April 14 - Meandering through Pothole Craters: San Diego to Vinales through Parque La Guira ('La Wee-ra') - Cuba off of the Map (Tours 10 & 11) - 2010 & 2011 🇨🇺

April 14, 2011

April 14 - Meandering through Pothole Craters: San Diego to Vinales through Parque La Guira ('La Wee-ra')

Villa Pito, Casa Particular, CUC$15

TO MAKE sure we got an early start I was up right at 6:30 am and showered and got ready. We had breakfast with Joel - we asked if there was any reason why MA and I could not organize tours to Cuba with him as a guide. The one thing, he said, was that we'd have to learn Spanish a lot better to make sure nobody was playing games. He said the German tour operator calls in every day to check in with the group.

We bade farewell then loaded up the bikes and were on the road by 8:30 am. I also reset the trip meter to measure our progress. We rolled down past the school, as mentioned in the guidebooks. The street was roped off to prevent vehicles from coming through where the children were playing, so we dismounted the bikes and walked through along the sidewalk to the next block. Then we turned right and headed out across the bridge and into the countryside.

The light was beautiful, making the terrain very picturesque. The gentle rolling hills soon led us to the castle-like entrance to the Parque La Guira (La Weera) and the climbing started in earnest and so did the growth of extremely rough-terrained pot-holes that at times were 30 cm deep. It was incredible that this was a 'main' road. No bus could come this way but with our wide tires we were able to wind our way along between the pot-holes. But often we had to brake on the downhill or risk damaging the bike or ourselves in a three to six inch drop. Despite the condition of the road, I would say that with either a mountain bike or a touring bike with 36 spokes and wide enough touring tires (at least 1.5") it would not be a problem to ride here. One could even do it with a racing bike with 1" tires but you would have to be very careful at all times. The route is so beautiful that I would suggest going this way if at all possible so as not to miss its beauty.

Just out of San Diego the scenery was gentle and soft-looking in the morning light.

Same as above a few metres down the road

The interesting gates of La Parque La Guira. Yes, you pass right through the archway then immediately start to climb.

Through the Parque - notice all of the vehicle traffic

Incredibly-sized pot-holes, but quite manageable if you took your time and kept out of them

This tree was so huge we had to show it somehow with the camera - I think MA caught the right perspective. Notice the angle of the bike - that is how steep this climb is

The rough terrain continued for a while but gradually improved until there were almost no holes in the road

... and down the hills as the terrain rolled through the mountains

I just kept taking pictures through the area - it was a magical place to ride

Taking a break once we came out of the mountains. We had to slow somewhat since there was a big truck inching its way down the mountain and around the potholes. Every time its wheels fell into a hole we wondered if it would topple it over the side of the mountain and down into the valley below

The temperature steadily climbed all day until it reached about 38 C. It was darned hot. Before long the mogotes ('ma-hoe-tays') starting rising straight up and we could see how they were riddled with caves. All of the land used to be that high until underground rivers cut through the limestone until it collapsed leaving some higher peaks of harder stone.

I gawked and shot a pile of photos. At about the 14 km point the road improved somewhat. Then again at the 30 km point we branched to the left as per the Smith book. The road deteriorated to sometimes gravel, sometimes paved, but usually a mix with many pot-holes. But, incredibly beautiful! Mogotes everywhere with fields of coffee, bananas, tobacco with earth as red as PEI.

At lunch time we stopped for a can of tuna, cookies and Gatorade. Then away we went with 24 km to go.

Though the riding was beautiful, with the road so rough it was exhausting me. I was zonked. I stood. I sat. One hand off. The other hand off. Sit forward. Sit back. All the while the heat intensified as we came to better but darker pavement.

Eventually we arrived at the branch of the road that led into town or back to La Palma. Right away we saw some little bananas for sale so we stopped to get a few. Then we came the rest of the way to the town of Vinales ('Bin-yal-ays'). It was fairly busy which was odd after all day with next to nobody. We were approached a number of times for a casa but we had a specific one in mind - Villa Pito.

It was tricky but we found it - we saw the rooms then he said CUC$20. I winced so he immediately changed it to CUC$15. Then we asked for supper and he said CUC$9 each for a full seafood meal. We agreed on that one! Then out came his daughter with fresh jugo de pina which was to-die-for delicious. While I sweltered and wrote, MA washed her gear and showered.

We told them one night for sure but maybe two. We'll have him call the taxi to see what it would cost to taxi us to Breezes Jibacoa and we'll check the price of the bus to Habana and then a taxi the rest of the way; these for either Saturday or Sunday.

Around 6 pm the host asked if we were ready to eat and my tummy was 'gwaggling' so within five minutes we sat down to a feast of undersea white meat, shrimp, cucumbers, tomatoes, rice and black bean sauce, yucca, home-made fries, beer and a fruit plate for dessert. Though it was a big meal like that we devoured it in about twenty minutes. Cycling leads to a bottomless-pit-like stomach.

Then the sales pitch: in Canada, a box of Cohibas like 'this one' costs CDN$1000; in Cuba it would cost CUC$425; but his is just CUC$80 and he only makes CUC$10. I explained to him that we don't smoke. If I had a buyer for that many, I might have considered it, but I don't.

We rolled out to the front of the house where we chatted and read. It was neat to watch as big black clouds rolled in and then it rained for ten or fifteen minutes. Just enough to drive up the humidity and bring out the sandflies - they ended up driving us both crazy.

At the late hour of 8:15 pm we decided to go to the room to read. I asked the host for the air conditioner so he went outside to turn on the breaker and glorious cool air started to make the room more liveable.

Then it was back to Smith to make sure I read my 50 pages today (that way I'll be done before we return home.)

The hills roll along; the heat intensifies

Out of the mountains the roads are relatively flat as they negotiate around the mogotes

Last bit of sand road before the intersection to Vinales

We were glad to arrive since the heat of the day had zonked us. Thankfully there were a number of little kiosks selling bananas, pineapples and drinks

Today's ride: 64 km (40 miles)
Total: 335 km (208 miles)

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