2016.02.09 – [CA] Home ==> Montreal (0 kms | Total: 0 kms)

This morning was our last work day before our two week vacation. I managed to put our large transport bag in the Subaru. The loading of the tandem was more complicated as I had installed the front rack hence I could not use the rack’s swing out feature. Nonetheless, I was successful at securing the tandem on the roof rack with the help of a small step ladder. At the office, given the light snow was coming down, I proposed to remove the tandem from the roof in order to park the car in the basement garage. The removal of the tandem was not as successful as it unexpectedly fell on its side while still on the roof. I briefly noticed that the rear gear cable appeared loose. At the time, I did not make much of this incident. By 3:00 pm, Jenny and I were ready to leave the office. We re-installed the tandem on the car’s roof rack and head out to Montreal before the heavy rush hour.

The drive to Montreal was uneventful. We had to try a few highway exits before we managed to locate our hotel as we had not brought our GPS or a map for direction. The Econo Lodge’s parking was full of cars in addition to large storage containers used to store new furniture as the motel was in the middle of remodeling for of its rooms. After a brief check-in, we headed out to our favorite ribs restaurant: BarnBarn, some 10kms away. The restaurant was quiet on a Tuesday night. We returned to our hotel by 8:00 pm. We showered and rested in bed. We set our alarms for 6:00 am and requested a wake-up call also.

2016.02.10 – [CU] Montreal ==> Santiago de Cuba (0 kms | Total: 0 kms)

We woke up with Jenny’s iPhone alarm. After our morning preparation, I carried our large equipment bag to the car. The tandem was still secured to the car’s roof rack. We noticed a light snow has fallen during the night. We carefully made our way to the airport. We were surprised by the long line up of cars at the airport’s departure drop-off zone. We finally managed to park the car in the drop-off area. We promptly unloaded the tandem and bags. I left Jenny at the airport and headed out to our P5 parking which offered the best parking rate. As I had made the online reservation only the previous night, the parking attendant expected me to show him some proof, but after some explanation he was allowed me into the car park. While waiting for the shuttle back to the airport, I chatted with a few recently retired gentlemen whose wives were at the airport waiting for them. After a 15 mins wait for the shuttle, I was back with Jenny and we wrapped up the tandem in our plastic sheet. The Sunwing check-in line was quite long. At the counter our heavy bag was overweight but they eventually waive the extra fees. We were only charged $30 the tandem for the entire return flight. After leaving our tandem and heavy bag at the oversize bag screening area, we went through security screening. We had a quick breakfast at Tim Hortons. Our boarding took place as scheduled but the de-icing and taxiing took some time. The flight to Holguin went well but we were not expecting to have to deplane in order to have the aircraft cleaned. After re-boarding, the flight to Santiago took only 20 minutes. Upon our arrival in Santiago, we were among the first to deplane, hence custom was fast and our luggage was also among the first. Given that it was too late to assemble the tandem and cycle into town, we opted for a taxi to reach the city center. The taxi driver was very friendly and promptly helped to secure the tandem to his car’s rooftop rack. Along the way he stopped with us at a couple of casas particulares. As it was getting dark, we settled for a very modest place. Once we were settled in, I worked on re-assembling the tandem. The owner introduced us to a nearby restaurant on the rooftop. Although the place appeared popular we fel the meals offered at casa were typically much better. After our meal, we took a short walk to the nearby Plaza Cespedes. We rested in our room for the remainder of the evening. I filtered some water in preparation for tomorrow’s ride.

2016.02.11 – [CU] Santiago de Cuba ==> Palma Soriano (58 kms | Total: 58 kms)

The casa was somewhat noisy but Jenny slept well but I did not. We had breakfast at the casa around 8:15. Before loading the tandem, I went for a ride around the block to ensure everything was working OK. Unfortunately, I realized that the rear gear shift was not working properly and the bottom cable holder was broken. We realized that this damage was done when I tried to unload the tandem at the office the previous day. I managed to keep the gear engaged/stabilized by applying constant pressure. The broken gear would surely be a problem along the way. After trying the tandem with Jenny, we loaded the panniers. The tandem was very heavy. The casa owner provided me with a city map to help get out of the city. Before we even managed to get on the road to Palma, we had to change our rear inner tube as the tire was almost flat. Back on the road, we rode fairly slowly. The road inclines were not very steep but nonetheless I found them very demanding. Some hills were quite long, and I preferred to walk beside the tandem. We didn’t really take many breaks except when we walked the hills. We meet a group of Americans on bicycle enjoying their downhill ride. I was exhausted by the time we reached Palma Soriano. After stopping at a gas station, we inquired about available casas in town. A boy reassured us that he could introduce us to a casa owner nearby. The casa to which he brought us normally hosted only locals. But the owner allowed us to stay one night. The place was even more modest than the previous night – no hot water. Jenny’s bum hurt and my own legs were sore. We were both concerned about tomorrow’s expected long day. The earlier boy came back to the casa in the hope of introducing us to a restaurant. After following him across town, we gave up on his offer. We finally opted to eat at a peso pizza restaurant. We returned to our very modest casa for a well needed rest. We were pretty convinced that we needed to seek some transportation tomorrow to help get to us to our next destination. We decided to wait until tomorrow to re-assess our situation! I filtered more water for our ride tomorrow.

2016.02.12 – [CU] Palma Soriano ==> Santiago de Cuba (38 kms | Total: 96 kms)

As the casa owner requested, we planned to leave at 8am. We hoped to catch a transport to Yamani. After walking across the street from the casa, we tried to cycle with the tandem but suddenly, the chain got twisted in the rear derailleur. I was quite confused with this new issue. I believed the chain was damaged. It seemed our riding and our cycling adventure was done for this trip. We were best to return to Santiago de Cuba with the damaged tandem. As the guagua station was very close by, we were surprised how they allowed us on board with the tandem and our panniers stored in our transport bags. The 45 mins guagua ride appeared long as the transport filled up. We were asked 100 pesos for the bike and ourselves. (At 5 CUC, this seemed like a bargain. Back in Santiago, I attempted for 90 mins to fix the rear chain and derailleur. I discovered that the shifting cable broke. After multiple tries, I managed a temporary fix on a single gear. Jenny needed something to eat as we had not eaten breakfast. I realized after reviewing my spare parts that I must have forgotten a spare rear derailleur cable at home – even though I had clearly remembered unwinding it at home. This was the last sign confirming that we were not meant to cycle on this trip.

We managed to cycle to a casa particular that I had listed on a mindmap on my Kindle. We were in luck, they had a nice room available for us for two nights. After registering with our passport, we made plans for the remainder of our stay in Cuba. We opted to take the VIAZUL bus to Baracoa next Sunday. Hence, we headed out to the center to buy bus tickets. We walked towards the bus terminal to have a sense of how far things were. We stopped for some peso ice cream on the way back. We had fish at our casa for supper. We rested in our room in the evening.

2016.02.13 – [CU] Santiago de Cuba ==> Santiago de Cuba (0 kms | Total: 96 kms)

We had a nice breakfast at the casa around 9am. We left our casa to walk around the Malecon. We bought water at a tienda where we met our previous casa owner, to which we had to explain our change of plan. We hailed a taxi on the street to visit the fortress as the driver waited for us while we visited the site. The one hour visit could have a bit longer if we had not negotiated the time with the taxi driver. The fare was only 10 CUC. Upon our return, we stopped at an outdoor beer garden and ordered a 1-liter beer column. We also treated ourselves to a five-scoop ‘peso’ ice cream bowl each. The hours drifted by fairly quickly. Back at the casa for a shower and some rest before our 6pm meal of shrimps. In the evening, we visited the nearby Plaza Marti where a group wedding of 12 couples was being held as part of the festivities for Valentine’s Day/weekend. We had breakfast with two retired ladies living in Portugal who were from Finland and Sweden.

2016.02.14 – [CU] Santiago de Cuba ==> Baracoa (0 kms | Total: 96 kms)

This morning we had an early breakfast at 6:15am in order to be at the VIAzul terminal by 7am. A taxi brought us from the casa to the bus terminal. We were leaving the tandem and most of our luggage at the casa. We only had a front and back panniers with us. At the bus terminal we waited with other tourists for the arrival of the bus for our scheduled five hour journey to Baracoa. The bus driver drove fairly slowly given the road condition. He also seemed to stop every hour for 10 minutes. Upon our arrival in Baracoa bus terminal, we were greeted by our expected casa owner who showed up with a sign with our names. We were brought to a casa in bici-taxi and quickly our luggage was brought to our room. Francisco, our expected casa owner, explained that his casa was only available today – hence he introduced us to his brother-in-law’s casa. The place was very nice, private room with roof top patio. Daniel and Zeina were our actual casa hosts. After settling in, we headed out to purchase some beer, wine and water. We had Daniel’s fish with special coco sauce – it was very good. We rested in our room for the rest of the evening.