An overview of the road covered during this segment of our cycling.

2019.02.26 – [CU] Santiago de Cuba ==> Santiago de Cuba (0 kms | Total: 2125 kms) – After breakfast, we posted our latest blog entry. Later we walked over to the pedestrian street. We stopped at a bank for some additional funds. We located the beer garden that we had visited in 2016 and bought a 1.5 liter beer column to enjoy. While drinking beer, a patron greeted us and introduced himself as the waiter that served us our lunch at yesterday’s town of Chivirico. After purchasing some water and beer, we returned to our casa to relax. We had a repeat of yesterday’s evening meal. After our meal, we walked along the Boulevard (pedestrian street) and had a brief internet session in the park.

2019.02.27 – [CU] Santiago de Cuba ==> Guantánamo (84 kms | Total: 2209 kms) – We had an early breakfast as we had an 80+kms cycling day. The first 25kms were slow as we kept on climbing. Eventually the road leveled off and the cycling became more enjoyable even as we cycled along a highway for part of the day. We arrived in Guantánamo at 1:30pm and checked into our casa. Following our daily routine, we went to a nearby park for a brief internet session. We purchased some water and beer on our way back. We had our evening meal of fish at our casa and went for a walk after that.

2019.02.28 – [CU] Guantánamo ==> Tortuguilla (45 kms | Total: 2254 kms) – We had a short cycling ride of 45 kms to Tortuguilla, a seaside hamlet. We met a cycling couple from Washington state while we were starting our only daily climb. We exchanged a few casa experiences and road condition details. Our casa was not properly located in Maps.me and hence we had to ask some locals for directions. We were very pleased by the seafront view of our casa – even though there was no wifi in the area. We ventured to a nearby pebble beach for our first dip into the Caribbean sea. We really enjoyed the sea views from our casa’s terrace. Our evening meal of fish was very good and was among the best value of our trip. Later we went for a short walk. We wrapped up our evening sitting on the roof top terrace while enjoying some star gazing with the sound of breaking waves of the sea in the background.

2019.03.01 – [CU] Tortuguilla ==> Imias (40 kms | Total: 2294 kms) – After a good breakfast, we set out for another short cycling day of 40kms. Our casa owner was waiting for us on the sidewalk – making sure we did not stop at the casa in front of her house. We had been warned by other cyclists that the casa family was a bit overly attentive. After our shower and clothes washing, we walked out of our room in search of a restaurant for a light lunch. We eventually found a gastronomic complex which advertised a few restaurants. Well, we did find one at least which offered some fried chicken. Our evening meal of shrimps at the casa was somewhat disappointing. After our meal, we went out to buy some bottled water and stopped in the park for a brief internet session.

2019.03.02 – [CU] Imias ==> Baracoa (69 kms | Total: 2363 kms) – We had an early breakfast as the most challenging climb of our Cuba trip was waiting for us . “La Farola” was well known throughout Cuba as the mountain road with an elevation gain of 500+m leading onto the other side to the town of Baracoa. Our breakfast was by far not worth the price. Upon paying for our stay and food, we clearly expressed our views regarding the casa’s overpriced meals and low quality. We further indicated that we would not be recommending their casa to other cyclists. We easily cycled the first 25kms to the foothill of the mountain road. Over the next 13 kms, we walked the steep sections and cycled the rest. We were encouraged by locals selling food and souvenirs at a lookup when they confirmed that the hardest climb was behind us. As we reached the top of the pass, we felt a few rain drops but we simply ignored them. Within a few minutes, the clouds had opened up and a heavy rain pour started. It was already too late to take out our rain gears. As we had already reached the top, we opted to continue cycling but we were surprised that the torrential rain kept on coming down during our 30kms cycling down to Baracoa. At times, the wind was also blowing extremely hard. We had to look at the road over our water dripping eye glasses. We regretted not having a waterproof camera as we thought we could have taken a few memorable pictures. The locals along the road were sheltered under huts and were surprised to see two foreigners on a tandem cycling in the heavy rain. Interestingly, the pavement was dry a few kms before Baracoa. Once we located our casa, we were eager to shower and change into some dry clothes. While Jenny was resting, I stepped out for some hot dogs and beer purchases. Later we visited the post office for some postage stamps. We had a good evening meal of fish at our casa. We noticed a lot of foreigners in the nearby park connecting to the wifi.

2019.03.03 – [CU] Baracoa ==> Baracoa (0 kms | Total: 2363 kms) – We had a relaxing breakfast. We visited the Etecsa office to buy additional internet cards. Although there were no queues outside the office, we waited inside for over 20 minutes to buy our cards. By now, we’ve almost forgotten how convenient online shopping is. We learned at breakfast that our casa owners would not be home in the evening hence we would need to eat at a restaurant for our evening meal. At lunch time, I stepped out of our room to buy some lunch snacks. Back at our casa, we met a couple from Netherlands who were wrapping up their three week vacation. Late afternoon, we dropped by the House of Cacoa for a cold chocolate drink. We searched for restaurants where we could have an early meal before 6:30pm. We finally found a table at a seafront restaurant and had some good seafood. After our meal, we walked along the seafront and returned to our casa. While Jenny was showering the power went out, hence the shower head stopped producing hot water. We initially thought that it was a city wide power outage until we noticed that the other houses and even our casa’s room on the 2nd level had power. We did not despair as we expected the casa owners to return later in the evening. More later in the evening, our situation got worse when the water stopped running as the pump was no longer supplying any pressure. Every hour of the night we expected our casa owners to walk in but this did not happen until 7am the next morning. It was not a very restful or pleasant night for us.

2019.03.04 – [CU] Baracoa ==> Playa Maguana (19 kms | Total: 2383 kms) – The casa owners apologized profusely for last evening’s power outage and their absence from the casa last night. The family had opted to stay at their parents house for the night. They acknowledged that the ground floor of the casa appeared to have electrical problem. They were very apologetic and waived the cost of our two day breakfasts in addition to discounting our stay. Our frustration appeared to evaporate with these savings. We had a very easy 20kms cycling to Playa Maguana for our first official beach rest. We were thrilled to be introduced to our cabana for our two night stay. The place reminded us of some of Fiji’s cabanas that we had stayed last year. We went to the nearby (almost) deserted beach for a few hours. Upon our return, we enjoyed some cocktails while resting and reading in hammocks. In the evening, we had some shrimps and octopus for our evening meal. Later, we walked to the nearby luxury tourist hotel to a brief internet session.

2019.03.05 – [CU] Playa Maguana ==> Playa Maguana (0 kms | Total: 2383 kms) – We had a pleasant breakfast in our lust forest surroundings. Yesterday we accepted the casa owner’s son offer to guide us on a hike to a secluded swimming hole some 45 mins walk away. We left for our excursion at 9:30am. We enjoyed the hike and even more the swimming hole with its pristine water flowing through it. Back at our casa and after some clothes washing, we went back to the hotel for an internet session on our way to the beach. We enjoyed a few more hours of relaxing time in the water and on our beach chairs. We had a good evening meal of fish at our casa.

2019.03.06 – [CU] Playa Maguana ==> Moa (56 kms | Total: 2439 kms) – After breakfast outside our cabana oasis, we loaded the tandem and started our 55kms cycling to Moa. We had read that the road between Moa and Baracoa was was really rough. The road for the first 10-15kms cycling was reasonably good but the following 25 kms were in very poor condition which made the steep uphills and downhills very difficult. Thankfully, some 20kms before Moa the road condition improved significantly. As we approached Moa, a nickel and cobalt mining town, we expected to see a very desolate lunar landscape but our surprise the area was a lot greener than anticipated. Thanks again to Maps.me, we located our casa at the end of dirt side street. The owner couple were friendly. She was a dentist and he worked in one of the mines. Two mines were being exploited in Moa – one by a Canadian-Cuban joint company and another one by sole Cuban company. Late afternoon, we walked to town center for some water, beer and ice cream. We enjoyed for the first time in Cuba actual free wifi that the lady owner provided us with. We had a nice evening meal of fish at the casa.

2019.03.07 – [CU] Moa ==> Sagua de Tanamo (39 kms | Total: 2478 kms) – We heard the sound of rain throughout the night. The weather forecast had suggested that the rain would stop around 7am. Hence after our breakfast and while the rain had stopped, we quickly loaded the tandem and started our short 40kms cycling day. We climbed some long hills with manageable grade. Jenny covered herself a few times with her poncho but the rain did not last long. In Sagua, we stopped at a park for a brief internet session and ate some peso pizza before making our way to our casa which was 1km outside the town center. In the afternoon, we watched the rain fall throughout the rest of the day and evening. It proved a bit challenging to dry our washed clothes. We had a good evening meal of chicken at our casa. We both spent a lot of time reading.

2019.03.08 – [CU] Sagua de Tanamo ==> Mayarí (56 kms | Total: 2535 kms) – We had an early breakfast at the casa. Although we had tried to get an elevation profile of our route with Maps.me, it proved to be difficult to get an accurate picture. Hence, we were surprised by the 55+kms roller coaster cycling day. It rained on and off throughout the day. The climbs were long and the traffic was heavier than we hadever been used to. We were relieved when we finally arrived at our casa in Mayari. Our casa owners were waiting for us. Even after our arrival, it continued to rain on and off. Again it proved a bit challenging to dry our washed clothes. We walked to the town center for some beer, water and snacks. We managed to find the beer but not the water. As for snacks, we visited the ice parlor and pizzeria and both were out of supplies. We finally bought two pints of Nestlé ice cream. We had a good evening meal of fish at our casa. We enjoyed a few brief internet sessions from the comfort of our casa.

2019.03.09 – [CU] Mayarí ==> Banes (61 kms | Total: 2595 kms) – After our breakfast, we bid farewell to our friendly casa hosts. After the last couple of roller coaster cycling days, I had convinced Jenny that our route would be easier today as it would be mostly flat. I was only partly right, the road was flat but the 60+kms cycling day was not easy as we had some heavy headwinds for 40kms. We were relieved to arrive in Banes in the early afternoon. We checked into our casa which at first sight looked a bit dingy. We were surprised to learn that the two other rooms of the casa were rented out to two different retired Canadians, a lady from Toronto and a Québécois from Montréal. They were “enjoying” a six month stay in Cuba – which they had been doing for the past 12 years. Interestingly, these two Canadians did not appear to socialize much between them. We had a bit of a hard time understanding their choice of town or casa. Our daily shower was done with cold water. Later in the afternoon, we walked out of our casa in search of bottled water, beer and possible snacks. After visiting a few stores, we finally found the water and beer. After eating yesterday some Nestlé ice cream, we were excited to see the same Nestlé freezer in the store until we walked over and discovered it was empty. We had the same freezer experience in the next store. Well, so much for an ice cream treat today! While walking the streets, we managed to find a shoe repair store. We got Jenny’s cycling shoe heels resewn for $3. We had fish for our evening meal – unfortunately there were many flies that made it less enjoyable. In the evening, we walked to the park for a brief internet session.

2019.03.10 – [CU] Banes ==> Guardalavaca (37 kms | Total: 2633 kms) – As we stepped out of our room this morning, we were surprised to see the dark hallway. The casa owner had just started to prepare our breakfast. He quickly informed us that the daylight time saving change had taken place last night and hence we were one hour early for breakfast. After our breakfast, we were eager to leave our dingy casa as the water had run out in the morning. The 34 kms cycling to Guardalavaca was enjoyable – especially the long downhills. We arrived in Guardalavaca shortly after 10am. We managed to quickly locate our casa. We were pleased to see the casa was clean, spacious and was only steps away from sandy beaches. Although the casa owner was expecting us around noon, she kindly allowed us access to our room upon our arrival. We walked to a nearby resort hotel for a brief internet session. While we were connected to internet, we had a glimpse of the all-inclusive lifestyle – thanks but we’ll take a pass on that! Later, we cycled to the town center for a lunch snack; water and beer for our stay. Back at our casa, we walked to the nearby beach for an enjoyable afternoon dip. We had a good evening meal of fish at our casa.