The Cuba Cycle Diaries - Week 1

So Communism. How is it? Different, very different that's for sure. Technically Cuba is considered Latin America, but after 10 days here I've completely forgotten all about the village markets of Guatemala, the shopping malls of Venezuela, the hectic bus terminals, and the streets lined with shops selling anything imaginable. Its how I imagine visiting another planet like Mars would be; completely different from anything else you've previously experienced, and hence so fascinating, but not in a million years would you ever want to live there.

La Habana

The capital. This was my landing site, and will be my take off site, when I return to earth. You could describe the infrastructure of Central America as 'falling apart at the seams' whilst being patched up here and there. La Habana, on the face of it, seems to be crumbly apart from the centre. But it was beautiful once, and in a way, in its gradual disintegration, still is. It holds some atmosphere about it that are beyond my literary skills, especially as I rush to get everything down in my limited internet time.

The internet here is far too expensive, and yet at the same time the connexion is frustratingly slow - photos, email and blog posts will be few a far between, but thank you so much for all the emails I have received.

Cycling

My first 4 days were spent in La Habana, and then Santiago de Cuba, the second largest city situated in the south. These cities are now ticked off the list, I am free to explore the countryside on my bike; I never have been much of a city tourist.

The first day...
I started my cycling adventure in Baracoa, a small city in the very south east of the country. Its hot in Cuba at the moment, and hottest in... yep, you guest it, the south east. About 36 degrees on a daily average, which is proving a big challenge for my little Cornish legs and heart.

My first day of cycling I think will go down as one of my best days of cycling so far in my life, even though it was all on concrete. 65 kilometres winding through a spectacular mountain range, cutting through it from the east Caribbean coast of Cuba, and finishing on the south coast. I was first accompanied by a local road cyclists, who is a member of a local cycling team - that's his job, he receives a wage from the government for doing it.

I bought food from locals along the route, home made chocolate bars, sugar-coconut mulsh, bananas, pineapples and mangoes - all being sold on the 'black market'; I was happy to give capitalism a little helping hand, especially to those people who needed it most. Contrary to a lot of the government propaganda, there are still a large number of people living in wooden shacks or 'bohios' in the countryside.

I collected my water from fresh mountain streams, went to the toilet in the woods, and bathed in the glorious Caribbean when I finally reached it at the end of the day. I ended up camping on a beach that night, kept company by evil, evil sand flies and mosquitoes (note to self: don't camp on the beach again).

The next day was long and hot, it was supposed to be 85 km ride, but by 45 km I was done for. I made one major oversight when planning this trip - I haven't ridden a bike for more than 6 months. I ended up staying the night with some locals in their wooden hut. They were very kind people, and it was a great and humbling experience to stay with them. (so much more to write, but no more internet time).

I still have so many questions about this country, like a jigsaw puzzle I am still identifying and collecting the pieces before I can arrive at the answer. And its finding the appropriate people to give me those answers that is half of the challenge; you have to be tactful and sensitive about things here. You are never sure of peoples opinions of the situation, and you never want to offend anyone. I always take the stance of the inquisitive and neutral tourist. Any negative conversations always refer to the head of state (you know who) as 'he', never by name.

anyway, until next time.