January 2, 2009
Exploring the Jibacoa Area: I think this way is shorter and easier!
My eyes popped open at 7:00 am and headed out on the bike. My goal was to visit with the guy who used to lend the bikes two years ago. Last year we rolled down to what ended up being the wee village of Boca da Canasi - the mouth of the Canasi River where it meets the ocean. That time a fellow came out of the house and said that he recognized us from the previous year. Incredible, really, when you think of how many people he must have seen through the years to remember us.
I headed up the hill from the hotel and it was already quite warm out. The ride was beautiful with mists in the valley and the soft early morning sunlight on the green hills. The road to the Boca was really slow going since it was so pot-holed and rough. However, I was quickly to the end of the road to where I thought was my destination. I saw an elderly man and woman and tried to converse with them - he said that his son Edouardo, who we had seen last year was out fishing and would not be back home for some hours. The stepmother works in the primary school in Canasi and she recognized us from when we went last year with the gifts and took the photographs of the kids in their classes. I explained that we had photos of the kids for the whole class and would bring them on Monday once the Christmas vacation was over.
I thanked them and said that I would try to return to see Eduardo then got on the bike and rode back up the road to the highway and back to the hotel in the increasing heat.
Maria was our server again and she asked if we would be going to see her family in Jaruco - we said we would like to go, but were nervous about a scooter for so long a trip. She told us that for CUC $20 her friend would pick us up at the hotel with his car then bring us back at the end of the day, so we agreed to this perfect solution. She will let us know when we can go.
Dessert was in the buffet then we prepared a bag of medicine to bring to the resort doctor (he has been here for nine years) and he was particularly pleased with latex gloves.
Before heading out of the resort we asked Adrian if he would suggest bringing medicine to a hospital or a medical centre but he said that it would likely not be sent to those who need it and we would be better off going to individuals. As we chatted, a British fellow who's a Rotary member from the Isle of Wight agreed with this - that often what is given may not get into the proper hands. With these thoughts we decided to gather a bag and head out in any direction to see who might need medicine. We ventured off into the countryside roads and gave children's medicine if there were kids at the homes, baby medicine if there were babies, and adult medicine for the parents and/or grandparents.
On the way back to the hotel we chose to ride along the highway to form a full loop trip. This was a tough ride because of a very long climb. Marie-Anne got off of the bicycle and walked up most of the way.The ride seemed to be endless so I stopped at a little café to ask which way to our hotel and the man I asked pointed back to where we had come. I thought Marie-Anne was going to kill me. Still, though I was doubting my good sense of direction, I went and asked a police officer who was just getting onto his motorcycle. He pointed along the road in the direction we had been heading and said about another few hundred metres was the road. Sure enough, I could see the road down to the resort and once we rode a few tens of metres down the road, I could see the smokestack of the closed mill in Canasi. Not seeing this chimney was what had thrown me since I was using it as a landmark to get back to the hotel, but it had been obscured by the hills. After all this, let's just say that I'm glad that we had not chosen to do an actual bicycle tour - Marie-Anne would not have been able to do it.
Just before we turned off of the highway we saw a Dutch couple on a tandem pulling a baby in a trailer. They had come from Varadero and were looking for the Cameleon/Tripico which is right next door to our hotel. We told them that they had just missed the turn so we all turned around and headed for the road to Jibacoa.
We took it fairly easily and even made a stop at a home where a farmer had given us bananas last year. He came down the hill, we gave them some medicine and they invited us back for tomorrow afternoon for some bananas from his trees.
The rest of the run back to the hotel was fast and downhill and we saw no more of the couple on the tandem. We assumed they made it to the hotel next door. We had a quick drink of icy juice in the hotel lobby then walked the bikes to our room to clean up for supper.
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Today's ride: 25 km (16 miles)
Total: 35 km (22 miles)
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