Cuba Cross Over 2014 - Puerto Esperanza | Wednesday, February 26 - 45km

Today’s tour heads for Puerto Esperanza. We will set off by taking the same route to Viñales. During the whole tour, plenty of greenery and the beauty of Cuban nature will surround us. From time to time we pass little villages, one of which, San Cayetano, is especially remarkable. Continuing our journey, at noon we will arrive at Puerto Esperanza, located directly at the sea. The city bridge had a very important function in the 1800s: during that time all the gold that was mined in this region was taken across it. Gold digging and trading boomed on those days, the reason why Cuba’s second train line leads to Puerto Esperanza. Nowadays production of tobacco and fishing are the two main industries of the village. Here we will have lunch together at a cozy restaurant. The afternoon is free at your own disposal. You can either relax after the first stage(total 38 km cycling) of your trip, or you can discover the town by foot. Overnight at the Hotel Rancho San Vicente. (breakfast, lunch, dinner) - Trip Notes

The buffet breakfast looked OK. I had a cheese omelette with a piece of bread, fresh papaya and 2 juices. We took the bus at 9 for about 20km then the bikes came off. I fitted my odometer but guessed on the setting for tire size. It may have been a little short so I added a little at the end for good measure as Ricardo thought it would be 50km. The roads were not great, there were a few hills and it was hot! The riding time was 2.5 hrs but we had lots of stops.

We did not go to Esperanza but instead to Cayo Jutias which was a little island they built a road out to. We finished today’s cycling at a restaurant/ beach club. It took ages to get food and I couldn’t eat the fish because it was way too salty. I threw the fish to the nearby dog but even the dog wouldn’t eat the root vegetables which were tasteless. I couldn’t eat the desert because it was too sweet. The dog had gone by then… A great band made the afternoon bearable but could not help the food.

 

 

I had been drinking the Cuban equivalent of Fanta but today tried the pineapple drink “Pinita” which is not dissimilar to Almdudler – as you would guess I am now hooked on it! We had about 1.5 hrs to relax at the beach club after lunch. Most of the gang went down to the beach and sunbaked or swam. I hung round on the terrace.

 

 

We left by bus at 5 and got to the Hotel around 630. After showering, I  recalibrated the odometer guessing on the setting (which I could check online if I could get online!) and we then had dinner at 730. Tonight’s menu was lasagna entrée (passable), roast chicken (edible), candied  papaya and cheese for desert (passed, as in did not even taste). There was a nice band playing.

I went back to my cottage and turned on my Australian phone to check for SMS messages. There was no signal so I did a manual network search. Imagine my surprise to find Cubacel as a “forbidden network”. So my Aussie SIM card will not work in Cuba! Great!!!