Matanzas

We have arrived in Matanzas (100km from la Habanna) after some lovely days on the coast and a couple of hard days riding, yesterday 92km with a head wind all day. Have just been entertained by a wind band playing in the park for the anniversary of Jose Marti, national hero, poet and freedom fighter born in 1853. Were woken up this morning at 7 am by music playing nearby. From balcony of our casa we watch more than a thousand school children singing and processing through the town in celebration. Fortunately shops and museums were still open and we visited the Museo Farmaceutico founded by French Ernest Triolett and his Cuban partner. The 2 chemists won a gold medal in the 1900 Paris Exhibition and is now a wonderfully preserved example on how medicines were preserved and prepared from basic ingredients on the premises. there were 1000's of raw material (from arsenic to cinnamon to ants for formic acid...) all in labelled bottles or porcelain jars.
The coast and its hardships and delights seems far behind. Hardships because of weather and lack of food. Out of Trinidad we had to dodge deluges of rain, took shelter in a restaurant where we met a bus load of cyclists (mainly Swiss) and got so hungry we had to tuck into our reserve of cashew nuts and porrideg oats (dry). The delights were snorkelling in the beautiful transparent turquoise sea. We swam through shoals of rainbow coloured fish, all darting in and out of coral. It was too beautiful for words. The next day we went on a guided tour in the swamps of Zapata where our knowledgeable guide Mario showed us many birds including the iridescent blue zunzuncito, the smallest humming bird in the world at 5 and a half cm long! Mario was so excited to see it as he is very rare, small, shy and very hard to see!

Trinidad

We made it to Trinidad!
Managed to fit tandem on bus in the evening and arrived early in the morning and have enjoyed beautiful town...

Recently we were approached by a distinguished looking lady who came up to us.
Unlike many others she didn´t want anything from us. She just wanted to talk, which she did for about an hour. She was a retired University lecturer, in town to visit her husband who was being treated for cancer in hospital. She explained her husband´s pension and their food ration weere not enough to live on. She has to buy food on the black market to supplement it (unbelievably, sugar is more expensive on the black market than in England!). For clothes and shoes she has to save for months.
She had walked into town to save the bus fare. She lives with her son and 2 daughters and their families, her son who is a doctor and both daughters who have university degrees, but none of them have a house of their own. She has a relative living abroad but no hope of visiting them. The Cuban medical system provides free medical care but because of the shortages it has become corrupt, much queue jumping for those who can pay bribes. she never goes into shops for tourists because they only have things she can´t afford.
She was distressed and understandably aggrieved. She is one of many older people living close to the poverty line.
The Cuban leadership is still focusing on the communist ideology which we see on billboards everywhere (no adverts here! but as someone commented, their billboards aren´t as successful as ours...)
As in the UK, the current generation take for granted the freedom and stability their grandfathers gave their lives for. The American embargo that followed the revolution drove Cuba into the arms of the Soviets, whose system they adopted and enjoyed 30 years of huge subsidies. During that time they failed to develop a sustainable economy and in the 90´s they decided to introduce tourism to avoid economic collapse. This has resultetd in a 2 tier system. Those who benefit from tourism and those who don´t. It creates the sort of anomaly our waiter was telling us the other evening. He makes more from the tips in his evening jobs than his monthly salary for his main day time job.
Our budget is $30 A DAY each and most tourists probably spend 3 times that! The average Cuban salary is $20 $25 A MONTH!
The irony is the WWF declared Cuba as the only country in the world with a sustainable lifestyle, but how do you placate the rising tide of discontent of Cuban people who are denied many of the disposable goods we regard as life´s necessities, for example washing machines, computers, mobile phones, cars and foreign travel? Many want to visit relatives in Miami, only 80 km away, but are unable to do so. It s hard to put a price on the pace of life that they enjoy. They ahve time to talk to each other, play dominoes in the street, dance to music and enjoy their families in a way we haven´t seen since before the war.
Cuba indeed stands at a cross roads.
Benevolent dictatorship has brought 50 years of relative freedom and stability in marked contrast to the previous 50 years of corrupt democracy. Dervla Murphy concludes her book "The island that dared" by quoting the remarkable Cuban Juan Antonio Blanco he said back in the economic crisis of the early 90´s
"Cuba has the human and material potential in spite of the crisis to become a successful social laboratory for a new model of authentically human and sustainable development. If it is possible to "re invent" socialism anywhere, then the conditions for doing so exist on this island"
When we are cycling, we think this must be small comfort to the Cuban in his horse drawn vehicle force off the road by the tourist in his shiny Japanes hired car passing at 70 miles-hour

Holguin

Finding food is still an issue for both of us. However much I like peso pizzas I find it hard to eat standing up. As for John he nearly fainted with hunger as we trudged through to the Autobus Terminal in the rain to make a reservation on Viazul bus for Trinidad for tomorrow. We spent nearly an hour trying to work out the strategies to take so we don't get refused boarding the bus as we did from La Habana to Santiago... If we can't board the bus we will have to cycle all the way to Habana on the Autopista in order to get there for our flight on 6th bFeb. We don't really mind the distance, it's the squids (antiquated lorries and American cars that spew out black smelly fumes) we object to!

Although Holguin is pretty miserable in the rain at least we are staying put for a few days. Still trying to dry out our clothes and bags after cycling 50km in the rain back from Gibara and La Heradurra.

Gibara, Holguin's ancient port seduced us with its tranquil atmosphere, colonial houses and delightful people. Frank, a quiet, deep and friendly lecturer at the Casa de la Cultura, our casa hosts Beti and Angel and so many other people met in the street made us feel so welcome. We then cycled along the coast to reach a secluded little beach 50km on but because the path was so ravaged by the 2008 hurricane had to detour inland on dirt roads surrounded by fields of sugar cane which was being harvested. When we arrived at La Herradura, we found a quiet little village, buildings on one half of the street next to the ocean had been washed away. We stayed at the home of a nurse who cooked us delicious supper on a charcoal fire and were lulled to sleep with the sound of the wind and waves.

From Baracoa to Holguin

After sorting visa which was surprisingly straightforward we left Baracoa on an empty bumpy road and soon reach a beautiful little secluded beach. It was too wonderful not to stop. We went for a swim, were approached by fishermen who cooked us delicious fish and decided to put the tent there. It was absolute paradise.

John spent a long time in the middle of the night gazing at stars and listening to the sound of waves just a few feet from the entrance of the tent (we had worked out that there was practically no tide...) I was slightly worried about "robbers" (the fishermen had invited us in their house for security but as they were not licensed to have foreigners they would be risking their house and we refused) but none materialised and after a hearty breakfast of prawns and fried bananas we bravely cycled on, the road by now had all but disappeared and our average speed was a mere 7km/hour...
We stopped briefly at Alejandre de Humboldt National Park, where with 1000 flowering plants it is one of the most diverse plant habitat in the Caribbean. We were taken on a little boat but saw mainly mangroves. It was peaceful enough and rested our legs.
The next strenuous 50 km were brightened by the presence of Peter, a middle aged retired Swiss traveller who was cycling to Moa to visit friends and help them get a mattress. They had been trying unsuccessfully to buy a mattress for month as theirs had been destroyed in a fire.
When we arrived at last in Moa we thought we had arrived in a place of aftermath of nuclear war. Poisonous fumes were lingering from the nickel mine toxic water leaking and a desolate valley of dead trees as aras one could see...One of the numerous political signs by the road signs said "A better world is possible"...
We were glad to leave the following day but the sun was relentless and although the road surface was better it was full of exhausting ups and downs. We eventually found somewhere to stay that night and set off early for the next stop Mayari.

Our ride from Mayari to Holguin was 90km in the Lonely Planet Guide. It included some steep climbs and on a hot day I had doubts if we could make it. So, when we got lost and unbeknown to us cycled past Mayari by 30 km (how can you cycle past a city without noticing? anything is possible in Cuba...) I was pleased to find a Motel at Cueto and that we had reduced our next day's ride to 60km.
The motel was run by the state telephone company for its employees but they agreed to let us have a room for $CUC35 Convertibles (we usually pay between $CUC20 and $30). Cuban use National Pesos (25 National Pesos to $CUC1), so we probably paid 25 times more than Cubans... I am not sure where the difference went.
Our room, cavernous and sparsely furnished had graphitis scrawled on the walls. It did have a bathroom though but the wash basin's waste ran onto the floor, the WC had no water for flushing but we were grateful the shower had a trickle of cold water. Nicole would get me to go into the bathroom to kill the cocktroaches before she would enter.
There was a restaurant with loud music blasting from the outside bar and from an extensive menu there was only one choice: fried chicken, rice and fried bananas. We went to bed early only to be woken around midnight by a lorry outside and lots of very nasty and excited shouting. The next morning the peace was broken about 7 am by the lorry which turned out to be a 1950's huge American car. It was evidently used as a taxi by 2 young men who had picked up 2 girls. Much drinking and hanky-panky was going on and when we came out of breakfast we saw 3 of them pushing the car and the fourth holding a tow rope in an attempt to get the car started...
Breakfast was first promissed at 7.00 am, then 7.30 and finally 8.00, but when we arrived we were told there wasn't any food. Ravenous we persisted and tepid coffee was produced as well as warmed up ham and yesterday's bread. The bill was 11 National Pesos (33p).
The restaurant was clearly smart (in the 70's or 80's) when built but had since had no maintenance at all. The ceiling in the centre section was missing (maybe hurricane damage), the remaining ceiling sagging and pieces missing exposing the rafters and asbestos sheeting above. None of the once plush light fittings worked and the lighting for the whole restaurant was by two small temporary fluorescent lights. The tables were all attractively set out with table cloths, glass ware and smart covers for the chairs. the waitresses dress in smart uniforms but no food on offer. they all made some attempt to help us but they ahd no bread delivery and virtually no food to offer us. How could they be expected to be enthusiastic in their attemps?

The whole set up so mirrored what we have found in any state organisation here (90% of the country is state owned): hopeless inefficiency and bureaucracy making absolute economic non-sense in such marked contrast to casas particulares (B&B) and paladares, small restaurants family run, which have been licensed by the state. These struggle to cope with high taxes and irrational regulations imposed on them to minimize competition with state-owned business, but who give excellent service.
It is hardly surprising the whole country is on the brink of economic collapse. Yet, food rationing ensures everyone has enough to eat, everyone is literate and well educated, benefits from good free health-care and night out costs next to nothing as tickets to theatre, cinema etc are subsidised by the state and considered a right of the people...
More on this later...

Baracoa II

Still here in Baracoa as we have to sort out our visa extension (it only lasts 30 days) and immigration office wouldn´t attend to it more than a few days before its expiry on 6th Jan. Still we have been resting, having hot showers, eating the delicious food/fish in cocounut sauce especially, cooked by our hostess Neida.

Yesterday went to visit the family´s finca with Ruben, which consists mainly of coconut, banana, coffee, orange, grapefruit and cocoa trees. Also saw strange looking trees bearing huge gourds (used for making maracas I think). Everything very tropical. Today it´s raining... hoping to leave tomorrow if visa is renewed.