Cuba Diaries

Day 22. April 15, 2015. Bayamo. 20km

After breakfast on the terrace, we got some good directions from Leopoldo and did a town cycle/tour. Horse carts are a-plenty in Bayamo and it was interesting following the cart routes. We dropped in on a cigar factory and a horse cart factory. Those hand made carts sell for 6,700 pesos ($250) a piece. We enjoyed roast pork sandwiches in the central square and later had ice cream at the central Coppelia. By this time in our trip, we were seasoned ice cream goers and knew the routine ( pre-pay at kiosk, give slip to waiter or waitress and then wait for joy). So when a small part of Italians arrived and simply sat down, it was obvious they were not wise to local customs. When I asked them if they were having ice cream, they replied that they wanted mojitos! The Bayamo main square itself is well shaded and a place to stay cool during the hot afternoons.

I also had an engaging afternoon with Mayra. She wanted to know our upcoming itinerary, so that she could assist us and arrange Casa reservations. She later drew up a large hand drawn spreadsheet with dates, addresses, phone numbers, etc for the balance of our trip! I agreed with her suggestions and she later made the reservations. Later we found that she would call each day to make sure we were OK. We were under the radar a few nights when we stayed in hotels and towards the end of our trip, we opted to stay in an alternative Casa, she was quite concerned. This was all accompanied with plenty of talk (did I mention that our lovely host was the chatterbox of the century?).

We evidenced plenty day-to-day life when we were in the Eastern cities like kids going to school and people doing their shopping in the mornings. In the evenings, people would get together and go to the cinema or other cultural events. There seemed to be plenty of cultural activities going on. With a good education and health system, Cuba seems like a viable society. Citizens all have ration cards and no one should go hungry. But, it does lack commerce. So for instance, city squares are much quieter than in other Latin American countries.

Day 23. April 16, 2015 Bayamo - Santiago. 70km

I slept so deep that I didn't hear the downtown roosters before the alarm went off. I jumped into action and went downstairs to the kitchen to fill our water bottles. Leopoldo was busy making coffee but Mayra was no where to be seen. I wondered if the early breakfast serving was going to happen and then it dawned on me that Sheila must have set the wrong time for the alarm (4:45 instead of 5:45). It was back to bed. We were all ready for the 6:00 am breakfast but it still ran a little late. Our hosts were such perfectionists that it takes them an hour and a half to prepare breakfast. Our planned 6:30 departure edged out to 6:45. We knew our way around the horse cart routes of Bayamo and made good time getting out of the city. Then the wide boulevard narrowed to two lanes and a number of trucks belching out black smoke kept us on our toes. We like the term "squid trucks", spewing black ink behind them. There seemed to be many more squid trucks in Eastern Cuba compared to the Western regions. The ride south of Bayamo was flat and dull at first.

About 45 km on, we reached Contramaestre where we activated Operation Leapfrog. We had no desire to ride 120 km to Santiago (no real places to stay over on the route), so I talked to a couple of drivers at a taxi rank. We settled on $25 for a ride to El Cobre (some 60 or 70 km away). Actually, I accepted the first offer because I thought it to be so reasonable. We somehow managed to get our two bikes, panniers and ourselves into a 1957 Ford. The terrain got quite hilly so it was money well-spent to get to the parking lot of El Cobre, which is an important Catholic pilgrimage site. We had a look around and then rode the back roads into Santiago on a very hot afternoon. Santiago was initially somewhat disorienting but I managed to find the Casa address.

We knew ahead of time that the Casa was fully booked but we would be taken to an alternative Casa. We moved into the second floor of a house with our own deck, living room, etc. We tried sitting in the salon for a while but it was too hot, so we chilled out in our AC bedroom for a couple of hours. Yadira, our host was interesting to talk to. She talked about Cuban life and also how she was going to visit family in Australia but she was turned back in Canada because she lacked a transit visa. I don't think it got much cooler, but we went out anyways and wandered the Santiago central area late afternoon. Santiago has a reputation as a hot place and it lived up to it during our stay there. We walked the three main squares and then enjoyed a terrific dinner in AC comfort (at El Gran Keretera restaurant, suggested by our host). We retired early after a very successful day.

Day 24. April 17, 2015. Santiago (El Morro). 25km

We had a slow start to the day. Early breakfasts were not a strong point of our host. Nevertheless, desayuno was filling with the usual combination of fresh fruit, bread, fresh juice, eggs, coffee. We hit the pavement heat head on and rode the up and downs to the outer harbour and El Morro (Castillo de San Pedro de la Roca) . We were melting on arrival. We emptied our wallets: $2 each to park our bikes and another $4 @ for admission. Cubans pay 1 peso entry fee (100 times less), but we are wealthier and it goes for a good cause, right? El Morro is a beautifully situated historic fort perched high up with walls tumbling way down to the water. It was a Top Ten Cuban site to see for sure. We took a different route back to town and stopped in on a "Panamericana" shop (kiosk) for cold drinks and chatted with a visiting Cuban school group that was doing an eco-project.

Next stop was Galloito Pizza. We had decent pizza ( 2 pizzas, 2 beers, 2 fruit juices for about $2). All the other people seemed to order pasta and pizza. Cubans like to eat. They have had some pretty lean years in the past, so they must figure they should eat more when they can. Back in the early times of the "special period" ( when the Soviet Union broke up and dropped Cuba as a special friend), Cubans went through hard times. We read that the average Cuban lost something like a quarter of their body weight in the first two years of the special period. Well, nowadays, Cubans look like they have put on some weight and then some since then. When we first arrived at the pizzeria , I asked if there was somewhere we could safely leave our bikes (I thought they would let us leave them in the courtyard). I was told that someone would watch over them, but in the end they ended up in an air conditioned office. It was nice to get back on on cool bike seats.

We wandered the city some more, drank mojitos, etc. Santiago has lots going on but it lacks the charm of Havana. It also seemed to have more touts pushing restaurants, taxis, etc.

Day 25, April 18, 2015. Santiago. 20km

A city day with some riding. We went out to the Moncada barracks (site of a symbolic pre-revolutionary battle) that is touted as "one of Cuba's best museums". We were already fairly well informed on the revolution (Sheila had been reading the biography of Ché), so the old style museum which focused on the revolution was a bit of a yawn. Later in the day, we tried our luck with another museum and after that experience, we swore off any more Cuban museums.

We subjected ourselves to another ice cream parlour set in beautiful gardens. We hit it at a busy period so in the 35C heat, our ice cream melted faster than we could eat it. We went with the standard 3 scoops each (35 cents for both of us).

It was Saturday in Santiago and the city was firing up for the night. Rum bottles were in abundance and street parties were getting going (huge sound systems, etc). Good atmosphere. We headed back to El Gran Keretera for another nice dinner in comfortable surroundings. We didn't see any other foreign tourists in the restaurant, and business was good, so some Cubans have money.

Day 26. April 19, 2015. Santiago - Chivirico. 75km

We skipped breakfast in favour of an early start. By 6:30 am we were in dim light, on the outskirts of Santiago, on a quiet, big wide four lane boulevard, already past a refinery. We made good time out to the coast. The road had been recently paved and it was truly fantastico. The good surface lasted almost the whole day. We had nice water views and at first, some clouds to keep it cooler. It didn't last; the sun came out and we started to melt, especially on the last hill into Chivirico. We pulled into a waterside restaurant that had a room for rent. The room was a little dumpy but the seating on the waterside terrace was to die for.

It was still morning so we decided to check out the town and the shop. It was Sunday and the shop closed at 11:00 am, so we carried on and found another small shop open. We bought a 5L bottle of water and moved onto a "cafeteria" where they were selling (pork) steak sandwiches for 5 pesos each (20cents). We were in luck. Later we walked up the steep road to the Los Galeones Hotel under a brutally hot sun to admire the view. That was enough walking for one day. Some swimming, a ride to the back of town and dinner on the terrace rounded out the day. Sheila managed to get some jelly fish stingers inside her bathing suit which took a few days to work through. Not perfect, but still darn good.

Day 27. April 20, 2015. Chivirico - La Mula. 40km

This was a nice short day with the usual early start on good pavement along the seaside. We stopped at Uvero and bought cheese (feta) sandwiches for later and then wandered the memorial of an early battle in the Cuban revolution. Just after Uvero, the road surface deteriorated and we continued onto the heart of the sand fly coast, La Mula (campismo). We met Rosa Jordon, author of the Lonely Planet Cycling Guide to Cuba at the campismo office. We were all checking in to the campground, more like a youth hostel. In La Mula, $10 gets you a somewhat scruffy but adequate concrete cabin with fan. There were clean sheets, a broken toilet and no shower head but it was better than expected.

We had a chat with Rosa and then another Canadian arrived on bike, who looked like a spaceman (snazzy outfit and helmet), Guillaume Borgault-Côté, a journalist for Le Devoir. There was also a Russian staying at the campismo (he had once worked in Cuba). Lunch was a 5 peso pizza. We cooled off in the mostly freshwater of the lagoon just off the patio. The quiet campismo got a little busier when a bus load of Cubans returned from hiking Pico Turquino. The music played on huge speakers kicked in, then halted for a while due to a power failure. Once power was restored, the music cranked up for the evening and thumped away to about 11:00pm. It was certainly a different concept of campgrounds than those of our home country. Celia Sanchez, one of the key revolutionaries, is credited with developing the Cuban network of campismos (inexpensive holidays for Cuban workers).

Day 28. April 21, 2015. La Mula - Pilón. 70km

This was a big, hot day. We skipped breakfast and were on the road by 6:15. We heard later from Guillaume, that despite assurances of an early breakfast, it was not served. The road was poor, it warmed up quickly and then the hills started. Although the scenery was superb, the sun's intensity increased quickly and the temperature crept up to 35C in the shade, but there was no shade. We concentrated on the task at hand over the difficult road conditions which improved slightly as the road veered inland. At this stage, Sheila was suffering from sunstroke and we stopped at whatever shade we could find.

We limped into Pilón and our Casa owner was waiting for us along the road on his bike. Tourists are valuable commodities in a cash starved economy, so it is worthwhile shepherding them to the corral, in case they go astray to another Casa. Humberto runs his Casa very well. Once in, I went for a quick ride looking for food and found a kiosk selling cheese and chorizo sandwiches as well as cold drinks. Then it was into the AC room for much of the afternoon. We did later go for a relaxed bike ride around town; there wasn't much on offer in Pilón. We had dinner at the Casa and called it an early night.

Day 29. April 22, 2015. Pilón - Niquero. 45km

We had asked for a 6:00 am breakfast, and Humberto was on his game. He was already sweeping the courtyard when we sat down for desayuno. We were rolling at 6:35. It had rained overnight, the roads were still wet and humidity was high. We climbed up 400m in 5 km and the sweat glands kicked into operation. The countryside went through an astounding transformation, from near desert to verdant, rolling hills, mixed farming with plenty of villages. We passed many people waiting for transportation and a few trucks and buses crammed with people. If you wanted to make a useful gift to the Cuban people, it would have to be a bus. So much time is wasted by simply waiting to get to work and school.

We swept down to the plains below where sugar cane was the dominant crop. It was easy riding on good road. We had such a tail wind that we were tempted to continue on to Manzanillo, but we took the road to Niquero. When we arrived, the small city was was bustling with activity and we were also drawn to the operating sugar mill in the heart of town. Niquero is short on licensed Casas, so we headed straight for the Niquero Hotel, which was a steal at $28 a night including breakfast. We had considered riding out to the nearby Cape, but the weather was so hot, we skipped it.

After a town tour and lunch, we hunkered down in our AC room to avoid the afternoon heat. The only thing slower than a Cuban town on a hot afternoon is watching a football match between two Madrid teams. It was the second Champions League game of two and finally a goal was scored after 180 minutes of play. We went out for a bike cruise late afternoon; not much was happening. We had a decent dinner at the hotel.

Day 30, April 23, 2015. Niquero - Manzanillo. 70km

It was a dark start to the day. We had stored the bikes under the stairs in the lobby of the Niquero Hotel. If they disappeared, it would be a "change of plans" ( it happened to us in Cambodia). But there was no change of plans. We skipped the included breakfast and hit the pavement in the dark. We retraced our route from the previous day for 10 km. All was good until it started to warm up. By 9:00, it was pretty warm, then it went to warm and by 10:00, it was stinking hot. We did make a couple of food stops along the way. In Media Luna, we stopped for the first breakfast course. It 's hard to determine where we had the saltiest eggs in Cuba (they love their salt), but the kiosk in Media Luna won the prize for greasiest eggs. The general rule of day time cycling in Cuba is, that if you see an open food kiosk, you stop and refuel. We had much better luck in Campechuela; a mango juice and ham sandwich. The mango juice might have been the best we had in Cuba. We toiled into Manzanillo under an oppressive sun. It's a big downhill ride into Manzanillo, and about half way down, we spotted a busy pizza kiosk across from a hospital. They had the best mango batidos (juice with milk powder) ever for 2 pesos each. Trust me, we had more than one each.

We found our Casa and we were greeted enthusiastically by our host, though she told us that we were early. By that she meant a day early (Humberto of Pilón had called ahead to say that we would arrive a day early, but it turned out that he called a different Casa). We did see a better looking Casa across the street, but we decided to stick with Mayra's choice. It was comfortable and included a salon. The deck up on the roof was effectively unusable during the day because of the intense sun. We hunkered down in the AC world for the afternoon and ventured out for a city bike tour around 4:00pm. Manzanillo must have once been quite an impressive city, but is now crumbling, almost post apocalyptic. In our wanderings, a tout ("jinetero") approached us; he knew our names. He had heard that we were coming into town and had been waiting for hours along the roadside so that he could steer us to another Casa (likely the one Humberto had called). We heard more on this later from Mayra. This certainly reinforces our view that we as tourists are valuable commodities!

We made the wrong choice for dinner in Manzanillo, we dropped by the waterfront "Golfo" restaurant. We had a beer there and then decided to eat there. It was cheap, but mediocre.

Day 31, April 24, 2015. Manzanillo - Bayamo. 70km

Our Manzanillo hosts were super organized and we were eating breakfast before 6:00 and we got off to a good start in the dim light. It was an easy ride out of Manzanillo and an another interesting transition day. We passed rice paddies and cane fields, then shifted to cattle country towards Bayamo. As we got closer to the city, we stopped to check out the pool at Villa Bayamo, then easily found our way back into the centre of Bayamo. Our hosts Mayra and Leopoldo were pleased to see us (apparently Guillaume, the spaceman cyclist had stayed there the night before). We were old hands in Bayamo and bought some 5 Peso roast pork sandwiches at the central square (though the lady with delicious baked goods was not there) and had time for ice cream at Coppelia.

Then, it was off to the pool for the afternoon. We found a shady spot, poolside and enjoyed watching the afternoon unfold. The pool guests were almost entirely Cubans, and a pool party evolved. Cubans drink a combination of beer and rum straight from the bottle. Initially, there was plenty of gyrating to the sound system, and the lifeguard stopped people from drinking from rum bottles while in the pool. However, as the vast quantities of alcohol took effect through the mid-afternoon, the scene mellowed out and the lifeguard didn't seem to mind bottles in the pool. A dark sky moved in and we split the scene around 5:00pm rather than getting drenched on the ride home. The rain didn't materialize, but we had plenty of catching up to do with Mayra, especially relating to Casa intrigue and gossip. We had dinner at our " regular" spot near the central square.

Day 32, April 25 2015. Bayamo - Holguin. 70km

The alarm went off at 5:45, we had slept well in the soft bed, and we were all set by 6:00. Our hosts were running a little behind, and once things were rolling, Mayra started talking. She said that the previous guest didn't leave till 8:30; we have an inkling why.....We made our way out of Bayamo and onto the Holguin road which had much less traffic than the road to Santiago. The road is dead pan flat and straight across sunburned country, used primarily for ranching. It was going rather well until we hit a 20 km section of poor surface. There were expansion cracks about one pedal stroke apart, so it took 2 hours of painful riding to get through it. Anyone who says that Cuba has great cycling, hasn't ridden the Bayamo-Holguin section! The road improved near the Frank Païs Airport but suddenly traffic kicked in, not just cars and buses but huge trucks materialized from nowhere. Then there were roadworks, delays, traffic fumes and the riding was like out of a horror movie. Then, at last, a new 4 lane road appeared and we found our way into central Holguin.

We moved into our Casa in the old colonial district.It was a small apartment within the house with living room, etc. It was a little on the dark side but the AC worked like a charm. We had Chinese for lunch a little away from the centre followed by ice cream at an outdoor creamery. It was the only ice cream parlour where we didn't prepay for our bowls (private, not state-run). We checked out the three main central squares and later dined well at "1910" (fish, shrimps, drinks, etc. for $18). It was a Saturday night, great for people watching as many young people dress up and strut their stuff.

Day 33, April 26 2015. Holguin. 20km

Although it was to be a town day, we elected for a 7:00 am breakfast, knowing that cities were not immune to the heat wave that continued and seemed to be part of most local conversations. Rudolfo made a good cup of coffee and before you knew it, we were scouting the city on our bikes, with a specific interest in hotel pools. Holguin is not the most interesting of Cuban towns, but our Sunday afternoon at the pool kept us cool. There was plenty of action; about 250 Cubans but there wasn't any music, so there was no gyrating. The pool cost $2 plus a $4 food credit.

We were back at the "1910" restaurant for dinner. This time, we were wiser and shared a main dish of fish with garlic which they served on two full plates. Later, we wandered the main squares and settled down to listen to the civic orchestra playing in the main square. Rudolfo showed a keen interest in cycle touring around Cuba, though his wife didn't seem very enthusiastic about the idea.

Day 34. April 27, 2015. Holguin - Gilbara. 35km

We skipped breakfast and we were on the road by 6:40 and we plowed through pollution and the associated traffic for about 20 minutes before we cleared the city. Once over a hill, the vegetation became green and it was a pleasant, undulating ride. We stopped at a small town that had a cigar factory to have a look inside. We looked through the open windows/door but the manager wasn't too happy about our presence, so we carried on along the road. We arrived in crumbling colonial style Gilbara with plenty of people on the main shopping streets. As we were planning 3 nights in Gilbara, we invested a little time and snooped around looking at a few Casas and settled on the top rated "Los Hermanos" instead of the Casa that Mayra had selected (I did talk to the owner and cancelled the booking).

There were actually other tourists around, staying at the same Casa. We got to know Sue & Brian from West Wales and Claudia & Michael from Germany, the latter who we teamed up with to visit Caletones Beach and the "caves". We wandered the town taking in the atmosphere, had a pizza and juice (late breakfast) until the heat caught up with us. We ate lunch (and later dinner) at the Casa and laid low with AC for the afternoon before going for a quick dip in the local not-so-clean water of the bay. Beers over the water and that was about it for quiet Gilbara that day.

Day 35. April 27 2015. Gilbara (& Caletones)

It turned out to be a very nice day. We had a beautiful breakfast in the colonial courtyard of the well-run Casa Los Hermanos. We wandered the town and waited for the German couple. We had arranged to share a taxi for the day ($20 for all) to visit Caletones. We all jumped into a Lada and followed a dusty dirt road along a bleak, dry coastline to even bleaker Caletones. Our driver, Humberto (yes, another Humberto!), was originally from Caletones. When I asked him if it was his car, he told me gosh no, I own a Cadillac! Although Caletones is described as a fishing village, it is in fact, largely a collection of summer beach shacks in the truest sense. We stopped in at the only restaurant in town and pre-ordered lunch (2 fish fillet lunches shared by 4). We continued onto a "pozo" (spring) which was a rock pool with somewhat fresh water in it that is considered as cold by the locals. We found it barely refreshing. Then it was over to the main Caletones beach, a 120 metre stretch of white sand and gorgeous, clear water, that was slightly refreshing. We even found shade from the ramshackle lifeguard tower. There were a couple other people on the beach, including a very inebriated Cuban woman, but mostly, we shared the beach with pigs and goats that passed by. After lunch, it was more beach time, a dip in another pozo and we were home by 4:00pm.

Later, that evening, we joined Claudia & Michael for dinner. They had discovered a (fantastico) place to eat. It was in the back of a house (no sign) and the woman who prepared the food told me how good a cook she was. It was a fun evening, though the seafood fell short of fantastico. The cook had offered turtle, which we had turned down as conscientious objectors. However, Claudia didn't speak Spanish and was more than disappointed to discover that she had ordered fresh turtle meat.

Day 36, April 27 2015. Gilbara . 10km

We had decided to change Casas because the Welsh couple had raved about the place they were staying in and they were moving on. It was the upper floor of a house with terraces on both sides and a view of the Caribbean. I had also talked with the new Casa owners about assisting us with arranging transport to la Cueva Frucoso which featured under-ground swimming. We were ready by 10:00 with the Germans and the owner asked us if we wanted to travel by horse cart or car, we opted for the horse cart, for the experience. We all hopped into a horse cart for a short bumpy ride to the edge of town to La Cueva which was no more than a restaurant called La Cueva. Oops. Neither we nor the Germans had been on a Cuban horse cart so not all was lost. Raul, the Casa owner said that the Cueva Frucoso was far and the road was poor. Oh, well.

The Germans caught a taxi to Holguin for a night bus. The unusually hot April conditions continued that afternoon, and the wind shifted to a southerly ( rains were arriving and Havana was flooded that day). The cool ocean breeze we expected that afternoon didn't happen and the hot air from the interior turned our recommended Casa into a veritable hot house.

Day 37. April 28, 2015. Gilbara - Holguin. 35km

We rode back up to Holguin after a warm send-off from our Casa. We were back in central Holguin before 10:00am. Rudolfo informed us that he couldn't honour our reservation because he had received a booking for 3 days, so he shunted us off to another Casa that was a block away, but closer to the main squares. Our new Casa owner was happy to see us. In any case, Rudolfo had promised to help us shop for woven baskets, so he took us out on a goose chase on his moto ( motorbike with sidecar) which was quite fun. After several stops, we found the house of a woman who made the baskets and we bought a couple of baskets from her.

It was our last full day in Cuba, but after lunch we laid low through the heat of the day. I dropped in at the local ration shop and bought another package of cigars, so called peso cigars, because a package of 25 costs 25 pesos (1$).

Our final dinner was back to the tasty "1910" restaurant. I talked with our hosts (Jesus & Isabel) for a while in the evening. He is a lawyer and she is an economist. They each make $25 a month from their employment, the same as everybody else. Mayra had tracked us down and called the Casa several times, so I called her that evening and thanked her for all her assistance.

Day 38. April 29, 2015. Holguin - Toronto. 20km

We started the day with another breakfast and some more chatter with our hosts. We loaded up the bikes and made our way through the construction zone and onto Frank Païs international airport. It wasn't fully air conditioned but cooler inside than outside. We got our bikes ready for the flight and put them in plastic bags that Sheila had carried around Cuba. When we checked in, there was no fees for the baggage ( I think because they did not have POS facilities) and even the Cuban exit fees were waived (I was told because they are transitioning to a pre-paid system). We exchanged our remaining convertible Convertible Pesos into Canadian Dollars and our Westjet flight arrived on time. Once we stepped into the airplane cabin, we had left Cuba.

We had brought some extra snack food with us for the trip, such as energy bars. As it turned out, we rarely had trouble finding food during the day, so we ate a couple of the leftover bars on the plane.

We arrived in Pearson Airport, Terminal 3. After clearing customs, we were told that we would have to take our bikes and other luggage to a check-in counter because the tags were made out to Calgary only. Once we had lugged the bikes upstairs, we were told that Westjet would not accept them till the morning because our 12 hour layover was too long! When I started to complain, I was told that it was I that chose the flights (not Westjet that designed the schedule). Grumble, grumble. Sheila found a shop that also did short-term storage and we found the bikes and our bag a home for the night. Our next task was getting to the hotel that we had booked. It had been deliberately chosen so that we could walk to and from it. The airport information desk informed us that there was no way to walk out of Terminal 3 ( which was later determined to be incorrect). So we called for a courtesy bus, checked in to the hotel. The hotel receptionist confirmed that you could walk to Terminal 3.

Day 38+1 April 30, 2015. Toronto - Courtenay

We certainly had plenty of experience with getting up early in Cuba, so the early flight time was not a problem for us. We walked to Pearson Airport, Terminal 3 in the pre-dawn darkness, retrieved our bikes, checked in and took an uneventful flight to Vancouver Island ( flight change in Calgary). Our bikes arrived in the plastic bags, we re-assembled them and made the 12 km ride home. Full circle.