Making the best out of an alternate plan

2016.02.15 – [CU] Baracoa ==> Baracoa (0 kms | Total: 96 kms)

We are awaken by heavy rain showers. Jenny enjoyed the rain. We had a great breakfast in the casa around 9am. The sky was dark today. We headed out between rain showers to the VIAzul Bus terminal to make reservations for our return journey to Guantanamo on the 18th of February. We got rained upon a lot. We bought some peso pizza but Jenny did not eat any. During our walk, we often needed to take refuge from the downpour. We walked the pedestrian walkway as well as other streets. We bought peanuts and some beers. We relaxed in our room before supper. We had shrimp and fish baked in green peppers for our dinner. We were very impressed by Daniel and Zeina’s cooking. We enjoyed a restful evening in our private room. Jenny discovered that our room had no water. Even after the water tank was refilled, only drips of water were coming out. Good thing that we had both showered. We hoped that the sun would return tomorrow.

2016.02.16 – [CU] Baracoa ==> Baracoa (0 kms | Total: 96 kms)

The sun was out in full force. After a very nice breakfast served on our private patio, we opted to visit one of the nearby beaches. We were told that a local mini-bus left from the parque central and went for the Playa Maguana between 9 and 10am. Once at the parque, we learned that there were no such buses as there were few tourists going to the beach. We spent one hour trying to arrange a taxi with others to share the cost. We finally got a private car ride with another older guest from Argentina. Our ride fee was 15 cuc. The 20kms drive to the beach was an experience in pothole avoidance, the road was in very bad condition. At the beach, we rented one sun chair. We took turns enjoying the sea and the waves. The beach was quite nice. We even noticed that few casas were available to rent nearby. Time went by quickly. We were continually offered drinks, food services but we kept declining most of the times. I finally ordered a plate of pulpo (octopus) on the beach before we left at 3:00pm. The return to Baracoa by the same private car was faster. Back in town, we tried out the internet service with a 30 mins card. Jenny managed a few text messages. I was unsuccessful at downloading a Kindle travel guide.

2016.02.17 – [CU] Baracoa ==> Baracoa (0 kms | Total: 96 kms)

Last night we had some great tasting chicken legs which were served again on our private patio. The food was plenty full. The service was outstanding. This morning we had breakfast again on our patio. We headed out to explore the local beach and along the way we meet Francisco, who introduced us to his casa. He also suggested we try hiking to the mirador across the bay. We bought a large bottle of water along the way. We walked along the beach and then followed the locals along a trail which crossed a suspension bridge. It was quite adventurous to cross. We paid an entrance fee (3 cuc) to gain access to the reserve where the mirador was located. Along the steep path, we encountered a local guy who suggested we dropped by his house for some coconut drinks. He guided us to the mirador located on a farmer’s land. We were introduced to different fruits. At the mirador, we met a couple from Quebec City. We talked briefly in French, then I gave 2 cuc to the young farmer for our visit to the mirador. The local guy then brought us to his house. He gave us a demonstration of his coconut climbing skills. It was fascinating to see him in action. He offered us two coconuts to drink and eat. We walked back to town and we visited the hilltop hotel El Castillo. We stopped for some peso ice cream before returning to our room for a shower and some relaxation before our supper at 6:00 pm. We were spoiled by Daniel and Zeina as they managed to secure some octopus (pulpo) for both of us, the meal on the patio was very enjoyable. As this was our last evening in Baracoa, Jenny agreed to take a walk around the town center. Back in our room we packed up our luggage for an early departure tomorrow morning.

2016.02.18 – [CU] Baracoa ==> Guantanamo (0 kms | Total: 96 kms)

Our breakfast was served, one last time, at 6:15am in Daniel and Zeina’s home. We took a few pictures before we left on our bici-taxi for the Viazul bus terminal. We were sad to leave our very hospitable hosts. Although we were at the bus terminal early, there was already a line of folks wanting to buy tickets. I saw that they had our names on their reservation list. We meet a girl from Toronto who was traveling in Cuba for a month. She was returning to Santiago to pursue her journey. We left the bus terminal at 8:30 am. The bus seemed slightly more comfortable to us. The climb over the “La Farola” was enjoyable and seemed less overwhelming in this direction. We saw a few cyclists beyond “La Farola”. In Guantanamo, we were greeted by a young man holding a sign with our names. He had a fancy old car and he promptly brought us to his mami’s casa. Although the room was nice, we didn’t feel overly well greeted as the casa owner was not around. We also did not like that we needed to ask each time we want to leave the casa for them to unlock the front door. We tried our luck with the internet service again with a 1 hour card. I was still unable to download a Kindle guide book or use VPN access on Jenny’s iPhone, to make an amazon.ca purchase. We had fresh fish for supper prepared by young man that picked us up at the bus terminal. We missed our hosts from Baracoa for their food, service and friendliness. During our meal, we discussed about leaving tomorrow morning instead of staying an extra night there. Jenny was very happy with this proposal. After supper, we headed out for a walk in the town center to see at what time the tourist and travel agencies opened tomorrow morning. Back in our casa, we relaxed with the thought that we would not have to stay an extra night in this jail-like casa.

2016.02.19 – [CU] Guantanamo ==> Playa Sibonay (0 kms | Total: 96 kms)

Before our 9am breakfast, we headed out to the tourist office to book some tickets for a Viazul bus. Unfortunately, the agent told us their system was down but he reassured us that it should not be a problem to get space on the bus as long as we show up at 10:30am – that was one hour before the scheduled bus arrival. We also managed to change 500 cdn at a casa de cambio nearby. Before returning to our casa for breakfast, the casa owner had returned from Havana during the night. She had prepared our breakfast and she shared her struggles with us – in her broken English. We informed the casa owner that we would be leaving this morning instead of tomorrow. After breakfast, we packed our things and we took a taxi from our casa to the Viazul terminal that was 6kms away from the center. At the terminal we were offered a taxi to go to the Siboney beach. Jenny negotiated a good price at 23cuc for the taxi ride. The small Fiat car was in bad shape but it managed to get us to Playa Siboney. The town was very small. We were greeted by a youth who helped us find a casa. After visiting a few casas who were either occupied or not good for us. We were finally lucky to find a nice casa – almost at the end of the village. The casa was right in front of the sea and we also had access to a pool at another nearby casa. We enjoyed some time in the rocking chairs in the shade while watching the sea. It was very relaxing. We enjoyed some fish for dinner. We were also hopeful that we could eat lobsters in the next few days. We were happy with our choice of casa. Earlier we bought beer and 500ml of water in the centre of the small town. We were able to kept our drinks cool as our room had a small refrigerator. We met the casa owner’s daughter who was a doctor (endocrine) and was looking forward to completing her internship next December.

2016.02.20 – [CU] Playa Sibonay ==> Playa Sibonay (0 kms | Total: 96 kms)

The casa was quiet and we enjoyed our room. After a nice breakfast, we headed out to the beach. The beach was a bit disappointing with a lot of stones. Later we learned that Cyclone Sandy damaged the entire town as well as the beach. George, our tout from yesterday, greeted us on the beach. He secured for us two sun chairs as well as an umbrella for 4 CUC. Although the beach was not very sandy, we did enjoy the water. We stayed at the beach until 3:30 pm. We showered and relaxed back at our casa. We had some large fish steak for supper. We met a young couple who were staying at our casa. Earlier George had proposed to arrange a taxi for us on Monday for 8 CUC. We agreed for 12:00 pm pick-up. The casa was busy this weekend as the casa owner’s husband was returning from the campo.

2016.02.21 – [CU] Playa Sibonay ==> Playa Sibonay (0 kms | Total: 96 kms)

It was already warm when we woke up in the morning. We had another good breakfast at 9am. We asked the casa owner to wash our clothes. I convinced Jenny to walk to the edge of the sea across some very difficult rocks similar to volcanic rock. We spent the afternoon at the pool of the casa owner’s ex-husband. We enjoyed a few beers as well as peanuts. We exchanged a lot with our casa neighbor, the young couple from Germany that came from Poland and France.

Jenny was finally granted her wish to eat lobster for dinner. The casa owner was very nice to have steamed two lobsters for us. We had supper around 6:30pm. It was very good. In the evening, as it seemed like a full moon, we took a walk to the town’s center. We payed our casa owner for our stay and we gave an extra 6 CUC for the clothes wash.

2016.02.22 – [CU] Playa Sibonay ==> Santiago de Cuba (0 kms | Total: 96 kms)

We had another lazy morning – as we sat in our rocking chairs watching the waves from the sea. While we ate our breakfast, we reminded ourselves how grateful we had been to stay here for three nights. Our young neighbor shared more travel experiences with us. By 11h30 our taxi arrived but George tried to up the price to 10 cuc but we held our end to 8cuc. We were dropped at Plaza Marte near our target casa. We quickly made our way to our casa, but we were greeted by the daughter of the casa owner. Our tandem and bag were still there. We quickly learned that the husband of the casa owner (Carmen) was in the hospital after having a brain hemorrhage. Her daughter further explained the situation and we realized that we would not be able to stay at this casa. Nonetheless Carmen found us another casa near by. We were initially pleased with the arrangement. We moved our tandem and our remaining luggage to our new casa. The new casa owner was very business oriented and did not live there – only staff handle this casa. It seemed more like a hotel or a casa like in Guantanamo. We opted to have supper at a restaurant instead of giving additional money to the casa owner. We tried the internet service again. We bought more beer and water for our last few days.