April 15, 2010
April 15 - Cojimar to Playa Baracoa via La Habana: Wind, Ferry Ride, Malecon Misadventures and Beachside Dinner
6h0m. Pvt casa, CUC$25
MADDENINGLY MY watch alarm went off in the middle of the night... but it was actually 6:30 am since our breakfast was to be at 7 am.
I was finally relieved when I went out to find the bikes and the BOB intact. I brought down some of the bags to load them onto our racks and trailer expecting our breakfast to be ready soon - but I think they all slept in, for at 7:20 she said she would be ready in five minutes, and then she told us she had no more gas to cook us anything, anyway. I had lots of time to urge MA to get ready, re-pack the bags and take pictures of the property.
Breakfast ended up being someone else's espresso, week-old crouton-dry bread, and wooden decorative pineapple chunks (Now, that's more than tedium from a pen!) At least they did not charge us for the 'meal' since they could not get eggs cooked for us. Now that I think of it, I would not have paid for a meal like that, anyway. The saving grace - Alice has an extremely bad cold and felt like crap so was in no condition to prepare food for anyone, let alone people cycling daily for hours on end!
As we were about to go we met a man originally from Grande Prairie, Alberta, who was with a church group working to clean a beach in Cojimar - both he and our host directed us to the Policlinico centre a few blocks away to deliver our suitcase of medications. While MA stayed with the bikes I went in with the suitcase to look for the appropriate place to deliver them. The woman at the reception (which was thronging full of people) sent me upstairs; the administration lady brought me to an office and got the doctor to present them with the suitcase and the meds - and were really pleased to get them. They were even more pleased when I told them they could keep the case everything was in - and for me, even more weight from my load. The clinic was very busy so I'm sure the meds will be put to great use.
I returned to the bikes, and with many questions to pedestrians to ensure we had the right route and were going the correct way, we found our wasy past the velodrome and Pan-Am stadium onward into Casablanca - all following Rosa Jordan's notes in Lonely Planet Cycling Cuba - and down to the ferry boat pier at La Habana where there were awesome views across to Habana Vieja.
The security guards started asking for chicles and pens and when we told them that we had none, one of them said she had to look through our bags and backed off when she got a pen. I pulled ahead to the gate and waited for the ferry to return which it did in ten or fifteen minutes. We were charged CUC$2 each but the way the guy acted, I think he had somewhat inflated the fee for us. It seems to me it should have been 5 or 10 centavos. Oh well.
The ride across the bay on the ferry was pretty nice and we ended up right near the Russian Orthodox Church where we had walked with Kim and Kyle last year. We were very cautious in the busy traffic as we circled Habana Vieja and went to the same restaurant we went to last year and a few years back because this time we could keep an eye on our bikes as we ate on the patio. We had an amazing Cuban sandwich which we devoured then headed along the Malecon.
With the extreme wind from over the water, the waves were crashing over the wall - at one point our route was actually covered with seaweed and when I looked back after hearing a yell I could see that MA had fallen, and then I started to fall when my front wheel slipped out from under me but was able to catch myself... though I cut my left shin. We promptly switched to the road to keep out of the seaweed threat. A lesson - if you ride on a sidewalk, you'll get into trouble because you should not be riding on the sidewalk!!
Following LP's notes we found our way to Supermercado 70 (named for the cross street where it is located) where I bought some canned tuna, canned veggies, juice, sweets and peach juice. The selection was really quite poor (no fresh veggies, no fresh fruit) and rather expensive - about CUC$20 for very little. But crowded? FULL of people milling about buying all kinds of junk food!
When I got back out, MA was talking with someone who ended up being from Sudbury, ON, originally, but his wife now works at the Canadian embassy, but he also wants to start an adventure sport company here to attract Canadians and Americans when they can finally visit Cuba. I'm to e-mail him the link to LP to remind him of the Cuba branch on the Thorn Tree as well as to link him to the CGOAB site.
We continued on our way with a medium pace as it was now mid-day and quite hot and we were running low on water. The route was fairly simple to follow - straight along the water, more-or-less. Not sure how far we had to go, I stopped at one point to ask where Playa Baracoa was... and they pointed behind us to a road about 100 m back! We had overshot the town! Thank goodness for asking someone or I might still be looking for PB!
The wind... the beloved wind that has been pushing us for two days was now our worst enemy. Our other enemy was the town of FULL casas. Finally, we stopped at what ended up being a hotel for the Escuela Panamericano (medical school) which could not take tourists, but someone who worked there, walked us all through town until he found a place up to our specs. It was an unofficial casa but clean, it was big, it was air conditioned, had a TV and fridge... and best of all we could put our bikes inside when we went out for a walk and overnight. Thank goodness!
I washed my gear and hung it out on the line while MA did not electrocute herself with a Cuban shower heater (though I got a shock when I tried to adjust the shower head!) then after a showered I UV'd some water for tomorrow's long ride to Las Terrazas but I'll be adding Gatorade so we make it there alive.
All cleaned up, we headed down toward the beach to find a restaurant - and found a palm-roofed restaurant which served seafood. But, prices were 27, 30 and forty!! But when I asked the server, we found that the prices were actually in Moneda Nacional, which divides it by 23. So dishes were about CUC$1 each. Much better. We ordered fish and chips and rice and it was delicious. Ice cream for dessert. Me, two beer... Bucanero, and MA had two mojitos... for a total of CUC$11.50. Not bad at all. And here is this place with only the two of us with enough room for maybe 200. Incredible. There is even a screen for an LCD projector, sans projector.
We wanted to hang out our laundry again so we walked back up the hill to eh casa. It's also going to be an early night since tomorrow will be a long ride.
It is interesting how first impressions may deceive. My first thought when I saw our host was not a good one. As it turns out it is a great place and a very gracious host. He used to live in City X where he drove large moving trucks all over the US; however, his wife did not want to go and stayed here with their child who is now six, so he came back to Cuba. He says he does not like his country and wants to return to the US one day. So did Rio, saying he does not like the heat and prefers the cold. Anyway, our host bent over backwards to accommodate us even asking if we wanted to run our clothes through his washer's spin cycle for quicker drying.
To this point, the remainder of the evening would be resting for tomorrow's 7 am departure and crashing early in order to do so. Everything on the line was fairly dry, and with the ac running at low speed, sleep found us very quickly.
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Today's ride: 35 km (22 miles)
Total: 95 km (59 miles)
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