross wind from the Ocean.

We arrived in the very large city of Pinar del Rio. It is big and busy. We found the Casa after a few wrong turns and even then we weren’t sure we were at the right place until the owner called Carmen and confirmed we were in the right Casa. We didn’t want to stay at a casa that we hadn’t reserved, while the casa we had reserved was waiting for us.

After settling in we went to the TelepunktOffice and I waited in line to get inside the Telepunkt office. There seemed to be a bit of jostling around where people jumped the line and told the people in line that all they wanted to do was ask the “guard” at the door a question. They then seemed to jump the queue completely and manage to get inside the building and have to wait again to get served. However, they were inside the building and getting service quicker than the rest of us outside waiting in a version of a queue. Well, I pushed myself to the front and asked the “guard” if I could get internet here. Yes and she let me in the building! When in Cuba! I then waited inside and the “guard” came up to me directed me to the correct line up and told the lady that I was next. To access the internet in Cuba (other than in a hotel) you buy a card and then use one of their computers to access the internet, ensuring access control by the government.

The “guard” is basically a security guard/door person who allows a certain amount of people into the office, bank, or building at any one time.

We had a wander along the main street, it is a long street with lots of commercial stores. Not like any major shopping area such as Toronto, New York or London. However, Pinar del Rio is a major commercial centre for the region.

As such it was a good place to people watch and they of course they watched back. I heard one girl comment on my shoes, she looked at my Keene sandals in horror. How could she be so cruel about my wonderful comfy sandals!!

We stopped at the InfoTour Office to get another map of Pinal del Rio, so that we could find our way out of the City tomorrow. He asked where we were from and was very amused that we were Canadians travelling independently. He kept telling us that we should be in Varadero as all the Canadians love Varadero and the beach – they never see the rest of the country. We took his teasing half-heartedly knowing he was right. We have been asked many times if we are German, as they seem to be the ones that travel independently most often.

When we got back to the Casa we had a lovely dinner of fish, rice and black beans.

We also discovered that there are four generations living in this Casa. We met the grandmother who was 97 years old and very much all there, she chatted to us and spoke to us slowly so that I could understand a little of what she was saying. Ralf was stroking her dog (Lolita) and she was talking about her dog. I wish my Spanish was better so that I could have asked her how many changes she had seen in Cuba and how her life had changed. According to her grandson she has had a good life. Her life before the revolution was well-off they owned lands in the Province and always had enough to eat. After the revolution she was still looked after. Now she is well looked after because of the socialist systemand because she lives with her family.

Casa’s and Cuban Roads

October 25 to October 31, 2014

Cuba slows you down from the moment you arrive at the airport to cycling on Cuban roads.

When you arrive at the airport in Cuba you wait to go through passport control, then you wait to go through the same luggage check you would normally go through when leaving a country (x-ray your onboard baggage), then you wait for your luggage, then you wait for a cart. Once clear of all that you push your way through a myriad of people waiting for people arriving. We found our taxi driver who told us where to get our money exchanged to Cuban pesos. Ralf waited in-line to do that. If you get upset about any of these procedures you are in the wrong country.

We arrived at our Casa late due to the late departure of our plane from Spain and all the various procedures at the airport. Maria (casa owner) was concerned that we were not going to show.

Our route this week has taken us away from the busy city of Havana, that either looks like a building site or looks like a ruin depending on your perspective, to the rural countryside of Pinar del Rio Province.

We made one mistake coming out of Havana which had us adding about 15 kms to the first day and adding a lot of hills. However, the scenery was stunning and it got better as the week progressed.

Casa Particulares are Cuban’s equivalent to bed and breakfasts, although breakfast is always an extra price.

They range from old colonial houses in Havana where the stable area has been converted to two bedrooms with private bathrooms to one room in the basement with private bathrooms. Most of them have hot water that is heated via an electrical line through the shower head! Some casas also offer evening meals, usually very simple food but good and tasty.

We decided that we would stay in Casas as often as possible as they are reasonably priced and we can get a good breakfast. Cubans are very house proud. They may not have very much but what they have is kept clean, even the street is swept outside of the house.

We have not prearranged casas to stay at other than the first one in Havana and this one in Vinales. It is so much more interesting to go with what ever turns up and it has been interesting. Our first casa was in an old colonial house in Havana and very nice. The second casa was in a small bungalow but it may have been a brothel at one point as their was a mirror on the ceiling and red lamps on the walls and condoms on the side table! The fourth casa had a pig in a sty in the garage. The casa in Vinales is a small room in the back of the house separated from the main house by an outdoor patio where we eat. The family are very friendly and want to feed us all the time. After our first few meals at Casas we told this family that one plate of rice was enough for two they were horrified – they feed their guests until they burst.

Cuban roads need to be seen to be believed. There are two major highwaysin Cuba that run from west to east – the A4 and the A1. There are three highways that run west to east carretacentral (CC), carretanorth (CN) and the carreta south (CS). Cyclists are permitted on all of these roads, although some sections of the A4 and A1 they are prohibited. These roads are two, three or six lane highways with a very large shoulder so that the horse and carts and other farm vehicles can use them. Typically these roads are the more direct route and have higher speed limits. They are also the most boring, out-skirting villages and towns. We have chosen to use the other roads, what would be referred to as B roads in most other countries.

The other roads are a sight to behold, two lanes for the most part and the road can deteriorate in a blink of an eye. They go from a good paved road to rough paved road to gravel and back again in the space of less than a kilometer. All vehicles use both sides of the road depending on which side is better paved and has less potholes. If a vehicle is on your side of the road because of the potholes, he generally gives you a warning toot on his horn and then slowly moves back to his side of the road. The same when vehicles are coming up behind us and we are in the middle of the road to avoid the deteriorating edge of the road, a friendly toot on his horn, which gives us the time to move over. We also discovered another hazard to avoid in the Vinales/Pinar del Rio area – drying rice. We cycled along one road where it looked as they were filling the potholes with gravel. The gravel turned out to be rice that they were laying out on the road to dry. I told Ralf if he found a hard bit of rice in his black bean and rice it was probably not undercooked rice but a bit of asphalt.

This part of the country grows rice, sugar cane and bananas and is very proud of their dairy production. Although it would appear the cows are free-range, they just wander all over the road.

We think we put on an extra 5 kms every day zigzagging across the road to avoid the potholes.

On one section of the road this week, the road deteriorated so badly and it was going up a steep hill both of us had to get off to push the bikes over the potholes. In this area of Cuba there are some great hills, however, you don’t get the reward of zooming down the other side because you have no idea what the road is going to be like.

Cuba slows you down, for a number of reasons. First because of the roads, you cannot go fast, secondly because the heat and humidity and thirdly because it is Cuba and nothing gets done quickly.

Cuba also slowed us down yesterday because Ralf was sick – street food didn’t agree with him and I woke up with a migraine today. It was going to be a rest day but it has been an enforced rest day.

On Saturday I was able to check email but not update the blog, as we were at a Casa. The connection was via telephone modem, remember the days, we used to call it dial-up!! Cuba slows you down.