January 11, 2009
Overlooking the Northern Coast: Up the mountain with a scary descent
Though it was supposed to rain today, it was another amazing day. Our plan was that after breakfast we would bike to the spot where the old man was crushing cans last week. Adrian and his friend Julia met us with a car and they drove up the hill where we struggled on the bikes. The hill climbed steeply and there were large boulders along the road so it was really tough to climb, so we walked part of the way, sweating buckets, until the road leveled off a bit so we were able to ride the last bit to the top.
This building used to belong to the government as part of a lookout. There are great views down into the valley. It needs a lot of work before they rent it out but what an amazing location and view. He brought us across the field to the other side of the mountain which had views up and down the coast. There was a drop-off of a few hundred feet with no fence to keep a person from stepping over the edge - a little scary. The potential of this place is enormous once things open up in Cuba. Sadly, I could see mansions up here one day or worse yet, rows of condominiums.
Thanking Adrian, we rolled down the hill and for fun we stopped at the little grocery store on the road back to the hotel. There were a few snacks in the store but mostly they had a lot of Chinese-made toys - trucks, dolls and such. They seemed fairly costly at maybe twice the price of what they would cost at home. And yet consider that Cubans make a pittance compared to what we make. I'm not sure how they could afford these things. While each of us was in the store, the other stayed with the bikes - everyone has told us to keep a close watch on them, including Adrian who met us at the store when he stopped to get some drinks for him and his friend. What we found is that wherever we stopped the young kids would really leer at the bikes. Not a good sign.
Back at the hotel we went for lunch, had dessert then told Kim and Kyle that we would meet them at the beach a little later to read. We had not been there long when they came along to say that they had received a phone call from the main lobby asking why they had not yet checked out. The Cuban band was in the buffet so I gave the bass player the USB drive that he had asked for last year. They played Chan Chan and Fiesta for us, plus, one of the server girls got up and danced to their music. It was great and everyone in the buffet loved the performances.
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