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

2019.03.11 – [CU] Guardalavaca ==> Guardalavaca (0 kms | Total: 2633 kms) – After our breakfast, we cycled to the nearby resort to use their wifi. We needed to upload the photos and text to our next travel blog entry. The connection was poor and as a result it took us twice as much time to publish our post than usual. After which we continued our route to the nearby bank where we withdrew more funds using our credit card. We stopped again at yesterday’s open-air fast food joint. Well, it seemed like we ate yesterday the last two individual pizzas from the fast food as the pizza offering was taken off the menu list. After more than two months cycling in Cuba, we learned to pay close attention to the menu item list displayed at the entrance of every eatery (cafeteria, pizzeria, ice cream parlor, etc). Although a photo of a juicy hamburger might be on display on the eatery’s wall unless it was listed on the “official” menu offering, it simply did not exist. Sitting at the El Rapido fast food snack bar made us reflect even more on the two different realities of Cuba. Across the street from our seats, there were abundance of food that supplied several resorts while on this side of the road the available food items were mostly of the liquid form (coffee, beer, rum) and the smoking type (cigars, cigarillos, cigarette). We still managed to find some Nestlé ice cream at another nearby tourist shop. After cycling around the resort area and surrounding neighborhood, we returned to our casa. We relaxed while reading on the rocking chairs in front of our casa. Later in the afternoon, we went for another dip in the sea. We had another evening meal of fish at our casa. We later walked back to the nearby resort. We were surprised to see the beach area so peaceful. We assumed the resort guests were getting ready to visit one of the many restaurants available to them.

2019.03.12 – [CU] Guardalavaca ==> Gibara (52 kms | Total: 2685 kms) – We left our nice seaside casa after breakfast for our 50kms ride to Gibara. The cycling was very pleasant until the more direct road to Gibara suddenly turned after 30kms to a dirt road. As we took another turn on the dirt road, we started cycling on a roughed road. We were following horse pulled carts that were having trouble negotiating the deep pot holes. Although Maps.me displayed this route as a car route, it was a clear reminder not to blindly trust gps directions. We had inquired yesterday at our casa whether we could cycle on this road. Although we thought it was strange when the owner’s son asked us whether we were driving a jeep but as we told him we were on a tandem, he assured us that we should be fine. I must admit that I enjoyed cycling this 10kms rough road but Jenny was not so thrilled. We rejoined the paved road some 7kms before Gibara. We easily found our reserved casa and checked in. After our daily routine, we stepped out to buy some water and beer. We were intrigued by the African oak trees and their pods standing in the main square. Our casa’s interior patio hosted a small restaurant in the evening. It seemed that because we ate so early, the restaurant was not staffed until later in the evening, hence our evening meal had to be prepared by the casa owners. We were somewhat disappointing with their meal offering. In the evening, we walked the streets towards the hillside of the town.

2019.03.13 – [CU] Gibara ==> Gibara (0 kms | Total: 2685 kms) – At breakfast, we met a French couple staying at our casa. They were also planning to spend the day at Playa Blanca which was only a 20 minutes ferry ride across the bay. We joined them on the ferry. Jenny and I had packed up our inflatable mattresses, pillows, reading material and snacks to enjoy a long day at the beach. We had been looking forward to visiting Playa Blanca as we had very good memories from our 2005 visit with Victoria. As the ferry boat, which was nothing more than a small 8 passenger boat, dropped us on the other side of the bay. we started to walk towards the direction of the beach as we remembered it. Unfortunately, after stopping at a few areas along the coast, we came to sad realization that the 2008 hurricane Ike that struck Gibara had destroyed Playa Blanca. All of the sand had been cleaned off the beach leaving only the underlying bedrock. We were totally disappointed by the unfortunate beach condition. We managed to enjoy a dip in the sea at a small cove which still had a bit of sand left. In the end, we waited longer for our return ferry than our actual time at the beach. We opted to have our evening meal at a nearby restaurant. It was a much nicer experience than last evening’s casa meal. Upon our return at the casa, we learned that the French couple had also found a small area of sand for their beach break.

2019.03.14 – [CU] Gibara ==> Holguín (36 kms | Total: 2721 kms) – After breakfast, we loaded the tandem and started our short 35 kms ride to Holguín. Although Maps.me’s elevation profile suggested a continuous climb to Holguín, we enjoyed the cycling. Once in town, our gps easily led us to our casa. After settling in, we walked out to explore the city center and buy some snacks, water and beer. We noticed that several tour buses appeared to drop off their passengers for their own city exploration. Back at our casa, we enjoyed some wifi access from our room and had a good evening meal there. Later in the evening, we strolled back to the city center and noticed the absence of tourists.

2019.03.15 – [CU] Holguín ==> Puerto Padre (63 kms | Total: 2783 kms) – After breakfast, we bid farewell to our friendly casa owners and started our 60+kms cycling day to Puerto Padre. After climbing a few hills, the road leveled off for the rest of our route to Puerto Padre. As we arrived at our casa shortly after noon, the owners appeared eager to register our passports. We discovered that the family had a taxi waiting for them to whisk them away for the rest of day. As they left, the owners recommended a nearby restaurant for our evening meal. In the afternoon, we went out in search of some snacks but after walking the main street for some distances, we had almost given up finding anything until we discovered an ice cream parlor at the casa’s door steps. After our evening meal at the restaurant, we walked along the seafront.

2019.03.16 – [CU] Puerto Padre ==> Manati (53 kms | Total: 2837 kms) – I woke up in the morning tired and with a bad stomach ache. I barely had any appetite for the poor breakfast offering (overly salty omelet and sugary coffee). As I felt weak, we were thankfully we only had 50kms to cycle to Manati. Based on our travel guide, we had expected a rough road beyond Puerto Padre but in the end the road was in a good state. After cycling 5kms off the main road, we arrived in the town of Manati. We were relieved to be escorted to our casa by the owner’s brother on a bicycle as Maps.me did not provide us with the casa’s location. We were totally taken by surprised at the very nice casa situated in this small town in the middle of nowhere. As usual upon our arrival at our various casas, we would ask for some fresh fruit juice as a welcoming drink. The owner provided us with a generous portion of fresh fruit juice after I informed him of my stomach aches. The casa offered the best pool we had seen in Cuba. I managed to change in my swimwear for a brief refreshing dip. Jenny and I spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on sleep. Although the casa owners served a very good evening meal, I still had limited appetite. We went to bed in the early evening after taking an Advil pill for the light fever I had.

2019.03.17 – [CU] Manati ==> Nuevitas (76 kms | Total: 2913 kms) – We both had a good night sleep. My stomach ache and fever appeared gone. We had a great breakfast. Up until Manati, we had difficulty identifying the three best casas we had stayed at in Cuba. It had been far easier for us to agree on the three worst casas. But now, we agreed that our casa in Manati was the best one we had encountered and likely to encounter. We somehow suspected that the casa was not showing up Maps.me for a reason – to keep it as a hidden gem. For the first half of our 75 kms cycling day, the main road changed to a dirt one with a good surface. We had to cycle 14kms off the main road, and against a headwind, to reach our casa outside of Nuevitas. Our room and casa family were pleasant unfortunately we were out of reach of any internet access. We had a good and plentiful evening meal. We started to notice that on this stretch of the northern road, our evening meals were costing us twice as less than other areas of Cuba – so much for the absence of tourists.

2019.03.18 – [CU] Nuevitas ==> Jaronú (90 kms | Total: 3002 kms) – We scheduled our breakfast for 7am in light of our 85+kms cycling day to Jaronú. The road was in very good condition and, like the past few days, very flat. Although we cycled at a good speed, we kept on hoping for an even stronger tail wind on the long strait road stretches. The endless cattle grazing landscape reminded us the Australian Outback. Vehicle traffic was very light. We would always be surprised to see folks along the side of the road waiting at a bus stop in the middle of nowhere. It was Jenny’s turn to have an upset stomach. The last eight kms to our casa were excruciating painful to Jenny as she was desperate need of a bathroom. As soon as we arrived at our casa, the lady owner directed Jenny to our room’s washroom to her great relief. As we recovered from our long cycling day, we both found the small town of Jaronú very relaxing and offered some unique building architecture. The town was built by a USA sugar company in support of one of the last sugar mills built in Cuba prior to the Revolution. During our evening meal, we discussed the idea of modifying our itinerary to stay an extra day in Jaronú instead of Morón where we had initially planned to stop for a rest day. We informed our casa owner of our desire to stay an extra day. The casa owner in Moron was informed as well as Noel in Matazans. By the end of the day, Jenny’s stomach aches had much improved. We enjoyed accessing the wifi from the park across the street from our casa. We had a delicious and generous evening meal of chicken and fish.

2019.03.19 – [CU] Jaronú ==> Jaronú (0 kms | Total: 3002 kms) – We had a nice, plentiful and relaxing breakfast. We visited the small ETECSA office in the hope of purchasing some additional internet cards but to our surprise (not really), we were told that they had run out. We spent most of the late morning in our casa’s garden catching up with our travel expenses, journal and photos. In mid-afternoon, we met Jörg who arrived at our casa from Manati. Jörg was from Germany but he was now living most of the year at his house in Guanabo, near Havana. He was an avid cyclist who started his current cycling trip from Santiago de Cuba. We were amazed by the long distances he was covering during his cycling days – at least twice at much as we normally did. We had long exchanges with him as he provided a lot of insights into local Cuban life. He was looking forward to re-joining his son and girlfriend in Guanabo by the next Sunday. We had a repeat of last evening meal at our casa in company of Jörg.

2019.03.20 – [CU] Jaronú ==> Morón (94 kms | Total: 3096 kms) – Both Jorg and us opted for an early breakfast at 7am. After a few photos, we bid farewell to our nice and friendly casa owner as well as Jörg who would be speeding away on a dirt road. We had opted to retrace our previous route to the main road. We were very thankful that we had taken a day of rest yesterday in Jaronú as it seemed like the kms today were simply flying by. Although we did not have much of a tailwind, the sky was mostly covered and the light wind kept us cool. We were pleased by the progress on our longest cycling day… until the last 15kms when the clouds suddenly opened up and drenched us for the remainder of the distance in Moron. We arrived liked wet cats at our casa after cycling 93kms. We were directed to a nearby annex casa for our stay. The casa manager was very friendly and went out of his way to make sure we had a good stay. After our showers, the rain had stopped. Jenny still managed to do some clothes wash and hanged them to dry within our enclosed apartment area. We had an excellent fish meal at the main casa. As our second visit to Moron, our view of this city as a dingy and dirty place did not change much. We asked our casa manager about the reasons why the casa rental prices were typically higher here than elsewhere in Cuba. According to him, there was a higher demand for accommodation in Moron from travelers who prefer to stay away from the nearby resorts of Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo.

2019.03.21 – [CU] Morón ==> Ciego de Ávila (36 kms | Total: 3132 kms) – To our surprise, our washed clothes had managed to dry during the night. We returned to the main casa for a bountiful breakfast. Later, we loaded the tandem and left Moron at 9am for Ciego de Ávila. This was the second time we were cycling down this road. The first time was more than five weeks ago when we had opted to embark on a counter-clockwise loop of the Cuba’s far east. We covered the 36kms fairly quickly and managed to check into our casa by 11am. We were sadden to learn that the casa owner was hospitalized but the casa helper had kept our room reservation from our last visit on Feb. 12th. After a shower, I stepped out for some water and beer. On the way back to the casa, I stopped to order some take-away hamburgers for lunch. It took over 45 minutes from the time I lined up to order to the time I left with my take out order – not quite the “fast” food but they were certainly very tasty hamburgers. Unexpectedly it rained heavily in the mid-afternoon. We had enjoyed our meals very much in this casa on our previous visit, unfortunately the second time around was not the case. In the evening, we did not venture out of our casa as the clouds were still menacing.

2019.03.22 – [CU] Ciego de Ávila ==> Sancti Spíritus (78 kms | Total: 3210 kms) – Clearly our breakfast was much nicer than our previous evening meal. We started our 75+kms cycling day under a cool morning breeze. The road offered many distractions but the vehicle traffic kept us focus on the pavement. It was a fair disappointment knowing that the wind would not be blowing at our back even though we were heading west. The wind made it feel like the road climbed all day but in fact when we arrived in Sancti Spíritus our altitude was lower than when we started our day. We located our casa nearby the main square. Later, I stepped out for some water, beer and snacks. I thought I was in luck when I stopped at a shop where the Nestlé ice cream freezer was full to the brim, but unfortunately, I learned that I could not buy any as the “paperwork” had not been completed. The ice cream was hot off the delivery truck. I managed to buy some of the same ice cream after asking the Nestlé delivery truck driver where else in town I could find some ice cream. After our evening meal on the beautiful garden rooftop patio of our casa, we walked out to explore the pedestrian street and a few cobble stone pathways.

2019.03.23 – [CU] Sancti Spíritus ==> Trinidad (71 kms | Total: 3281 kms) – As we had another 70+kms cycling day, we scheduled our breakfast at7am. The morning light was just starting to come out when we seated ourselves on the garden rooftop patio for breakfast. Later, we bid farewell to our casa owner and started our uphill and downhill route towards Trinidad. We noticed that the wind direction was a bit more favorable to us. We had planned to stop some 15 kms before Trinidad at a popular sugarcane farm with an old watch tower. As we arrived, we were overwhelmed by the number of tour buses and even a tourist train that were on-site. We almost turned around, but instead we opted to have some ice cream. Although Jenny and I both remembered from our 2008 visit that the last 15 kms to Trinidad was particular difficult with one long climb, we were surprised that we easily cycled that segment of road. Once in town, we were relieved to locate our reserved casa nearby the main road as Trinidad’s colonial charm is its not-so-friendly cobble stone streets. After our daily routine, we felt uplifted knowing we had cycled more than 3,200kms and the remaining two weeks on the road would be easy sailing to Matanzas. We had a good evening meal of chicken at our casa. In the evening, we strolled the cobble stone streets in company of hundreds of other tourists.