Thursday December 11, 2014

We said we weren’t going to take public transport or cheat on this leg of the trip, unless it was an emergency. We took a taxi to Santiago de Cuba today not that it was an emergency in the medical sense but more me saying get me to Santiago so that we can have a weeks rest. It was going to be an 88 km ride as there was nowhere to stay in between that we could have broken it into two shorter days.

I woke up at 5:00 am with a very upset stomach. We could have stayed another day in Guantanamo to let it settle down, but I really want to be able to have a week of in one go not keep taking these odd extra days because I am not feeling 100%. Give me a solid week to recover and I will be fine.

“Ralf’s sums it up this way” – What has happened here is that we have had several hard riding days, 70+ks per day in a mountainous region. Where at 0930 the temperature was 28 plus degrees, and by the time you are done at 1300 hours it hit 31 to 34 degrees. Add to that sleeping in small, cramped, humid rooms with AC that sounds like a C-147 and fans that don’t always work. Yes we had a few days off, but, when you consider the distance, terrain, temperature, lack of sleep and food that is sometimes prepared in questionable kitchens or is deep-fried! You are going to run into problems, i.e. heat exhaustion, sleep depravation and possibly food poisoning. That said they were good rides.

I sat down to my breakfast and could barely face it, Ralf suggested we stay another night I suggested we needed to get to the hotel so that we could have a full week off. He asked Lisette the casa owner if she could arrange a taxi to get us to Santiago de Cuba. The first truck to arrive outside of the door fortunately was not our taxi.

An hour later our taxi arrived in all of its 1960’s glory. We loaded the bikes, the bags and me in the back, Ralf joined the two drivers in the front and of we went.

The route was rolling hills and on the carrereta which was once again a variable road surface. We arrived in Santiago de Cuba at 9:30 and settled into the casa that Lisette had recommended. We asked the casa owner which was the best route to take out of Santiago and she indicated there were more casas along the coast than along the carrereta in this area. Most people who go from Santiago to Bayamo do it by car in one day (150 kms), there is no need for casas along that route. The stretch along the coast has more casas, because people driving stay in different places along the route.

I was quite pleased about that as that is the route I wanted to take, along another coastal road. Also the hotel that I wanted to stay at for the week off is along that road and therefore it wouldn’t be on our way. If she had suggested the other route was better we would have stayed at a different hotel closer to the city. It would have been a 40 km ride out to the hotel and then coming back through the city before heading out to Bayamo.

After Ralf and I agreed on the route, I had an extra hours sleep, then we headed to the tour office to book the hotel. Dalia the tour rep was very nice and got us a discounted price for the hotel. She did mention a couple of times that she had got us a good deal, it actually worked out to be about CUC 14 cheaper than what we were quoted in Guantanamo. She gave us the final price and jokingly said tip not included. Over the last few weeks we have noticed that no one can make change, sometimes they have to go to a restaurant next door or down the street to make change on a 10 CUC note. I counted out the notes for our hotel and rounded up the price and said tip included. She looked at me and laughed. Then she realized we were serious and an even bigger smile. For us it wasn’t worth the hassle of her having to go down the street to make change. However, I don’t think I have ever tipped a travel agent before.

We had a wander around the streets of Santiago de Cuba which is a very large city. It has a huge Spanish influence and some of the buildings reflect that heritage.

Unfortunately it was hit by a hurricane two years ago. They are working very hard to rebuild the city and they seem to be doing a very good job. The church is being repainted inside and out, other buildings are being worked on. It seems as if they are starting at the central square and working their way outwards.

A speaker system in the street has a repeating message telling the citizens what is being worked on and when it will be done, to reassure the citizens that things are being done. Ralf said it reminded him of a documentary he had seen about China where all the Chinese were milling about the streets and propaganda was being addressed to them through loud speakers.

Tomorrows ride is about 70 kms to the hotel and from what I can remember it will be rolling hills and coastline. Of course we have to find our way out of this big sprawling city first.

I am really looking forward to having a week relaxing. I remember this hotel as having good food, hopefully it is still as good. In most resorts there is a buffet style restaurant and then a couple of other restaurants – Cuban, Italian etc. I can’t remember what Brisas had but at least at the buffet I can opt for the non-fried food option.

Ralf spotted a Cuban recipe book today, 99 specialty recipes, How come we are only getting 3 options – over-cooked pork steak (track-pad), fried chicken and fish? I did say we have had pork two different ways – fried or grilled and the fish has come in a variety of ways. In Baracoa we actually had it in coconut milk (almost Thai style).

After dinner (fish) we chatted to another touring cyclist from Germany. He has a month here and has 12 days left, but is a little concerned as he cannot get money from his bank account – his budget is now at CUC 27 per day – a casa usually is CUC 25.

Wednesday December 10, 2014

Another rest day already. Tomorrow may be another long days ride into Santiago de Cuba. It is 88 kms from here and might be a hilly ride. Because I haven’t been feeling 100% Ralf wants to make sure I don’t wear myself out doing two long hard days. I am fine with that, we have plenty of time.

This morning the power went off in our part of the City, which includes the internet office, Augustin might be out of luck in connecting to the internet today, but if we give him the card he can use it when he wants to. We went to the tour office to see if we could book our week of, but we are not sure if it will take us one day or two days to get to Santiago de Cuba and another day to get to the hotels which are all outside of the city on the coast. We will book the hotel in Santiago de Cuba when we get there.

Augustin was late for our meeting, (Cuban time) and we were heading back to the casa. My tummy has been a little off for a few days, I needed to be inside for a while. Augustin appeared as we were about a block away from the casa, I excused myself and Ralf stayed with Augustin.

We are eating in the casa tonight as we might have the long ride tomorrow and will need an early night.

Tuesday December 9, 2014

We have now been cycling for one year. We left Auckland for Opere Point and encountered some steep hills. I don’t think we have had any hills to compare to the Coromandel in New Zealand. We are both stronger, fitter and much skinnier than when we started a year ago. I am still not sure I could cycle up some of the hills in the Coromandel even now with our improved fitness.

After one year on the road we are ready for a weeks holiday, and we will book that in Santiago de Cuba.

Todays ride was a good ride but very long. We were up and out of the Casa by 7:30 pm to try and beat the heat of the day. As we left the casa so early, it was a little cool, but the sun soon came over the mountain range and it got hot quite quickly. The first part of the ride was along the coast and it was nice to have the slight tail wind pushing us along. We had to head north and over a couple of small ridges to get to Guantanamo City. Of course heading north meant we were heading into the wind again, so much for tail winds all the way to Havana. The hills were easily manageable taken at a steady pace. Ralf at one point asked where I was trying to keep my heart rate – I laughed I was just trying to get over the hill not trying to keep my heart rate low!

After we had crossed the ridges it was primarily a flat road into Guantanamo City, in shade trees.

We had to head north to get around the Guantanamo Bay, which is where the US Naval base is. Along that section of road, we couldn’t take photographs as there are military training bases and gun ranges. Ralf spotted 9 tanks and was hoping that they would be firing the guns, but they didn’t.

We got to one high point and could just about pick out the US Naval Base. There was a road to the right which took you up to the high point where you could definitely view the base. We looked at each other and the steep road up and decided we could see what we needed to see from this point.

We were stopped about 10 kms out of the city by a lady who had a casa in Guantanamo she gave us her card and when we got into the outskirts of the city we checked it out on the map and decided to take a look at it.

The casa is very nice and central. Once again we got settled in and had a wander around the downtown core. We saw a very large lady, with an interesting place to keep her cell phone – safely wedged in between her ample bosom, (photo unavailable).

Guantanamo is a very nice city with a big central square and two pedestrianized streets running down either side of the square.

At one point we stopped to look at the map and a skinny black man with dreadlocks came up to us to see if we needed help. We told him we were looking for a bank, but we had asked at the hotel and they were all closed at 3:00 and we didn’t need any help, thank-you. Augustin said No, he knew of a bank that would be open until 7:00pm, “I will take you”. Now, anywhere else we might consider twice about being guided to a bank by a skinny Rastafarian. We chatted as we walked to the bank, and when he pointed at the bank and we were crossing the street, Augustin waved at us and turned around leaving us to go into the bank. He was nowhere to be seen when we came out.

Later that evening, after we had a lovely dinner we were wandering back to the casa I hear my name being shouted – Augustin was there again. We decided to have a ‘nightcap’ and treated him to a drink as well. He never once asked for money, drinks or anything. We chatted to him for about an hour and arranged to meet tomorrow. He wants to show us photos of his friend in Austria and may be get connected to the internet. Again he hasn’t asked us to buy him an internet card, but he is such a nice fella, we will give him one of our cards.

Monday December 8, 2014

I had a really good nights sleep and woke up feeling much better. Ready for the hills that I knew we were going to climb today. I was hoping for a good road, and climbing the first half of the ride and downhill for the second half of the ride.

That is almost how it worked out. The first 10 kms were through the valley out of Baracoa and then we started to climb. The road sign indicated 30 kms winding uphill roads. That is precisely what it was. Once we had hit the high of 551 metres, we started to descend, fairly gradually for the next 15 kms and our final 10 kms were along the coastal road with a slight tail wind.

We are back on the Central Carrereta and was expecting it to be as good or as bad as we have experienced before. It was an excellent road until the last 10 kms even then it was only a little rough in places. We are now on the southern coast of Cuba and should have tail winds all the way to Havana! (lol)

The scenery was stunning today. We stopped several times to take photos and almost every time there were people waiting to sell us stuff, bananas, mandarins, cones of guava and coconut. We stopped at one stop where the buses stop at the top of the hill and at view pointwhere there was a little café. Ralf and I both needed a cold drink but all they had was beer and of course rum, no pop or cold water.

Today we were often asked for soap, pens and cream,I was asked if I had any lipstick. The only thing that would pass for lipstick is my lip-balm with SPF15, I don’t even have any mascara.

At one very picturesque stop Ralf was taking photos and I was surrounded by people offering me coffee, coco, chocolate, mandarins, etc. I really wanted some mandarins, but they were in long bunches, I explained that my bike was very heavy and I couldn’t carry anything else. One fella hooked the mandarins onto my handle bars like strings of onions. I said I only needed four, miraculously he appeared with a smaller string of mandarins and we bought them for 1 peso.

It was a great ride today, very hilly -999 metres up – 959 down, but beautiful scenery.

Our casa host this morning had told us there wasn’t any casas in Imias, but there were two camp sites – one before Imias and one after. We passed the turn-off for the campsite before Imias and carried on to Imias. We stopped at the bus terminal and asked if there were any casa particulars, the answer was no, but maybe Ronaldo had a room to rent. Ronaldo did have a room to rent, which he is hoping to turn into a casa particular. It is very basic, but we had a lovely meal and a chat with him about his dreams for the casa. The only problem is that he has to do everything in small bits. When the supplies are available, and when he gets more money that is when he can do the next thing.

He has a son that is going to University next year to be a doctor. “Thanks to god and Fidel I don’t have to pay for his education”. He didn’t want to talk politics, but we agreed that a little of both systems (socialism and capitalism) would work better for everyone.

Sunday December 7, 2014

I woke up today with a slight fever. Our casa host gave me some paracetamol and I slept for a good portion of the day. I want to feelbetter tomorrow as we have some hills to climb and I need my strength. Although I have enjoyed Baracoa, I don’t really want to spend another day here, because I am looking forward to the week off the bike which will be next week in Santiago de Cuba.

I felt a little better in the afternoon and read one of the books we got from the casa in Banes.

I didn’t feel like eating much today, but knew I had to get some food inside me. We went out for lunch and then I came back to the casa again and slept some more.

Ralf went up to the expensive hotel for a wander around. He met two Cuban fellas who spoke very good German – Ralf is asked all the time if he is German, I guess his facial features give him away. He chatted to the guys for a while and asked them where they learnt their German. They learnt their German in the DDR, they were working their for 4 years, unfortunately half-way through their work they came back to Cuba for a visit and then the wall came down and they could not go back. They said a lot of things changed in Cuba when there was no more support from Russia.

I woke up again later in the afternoon and felt a little better. Ralf had gone to the pharmacy and got some moreparacetamol for me, it seemed to do the trick.

We went out for dinner and had a good plate of spaghetti.

Saturday December 6, 2014

A late breakfast and a relaxing day to celebrate one year on the road. Well technically not on the road, we started cycling in New Zealand on December 9, 2014. We left Canada one year ago.

Breakfast consisted of a cup of hot chocolate, Cuban coffee, omellette and cheese, good bread, banana, papaya and freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, really good.

I was going to clean the bikes today and update the blog, but decided that I would wander the town today and clean the bikes tomorrow. Everything will be closed tomorrow, so it made sense to me to investigate the Town today with Ralf. There is a hotel in Town where we can use their wi-fi (not free) but I can update the blog tomorrow.

The downtown of Baracoa is very nice with parks and pedestrian area.

We needed to buy some water, and had to leave the tourist area to find the “real” shops. There is still a shortage of items in Cuba. Actually we are not sure if the items are in short supply or if it is the distribution system that isn’t working. Today we couldn’t find any bottles of water, we may have to resort to tap water with a purification tablet in the bottles. We have never had a problem with the water in Cuba on our other visits, but this time people have been telling us to buy bottled water. To be on the safe side we will use the purification tablets.

On the other hand we needed some Advil (Ibruprofen). I had bought some in Spain and still had the package. I was able to go into a Farmicia and ask if I was allowed to buy some Ibruprofen or was it only for Cubans. Not a problem a package of 40 tablets (400 mg) for 3 pesos – that amounts to less than 12 cents.

We walked along the boardwalk and back into the main area.

Apparently Christopher Columbus landed here and said it was one of the most beautiful places he had seen in the West Indies.

There was no description about this rusting hulk.

I had to laugh at this sign, I thought at first it was a casa particular but this place specializes in hot dogs!– direct translation is dog hot.

What\’s for dinner tonight, pork or pizza?

The casa we are staying in has 3 floors, and the top floor has great views of the area.

Friday December 5, 2014

Moa is a large city with a university and hospital. It also has a large nickel industry. As we left heading towards Baracoa, we saw the industry in all of its glory!

The road was good for about 10kms until we passed the last factory and then it started to get a little rough. Nothing too bad, it wasn’t a busy road and we could use both sides as we needed to avoid the potholes or rough surface.

There were three major hills coming out of Moa, all of the road surfaces were rough, which made it very difficult on the 11% grade. Both of us had to walk part of the hill because of the rough road surface. On the last hill Ralf was waiting for me, he was calm and said this is what this ride is all about.

R:        Listen to the wind in the trees

J:         All I can hear is the blood pounding in my ears

R:        Feel the silence

J:         I can only feel my heart about to leap out of my chest

R:        Hear the trickling stream coming down the mountain

J:         That is the noise of the sweat falling of the end of my nose

Ralf looked at me and we were both laughing. We carried on down the hill laughing. I am glad we cycled today, it was a lovely route. A hilly ride, we ascended 748 metres and descended 740 metres. For every hill we climbed we came down the other side with no elevation gain at all by the end of the day. The road wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. Probably because it wasn’t raining.

As we came through the National Park, the road went from bad to worse, but because it was dry we were able to cycle very well up and down the hills.

We came into one village area in the middle of nowhere where there were street vendors. We had hoped we could pick up some bananas which we did but we also bought this cone, which contained a mix of coconut, sugar and guava fruit.

High sugar content but it kept us going for a while. We also bought the Cuban version of a Florentine. Again lots of cane sugar and almonds and nuts, really sweet.

As we approached Baracoa, about 15 kms out it started to rain. We sheltered on a bridge, under a tree for a while. People were in the river doing their washing and shouted to us to come and stay dry under the bridge. We knew we would not be able to get the loaded touring bikes down the grassy bank or back up again so we stayed put.

About 5 kms outside of Baracoa I could smell chocolate, we were passing a chocolate factory. Apparently Baracoa is the Chocolate capital of Cuba – why are they not capitalizing on the fact that everyone loves chocolate and doing tours of the factory. In the Town there are a couple of Cafés de Cacao, where you can even get a Mohito with chocolate in it! We decided to have our dessert at one of them which was chocolate milk and chocolate ice-cream.

When we came into Baracoa, we wondered what all the fuss was about. It looked like many of the small towns in Cuba, run-down. However, once again we came into the historic centre and it is very nice. I went into the InfoTur office to find out where the Casa was we had been referred to by Jorge in Camaguey. There are hundreds of casas in Baracoa, I wonder how they all make a living. There are also 4 economy hotels with prices ranging from CUC 30 to 40.

After dinner and our lovely dessert at the Café de Cacao we wandered around the downtown. We got the usual requests for money, where are you from? Etc. However, this time even the dogs recognized we were tourists. This little perro sniffed my leg and then proceeded to follow us around the town and back to our casa. Anytime another dog approached us this little perro growled and chased it of, we were his tourists and hopefully he would get some food from us. He didn’t as we had already eaten, but he was a very cheerful little dog with his tail wagging all the time.

This is our rest day stop over before we climb more hills towards Guantanomo and Santiago de Cuba on Monday. Two days to Guantanomo and another two days to Santiago, where we will have our week off the bikes.

Thursday December 4, 2014

We left Sagua at 8:15 and it took us 30 minutes to “cycle” 2.5 kms. That is because the road was washed out and was literally one big pothole. We had to keep getting of and pushing the bikes through mud and around puddles and potholes.

Eventually we were able to connect to the main road to Moa and it was a good road all the way.

Again some beautiful scenery, but quite different from other areas in Cuba that we have cycled through already. The other areas we have cycled through have been sub-tropical with palms and banana plantations. As we climbed the hills today, we came into an area of conifers and rocky outcroppings.

As we topped one small hill there was a man at the top with bunches of bananas. He held out two ripe ones which we ate very quickly. Ralf offered to buy four more from him, at first he wasn’t going to take any money, then Ralf gave him a peso and he was quite happy with that.

We arrived in Moa at about 11:00 and went straight to the hotel. Unfortunately it was fully booked with two tour buses. I asked about a casa and the receptionist directed me down the hill into the Town.

As we arrived in the centre of the Town a fella in a pick-up truck shouted to us and asked if we wanted to go to Baracoa. I laughed and said we were going tomorrow. He offered to take us. I was tempted for about 2 minutes, I really want to ride all of Cuba and only have to take transportation if we really really have to.

He took us to a casa he knew and we have settled in to a very nice casa. It has a lovely restaurant behind where we had lunch, the full meal deal – pork steak with rice and salad and 2 beers (CUC 8.00). The pork steak was really tender and tasty.

Unfortunately the power was out in Moa for about 2 hours. We went up to the store to buy some water, but Ralf was getting impatient with the service so we left and wandered up to the internet office. Three computers and we were next in line. We sat down to wait on a nice leather sofa. The people waiting to pay their bills or recharge their phones were sitting on red plastic chairs. A woman came up to us and babbled away about us sitting on the sofa. I waved my internet card at her and told her in English I was next in-line. She glared at me but I just shrugged and waved my internet card at her again.

After I had checked my email, and we were leaving we noticed that the black leather sofa had been removed from the room. I guess she really didn’t want anyone sitting on the nice leather sofa.

Thank you everyone for all your lovely birthday messages. I didn’t get a present from Ralf, there isn’t much to buy in Cuba, I don’t need anything and I don’t want to carry any more stuff. However, he did make my day special as he always does.

Wednesday December 3, 2014

No rain as we left Mayari, but Lidia said it was forecast for more rain. The route today was beautiful. Of course stunning scenery also means hills, I am not quite sure why that happens but it does.

It was a hilly ride. We spotted a lone touring cyclists coming down the hill. We chatted to her for a short while. She is actually with a group of German cyclists that is part of an organized tour and supported by a bus. We saw the rest of the group a little later on. She confirmed that the Moa to Baracoa road is rough, she said about 30 kilometres was good the rest was very hard. She mentioned that you had to have your brakes on going downhill, because of the rough road and potholes.

We avoided the rain today, although it had rained in Sagau de Tanamo prior to us arriving, the roads were still wet and dirty. The bikes got a bit dirty, but I will give them a good clean again in Baracoa when we have our next rest days. Moa to Baracoa is going to be a tough ride, both in distance, hills and in road surface. We wanted to split the 92 kilometres from Mayari to Moa into two days. Sagua is not quite the mid-point but it is the only place with a casa between Mayari and Moa. We organized our stuff and headed out for our usual exploratory walk into town and to get some lunch.

We have a lovely view from the casa, if only we could cut a few branches of the tree that is blocking the spectacular view of the valley and hills surrounding the Town. The casa has three floors with three generations living in it.We are on the top floor, with 3 rooms to rent and one large sitting area.

Sagua is a sorry looking town. A couple of stores, but the majority of the stores are the older government stores that provide the basics for the population. These are warehouse style buildings which provide household goods and food stuffs.

I went into the Telephone office hoping to check my email. No internet service at all in Sagua.

The power went of at 4:30 pm. It was back on pretty quickly about 30 minutes I think.

We ate in the casa tonight a typical Cuban meal of rice and chicken, lots of food but that is fine we were both hungry.

After dinner we were sitting reading in the living room when the casa owner came up and said one of the other rooms had been rented and did we mind. We realized by the way she asked that this was an “hourly” rental not tourists looking to stay the night. She seemed quite embarrassed by the whole situation, we pretended not to know what she was talking about and said it would be no problem.

Tomorrow will be a short ride.

Tuesday December 2, 2014

I woke up this morning to the sounds of my wonderful hubby singing Happy Birthday to me.

It’s my birthday today and I am determined to enjoy it.

We had breakfast at the casa and Eduardo (casa owner) gave me half a pound of Cuban coffee for a gift. Ralf has to carry it, as I have no room in the kitchen pannier to carry it and he hasn’t been carrying any food since we have been here.

We were on the road by 8:00 am, although we had a bit of a headwind to start the ride, the sun was out and it looked as though it was going to be a good days ride. We made the left turn out of Banes and the head wind turned to be a side wind with a tendency to come slightly from behind. Not a full tail wind, but neither a full side wind blowing us across the road.

The first 10 to 15 kms was a relatively good paved road, then it began to go pear-shaped or what could be described as a very bad road. I would say it was worse than the Forgotten Highway (gravel section) but not as bad as the Rimutaki Trail, due to the fact that the road was not hilly and we didn’t have to get of the bikes to push up a 15% grade as we had to on the Rimutaki Trail.

Just as we were both beginning to get fed up with the road, it became paved again and we were able to pick up speed. The last 20 kms were on a very nice paved road and rolling hills.

As I said I was determined to enjoy my day even when a Tourist car passed me and splashed the contents of a puddle over me. I did say some bad words to him and at one point because of the deteriorating road surface I could have caught up with him and smacked him up the side the head, I carried on with my ride and cursed him and hoped his wheels would fall of the car in the next pothole. Unfortunately that didn’t happen as we didn’t come across him again.

We did however, come across a cattle drive. Two men on horses directing about a dozen cows with two very disinterested dogs.

Our last turn today took us straight into the head wind. I think I might have mentioned once or twice before that I hate head winds. Usually Ralf and I take it in turns to be up front, but my lovely hubby gave me a birthday treat, he stayed up-front for the last 10 kms into Mayari.

As we came into Mayari and down a nice long hill, it began to rain. A man stepped out from underneath a tree with a sign that read Ralf and Jaquelina. This was our casa owner for the night who had come out to meet us and guide us to his house. By the time we got to his house we were absolutely soaking wet. The heavens had opened again and it poured with rain. Apparently it had been raining all day in Mayari, but not in Banes. It rained on and off all afternoon so we stayed in the casa and read the books that Eduardo had given us. I had wanted to check my email, to see if I had received any birthday emails, but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Francisco (casa owner) asked if we would like lunch. At 2:00pm we had a full meal with chicken and rice. I had assumed that that was what on offer for dinner, but after we had eaten our fill. He asked what time we would like dinner and would fish be o.k. Two meals, but with nothing better to do in the rain, I can eat two meals.

Everyone in the casa wished me happy birthday.

Later on as we were covering the bikes and bringing the water bottles into the freezer, I spoilt their surprise. They were trying to find the song Happy Birthday on their computer and had a big birthday cake on the table waiting for me. The cake was wonderful, and we shared it with the family.

We had their personal chef cooking for us. I forgot to mention that Francis is an engineer and Lidia is a doctor, along with owning a casa that rents out two rooms.

Francis loves his music and was plugging an extra hard drive in so that I could listen to 70’s music.

Ralf played with their grandson who is 6 for a couple of hours. He got him worked up so that he would be awake for hours. We left to go to our bed at 8:45 pm.

A good day.