Cuba Diaries

Day 0, March 24, 2015. Vancouver Island -Toronto

We rode from home to the airport, the weather cooperated. It took a little while, but we packaged our bikes in plastic bags and our panniers separately. Our first flight took us from the green zone of the west coast (Vancouver Island) to the white zone of Edmonton. We then boarded another flight and arrived in Toronto just after midnight. We slept with the cleaners.

Day 1 March 25, 2015. Toronto - Manzanas. 25km

We made a predawn departure. Our Westjet plane stopped for de-icing on the tarmac. We had been upgraded, so we sat up-front in coach. It's the same everything on Westjet, except the food and beverages were free. We had a nice, clear flight; we flew right over the Florida Keys and the 11 mile bridge. Cuba doesn't look far from the USA when you are at 33,000 feet. Veradero airport is pleasant enough. We seemed to be the only passengers that didn't step onto a resort bus. I had left my bike computer (taped with duct tape) on my handlebars; it had disappeared on arrival. I filled in a form with Westjet baggage ( later customer service gave me a $100 flight credit for the loss). However, it did mean that navigation would be a little trickier without an odometer and that our distance might be liberal (inflated). The ride out of the airport was pleasant, but we had to make several stops so that I could adjust my fenders (mudguards, which I could have done without).

We rode over the Veradero-Havana highway and took a coastal road. It wasn't long but we were baking in the heat and we had little water. There seemed to be plenty of garbage alongside the road, but that would be more of an anomaly. We were done in after a short ride when we reached the narrow streets of Matanzas. I had reserved a B&B (casa particular) for the first night, it turned out to be a bike hub due to Matanzas proximity to Veradero airport. Hernando, our first host was well traveled and spoke better English than any other Casa owner did on our trip. In every other Casa, I spoke Spanish with the owner, but on my first day, I was happy enough to speak half and half. Hernando also gave us some business cards of other Casa throughout Western Cuba and his recommended places turned out to be quite good. I did a bike tour through the streets of town later, but we had dinner at the Casa to make things simple on our first day. Fish and prawns on the rooftop. We later had better meals, but it was a decent start to the trip.

Day 2 March 26, 2015 Matanzas-Guanabo. 75km

We hit the pavement just after 8:00am. Our host Mandy (Hernando) apologized that his staff only started at 7:00, so no breakfast till 7:30. Later in the trip, we would have known better and skipped breakfast. Mandy gave us bananas and a couple of large bottles of water and off we went. The day's ride was not particularly inspiring. The temperature rose to 35C and our transitional day was gentle torture. We decided to skip a conventional stopover at a campamento and went onto Guanabo, which is a East Havana beach town (few foreign tourists). I asked a couple of people and we managed to find our comfortable Casa Particular. Our room came with a plunge pool and shaded patio. The owner, Vincente, was a former sugar mill engineer.

It was a short walk down the hill to the town beach. When we got to the beach around 4:00pm, it felt like we had arrived at a party 3 hours late. Just about everybody else was quite drunk, in a mellow sort of way. The Cuban pattern seemed to be drink rum, go in the water, drink more rum, leave the water and drink more rum. Town was a little scruffy (with our Cuban experience I might in hindsight call it prosperous), with plenty of kiosks selling booze, cold beer. Though later, we would conclude that just about every shop in Cuba sells rum and beer. It was a beach town with men wandering around without shirts, mostly happy drunk. I did buy some Moneda Nacional in Guanabo so I was armed with Cuban pesos for buying small stuff along the way. 1 Convertible Peso buys you 24 - 25 Cuban Pesos (Moneda Nacional), used primarily in food kiosks and food markets. Most shops sell items in Covertible Pesos (CUC's), but the defining line is getting blurry as many accept either/or (at the appropriate exchange rate), and rumour has it that the CUC's may be phased out in the near future. We had a nice meal on our rooftop garden and arranged for an early breakfast the following morning. My Spanish was coming back to me and I didn't have any problems communicating.

Day 3 March 27, 2015 Guanabo - Havana. 45km

A 7:00am breakfast went down nicely, even though it was still dark. We picked a route that kept us off the highway, though we did hit a couple of dead ends. For a number of kilometres, we were forced on the highway. Although it was 4 lanes and had a reasonable shoulder, it was nasty with more traffic than expected. We were wondering what we had got ourselves into and what all the biking in Cuba accolades were all about. Wherever we could, we got off the highway on poorly surfaced roads and tracks, then through east Havana housing estates. Back on the highway, motor traffic continued down into a tunnel. We missed a turn off and continued to the control booths for the Havana Fort. I spoke with the attendant and he allowed us to proceed for free through the grounds as long as we didn't stop. We had nice views towards Havana and headed for the giant white statue of Christ. We took in the view and then dropped down to the foot passenger ferry. As someone once hijacked one of the ferries (take me to Miami!), all passenger bags are subject to search. Security staff went through our panniers. They didn't like tweezers, a bike tool or pliers, but I assured them that they were not dangerous. Our pocket knife slipped through unnoticed. Foreigners pay a hefty $2 each, while Cubans pay a fraction of that, but was a nice passage across the bay to central Havana.

Yes, Havana! We rode along the water (Malecon) for several kilometres past old Havana, the traffic was easy to handle. Left turn at the Nacional Hotel on 23rd Avenida, up a hill, left turn on Avenida I, and we found Jorge in a first floor apartment. It was the other Casa that I had reserved from Canada. Jorge had advised me that he was full but he had told me that he would arrange for similar accommodation ( for 3 nights). The unit wouldn't be ready till 3:00pm, so Jorge graciously offered to look after our luggage (panniers), which we did and we set out with renewed confidence. Even in the heat, we were hungry and armed with Moneda Nacional, we found a popular restaurant, Cafeteria Fantasia. The staff were friendly and we ate rice & beans, ropa vieja (shredded beef), fruit juices, yogurt and rice pudding for less than $2 each. With our bellies full, we set out on bikes and found Havana riding surprisingly easy with either wide boulevards or sleepy one-way streets. A couple of hours later, we picked up our bags and transferred to a one bedroom apartment (included a small living room and kitchen). I wandered around the immediate area (a residential part of Vedado) on foot. We went for a brilliant dinner at a nearby seafood restaurant (good enough for a later return visit). Our first day in Havana was a big success.

Day 5, March 27, 2015 Havana. 20km

We wandered around 23rd Avenida in the morning, looking for coffee and breakfast but it was fairly sleepy in the morning. We had a look inside Havana Libre , formerly the Hilton Hotel that opened in 1958 just before the Revolution in 1959 (that's bad timing). We had left our bikes behind, so we took a cab to Havana Vieja, that resembles many European old cities. We chanced upon Cafe O'Reilley and some of the best coffee ever (the sandwiches were good too). We visited each of the three main plazas through the morning and grabbed a cab back to Vedado and another lunch at with our friends at Cafeteria Fantasia. We spent the afternoon on the bikes, mostly in the Centro area of town. We were blown away by the vibrancy and architecture of Centro.

Day 6, March 29, 2015 Havana. 25km

We slept in (it was Sunday, after all ). We went over to "La Rueda" ( the Wheel), to drop off some bike parts & tires that we had brought with us ( to be passed onto local bike groups). La Rueda serves a good coffee, but it is the face of CanbiCuba that operates bike tours in Cuba. There was a group there that had just finished their ride and some were heading for the airport. One woman said that she couldn't believe that Cuban cyclists didn't have energy gels and she left a whole bunch for them. Were we missing something? Don't bananas do the same thing?

We went off on a Malecon ride, this time heading west. Our first stop was the Riviera Hotel, which is like going into a 1950's time warp. The Riviera was built by mobster chief, Meyer Lansky. We carried along the Malecon and enjoyed ham & cheese sandwiches at a kiosk. We didn't know at the time, but ham sandwiches (and pizzas) would become lunch staples throughout our Cuban bike odyssey, as that is pretty well all that is available in small centres.

We returned to Centro that afternoon to hang out there. At one point, a small bar didn't have change when I was paying the bill for a couple of draft beers, so a policeman who was also drinking in the bar, took the bill and went down the street and changed the bill with a shop keeper. It was back to Vedado for the evening and dinner at our favorite seafood haunt.

In the evening, we decided to try Coppelia for ice cream, situated in a Vedado park. We got there about 1/2 hour before closing time and there was a queue. We learned about Cuban queuing; what you do is arrive, then figure out who is last in line (ultimo?) and then you can disappear until it's your turn to go in. We didn't disappear, but waited 20 minutes and then we were ushered into the ice cream complex. There are several sections (and queues for each), all serving nothing but ice cream. There was a large list of ice cream offerings, but in reality there is only one decision to be made; how many scoops. There is only one flavour, yes it was vanilla. It was delicious and very cheap. Ice cream for the people.

Day 7, March 30, 2015 Havana-Playa Baracoa. 25km

We cleared out of our apartment and were on the road by 8:00am. There was a fair amount of traffic on the roads but it was mostly heading in the other direction, into the city. We rode through Miramar and then onto the autopista past the "no bicycle" sign. There was little traffic and a healthy shoulder. We took a look around the very quiet Marina Hemmingway and stopped in at a cafe for breakfast (coffee and sandwiches). We chatted with an older Canadian guy who spends his winters hanging out in the area. We carried on, got off the autopista and arrived in sleepy Playa Baracoa. We looked around for a Casa particular and settled on Jose's. Our jovial host was not wearing a shirt. We got settled in to the Casa with a central garden, small pool and a comfortable guest cottage. There wasn't much too see or do in PB. We ate "Chinese" for lunch by the seaside (inexpensive, Moneda Nacional), wandered the beachfront, read on the roof-top and got ready for dinner. It was our first Cuban lobster meal. Tasty.

Day 8 March 31, Playa Baracoa - Las Terazzas. 75km

We started the morning with a power failure. We wondered if they would become a feature of smaller Cuban towns, but as it turned out, electricity is quite reliable. We had a huge fruit plate for breakfast which included passion fruit. We were also starting to catch on about "tostada". Many Cuban breakfasts include 'tostada" (toast), but in reality, it is crunchy, dried out toasted bread and we figured it must be left-over bread or toast from at least a week earlier. After a warm good-bye, we had an easy coastal ride to industrial Marial, where we stopped for batidos (smoothies for 3 pesos). We left the port city with a big climb back up,to the autopista. Shortly thereafter, we made a mistake and took an early exit for the "caretera central", which was a crumbly mess. Sometimes we had to walk our bikes as 10 km felt like 50 km. The road did improve. We learned that sometimes more traffic is a good thing; it means that the road surface has improved.

This section of the ride through Las Terrassas and Saro was in the hill country and had few villages but is geared up to "eco-tourism". We stopped in at pleasant Villa Duque and met our hostess, the bubbly Marte. It seemed like she had drunk too much coffee and taken too many happy pills. The temperature was increasing and we went out for an afternoon ride into Las Terazzas. We checked out an old coffee plantation hacienda (now a restaurant) and then rode up and down to to a busy swimming hole and rode back to Las Terazzas for a lunch of the ubiquitous ham and cheese sandwich, though it was a record large size. We returned to the Villa under a broiling hot sun for cold beer and views from the roof. The local chickens were tasty and meaty; best ever? We shared dinner with our first cyclo-tourist, Nicolas.

Day 9 April, 1, 2015. Las Terazzas - Saroa. 25km

The day was less eventful. We had a short scenic ride into Saroa and elected to stay at wonderful Los Agapito with its nice gardens and friendly staff. Los Agapito has two rooms for rent; we met the owner in the evening. We rode around, settled on lunch at a small restaurant which consisted of delicious guayaba (guava) juice and a sandwich. We hiked up to a mirador for views of the surrounding hills and valley below and wandered around a large tourist hotel. We elected to eat at our guesthouse which was mostly notable for its decorated dinner.

Day 10, April 2, 2015. Saroa - San Diego Los Baños. 60km

We had a pre-dawn breakfast and then descended to the valley and onto the autopista. We followed the divided highway, with light traffic and a powerful tailwind that made 30km feel like 10 km. Traffic was light. It seemed like there were more horse carts than trucks on the highway. We were sorely tempted to continue along the autopista right into Piñar del Rio, but we cut off onto our old friend the caretera central and into San Diego Los Baños. We stopped at the gas station to see what they had for sale and ate lunch at a peso stand nearby. We rode into town and took a look at the only legal Casa particular but opted for the Mirador Hotel. $38 bought you a nice room for the night including breakfast and use of the inviting swimming pool. The hotel was built just before the revolution and was well kept. Brain rattling music limited our time poolside, so the locals had the place to themselves. We had beer and lunch with Nicolas, then a quiet afternoon in sleepy San Diego. We were the only three foreign tourists in town.

Day 11, April 3, 2015. San Diego Los Baños - Viñales. 60km

This a day of transition, from sleepy San Diego to the smell of CUC's (CUC's are convertible Pesos that are pegged one to one to the USD). The ride was heralded as an adventure and it lived up to the hype. We figured that since we had paid for breakfast in the room charge, that we were going to enjoy it. We were the first sitting at 7:30am for a surprisingly quick and decent breakfast at a state-run institution. We met Nicolas at 8:10 and the first 5 km was on good tar to the turreted gate to the national Park (now a 5 CUC entry, surprise!) and a series of climbs on asphalt, then broken pavement through forest. We made a rapid descent out of the park to a road junction. We headed for the National Monument - Cueva de Che. We made a quick tour of the caves where Che as Commandante held out in the western military headquarters during the Cuban missile crisis. We paid 2 CUC's each to enter and the guardian showed us around to Che's office and bed; commenting on whether specific items were originals or copies ("original", " non-original"). On the way out, we rode through a nice Cuban campground and then stopped in on a community project (encouraging young artists), and then the heat really kicked in.

The road was quite hilly and the road surface was "mixed". We opted for a short cut on a poor road but nice scenery. We were melting in the heat when we came upon a roadside tourist restaurant and a river swimming hole. It was most welcome shade, food & drink and a nice cool swim. We pressed on, then stopped at a house and sat around drinking mango juice. We hit the main road where we encountered tourist buses and pale faces on rental bikes; we knew that Viñales was not far. The town itself has been overwhelmed by tourism. We had pre-arranged our Casa and it seemed quite nice. We met Nicolas at the main square for drinks (strong mojitos for $2) and dinner at the Mediterranean restaurant, Olivo.

Days 11-12, April 4 - 5, 2015. Viñales. 60km

We did a series of beautiful bike rides through the karst landscape. We were well fed at local restaurants and at our Casa. Our Casa patron was energetic and we especially enjoyed the view from the garden that overlooked the karst scenery to the north. On one of our rides, we went up into Valle Ancon for a look around. We were approached by a local guide who arranged for a guide to visit some small waterfalls and go for a dip in a swimming hole. We were charged 5CUC each; the capitalist spirit lives in the back waters of Cuba.

Despite the brevity of this entry, the Viñales area offers some of the finest cycling in Cuba with quiet roads and interesting scenery.

Day 13, April 6 2015. Viñales - Playa Larga. 25km

We had a pre-dawn start in order to catch the 6:45 bus. We skipped breakfast and rode in the dark to the bus stop. It was our first of two bus trips in Cuba. The bus was not particularly busy and we were the only cyclists aboard. We took the front wheels off the bikes and stashed them away in the luggage compartment. No big deal. The bus stopped at an autopista restaurant to allow us time enough for a coffee and an overpriced sandwich. The bus skirted Havana and continued along a quiet four lane autopista, with a mid-day stop at a tourist restaurant on the southern outskirts of Jaquey Grande. We unloaded our bikes and hit the road for a hot 30 km ride. The landscape was similar to the Florida Everglades and we made a brief stop at a crocodile farm ( where did all the tourists suddenly appear from?). More importantly, we stopped at a roadside kiosk for guarapo (cold sugar cane juice) and then later a ham and cheese sandwich before we reached Playa Larga. The town itself was on the scruffy side, but the Casa we stayed at was nice enough. We hadn't called ahead so the friendly proprietors were pleased as punch when we appeared at their doorstep.

After unpacking and a cold fruit juice, we set out for the beach. Nothing really special, other than the concrete pill boxes from the days of the Bay of Pigs invasion. It didn't look like the best place to invade Cuba, with miles of swamp ahead of them, no wonder it was doomed to failure. We ate at the Casa as there wasn't much else going in town. We could have eaten farmed crocodile meat, but opted for lobster instead. Another couple had arrived to stay at the Casa; a Swiss couple in a rental car. After dinner we had a good long chat with them.

Day 14 April 7, 2015. Playa Larga - Playa Giron. 35km

This was a relaxing day, just an easy 30km ride on a good surface with the Caribbean on our right. We encountered our first crabs on the road. They were splattered all over the road and we tried to avoid the living, as best we could but some of them took a last stand and, well, splat! No punctures. We stopped in on a cenote of a mixture of fresh and salt water for a swim. Surprise, surprise, it was free. Part way along the ride we encountered a touring cyclist couple from Argentina and Colombia. So we stopped. It turned out they were day tripping it from Playa Giron and he talked about the Casa they were staying at with glowing terms, most of which were preceded with "fantastico". Everything was fantastico so we got the details. We did stay in the other room at the recommended Casa and it turns out that Argentine fantastico is the equivalent to "fine". We did stop at the "Pizza Adrenaline" in Playa Giron, but the real gem in town was Playa des Cocos. The beach had a nice mellow vibe with a kiosk selling cold beer. Bucanero is my normal beer of choice, but Crystal had to do. Beer aside, Playa des Cocos was one of our favourite Cuban beaches. There isn't much else going on in Playa Giron, so we chose to eat at our Casa. The "fantastico" shrimps were fine.

Day 15. April 8, 2015. Playa Larga - Cienfuegos. 75km

Another early breakfast and we were on the road as it was getting light, around 7:40am, to get a good start before the heat and head winds kicked in. We rode at a good pace for 40 km on shaded rural roads. We passed another Latin couple (from Argentina) who were heavily loaded down, riding wide tires. They wished that they had brought less gear and had thinner tires. They were heading in the same direction as us. We reached the new highway not on our map; good surface, it looked promising. It turned out to be the Hell Highway with plenty of trucks, broiling hot and a stiff headwind., We hit a few hills and then made our way into Cienfuegos and a spin around the magnificent central square area. We found our Casa and met the super nice owner (Gladys). It was our best Casa in Cuba; a small apartment within her house with our own salon and balcony overlooking the street. It was like an apartment that you would have expected to find in Paris in the 1930's. It was matched by the grandeur of the neo-classical architecture of Cienfuegos. The atmosphere was amplified by a rain shower that evening.

Day 16. April 9, 2015. Cienfuegos. 20km

We started the day with another magnificent desayuno (breakfast) and then pedaled around town and out to Punta Gorda and more architectural surprises. One Moorish building (Palacio de Valle) could hold its own with the Kuala Lumpur train station and Moor. We met our first visiting Cuban American (from Miami). She was visiting family and had an entourage of at least 20 family members. I can imagine how big her luggage was when she entered the country. It is a bit of a mystery as to how Cubans are so well dressed, considering the paucity of clothes stores in the country. No doubt, visiting relatives must bring quite a few clothes in with them.

We wandered around on foot, lunch on the Prado followed by ice cream at Coppelia (5 pesos, no waiting). We spent the afternoon in our apartment followed by another bike ride around town. Thunderstorms hovered near town. We had dinner at the Casa including a vegetable soup, so thick that the spoon did stand up in it. Like many Cuban meals, it was too much food. We relaxed in our surroundings. I sat in a rocking chair ( a Cuban fixture) and chatted with Gladys for quite some time.

Day 17. April 10, 2015. Cienfuegos - Playa Yaguanabo. 60km

We got off to an early start, our first bike day without breakfast. We first encountered quite a bit of school traffic and then emerged into nice rolling hill country. The hills got a whole lot steeper as we approached the main highway. Then we rolled over hills in cattle country and stopped at a road side restaurant that served up good coffee to passing motorists. Traffic was light but the temperatures started to rise to an uncomfortable level while the head-wind kicked in. After a few more hills, we were happy to reach Playa Yaguanabo late morning. We were also quite pleased with the tourist hotel. For $32 we got 2 queen beds, air conditioning, TV, breakfast, a swimming beach and some cool floating beds overlooking the sea. We walked across the street for a garlic prawn lunch, did some minor bike maintenance and cleaning, swimming and lounging. Then the Argentine couple arrived at 3:00 pm; they looked hot and tired. They went straight for their AC room and were not seen for hours.

Cuban travel is without hassles, all mellow, easy travel. Dinner was back across the street (fish and prawns) and another beautiful sunset.

Day 18. April 11, 2015. Playa Yaguanabo - Trinidad. 25km

The hotel restaurant opened at 7:30 and we got a table outside overlooking the water and enjoyed a very nice omelette. The road travels along the sea with some nice views. Then we turned inland and uphill with a mandatory stop at a large fresh fruit stand. The owner was friendly and he offered us samples of a variety of fruits. We stuffed some mangoes into our panniers and headed into Trinidad. The Casa that we had booked ahead a couple of days earlier was full to the following day, so the owner brought us to her sister's place, which turned out to be a big step down. This was a classic move, the only time we encountered it. The place was OKish, but it turned out to be noisy and the bed was uncomfortable, so we took the original owner's offer and told her that we would move in the following day. Her sister was disappointed but understanding.

Trinidad itself oozes with tourists. There are tour buses arriving all throughout the day. Apparently, there are over 500 Casa particulares in town, so the "T" in Trinidad must surely stand for tourist. Having said that, the town seems much better for it. Trinidad features a lively, well-kept central historic centre. Commerce has spilled over into the surrounding town. Prices in the central area seemed higher than in Havana, but in our tourist wandering so, we found a decent local pizza joint (Cafeteria Agabama) that served fresh fruit juices as well.

In the evenings, musicians play to a large crowd of tourists just off the central square. We had a nice dinner in one of the nicer restaurants in an historic home and chatted with a British couple who were on a pre-arranged, self guided tour of Cuba. They had stayed at a beach resort for part of the time and were surprised how poor the food was at the resort, compared to in the cities.

Day 19. April 12, 2015. Trinidad & Valle de Los Ingenios. 40km

After breakfast we made our Casa transfer and then rode out to the Valle de Los Ingenios. It was a nice ride out to the tower and beyond, though we were not early enough to miss the tourist buses at the tower. With our riding in the countryside and in urban environments, we were concluding that Cubans are dour (they have lived through many challenges). We would pass through villages and wave at people and rarely even get a smile back. This is in stark contrast with Asia where kids would wear out their arms waving back. Come to think of it, we didn't see loads of kids in Cuba. The country has a lower birth rate and I bet most kids are either in school or doing extra-curricular activities so they don't just hang around waiting for the occasional foreign cyclist to ride by. The standard of living seems much better in rural Cuba than in their rural counterparts in other Latin American countries that we have visited. Rural houses and properties looked neat and tidy.

We returned to Trinidad and in our wanderings met an American touring cyclist couple. He was concerned that the Cuban immigration had stamped his entry stamp directly into his passport (rather than stamp an insert) and wondered if US officials would pick up on it.

Day 20 April 13, 2015. Trinidad & Playa Ancon. 35km

Another nice breakfast fortified us for the easy ride out to Playa Ancon. We parked our bikes (paid an attendant) and checked out the beach and hotels (not really our cup of tea). The beach was OK, but not the best in the world. We also saw our first Russian tourists with prostitutes at the beach. We later encountered more of them, always by water (beach or pool). On our ride along the coast to La Boca, we noticed some nicer pocket beaches that would have been better choices. La Boca was nothing special; some tourists stay here to keep a distance from touristy Trinidad., but we were happy to stay in a World Heritage City. We ate an over-priced peso pizza (tourist price) in La Boca and headed back into Trinidad. After some more wanderings, we had an excellent dinner at our Casa.

Day 21 April 14, 2015. Trinidad - Bayamo by bus.

We skipped breakfast and got to the bus station by 7:20 for the 8:00 bus. 3 cyclists were already booked on the bus and it looked like it was going to be busy. Normally, they only allow 4 bikes per bus (as they take up more luggage space) so it was a little tricky. Somehow another they managed to load everything up; I was cringing when the attendant forced my bike to fit, but it all worked out in the end and there was no damage to our bikes. It was a long day on the bus, traveling along the main central highway, making plenty of stops. Our Casa owner in Trinidad had called ahead for a reservation, so when we arrived in Bayamo, we were greeted by a man holding a sign " Cheila y Glenn". Leopoldo had a bike too, so we followed him home arriving just as dark settled in the streets of Central Bayamo. Mayra greeted us and after settling in, we were directed to a nice local restaurant that served good good food at about half of what they would charge for it in Trinidad. We wouldn't see many tourists in the eastern part of Cuba and Mayra would turn out to be exceedingly helpful and the chatterbox of the century.