February 10, to Bayamo and Santiago de Cuba

Yesterday, Thursday, we cycled from Cienfuegos to Santa Clara, as planned. It was a nice day, warming up of course, but we left before breakfast and arrived in Santa Clara shortly after noon. We'd intended to continue by bus to Bayamo the next day; we like Bayamo, one of the most historically important cities in Cuba.

Soon after we arrived in Santa Clara, the argument began. We had agreed to find the Viazul terminal and check schedules for Bayamo, our next destination, before arranging a room for the night. We planned to take the bus the next morning. But when we found the terminal, we learned that a bus was departing in an hour. It wouldn't get us to Bayamo until after nine at night, and we had not arranged a place to stay there. Nevertheless, Barbara wanted to take the bus. I (Wally) hated the idea of jumping on a bus for a 7+ hour ride when we were hot and dirty from cycling 50 miles, then arriving after dark with no room arranged. We argued; guess who won.

Bayamo: the revolution against Spain began here; Cuba's national anthem was first sung in this church
 

We took the bus, of course, but it didn't arrive until 11:30 at night. We don't know if the bus was very late, or if the ticket agent gave us the wrong arrival time, or if I misunderstood him. Ordinarily, I can hear the difference between "nueve" (9) and "once." (11) We unloaded the bikes at the bus station, turned on our lights, and started for Parque Cespedes in the center of town.

After a good many blocks, I asked a young black man on a bike for directions, and he offered to take us to a room. We followed him. Back in the U.S. we'd probably not follow a young black man down a dark, unknown street at midnight in search of a nameless room. But this is Cuba, and it's different. The young man called ahead on his cellphone to find a vacancy.

He delivered us to Villa la Nueva, owned by Roman and Norma, a friendly couple with a clean and pleasant home. They hesitated for a moment to give us a room. They have only two rooms to rent, and the rooms share a bath. One of the rooms was already occupied by a Canadian woman, and they didn’t want to surprise her with strange folks sharing the bathroom. However she was still awake, so they alerted her that we'd be coming in, and it was a very nice room. Barbara was more or less vindicated. This morning, after a late breakfast, we're going to take Roman's advice and cycle out to a botanical garden, about 15 kilometers from town.

 
Roman and Barbara   

 
 
February 10, evening, Bayamo

As planned, we rode out to the Jardin Botanico Cupaynicu this morning, near Guisa. The ride was mostly easy, except for a couple of very steep ups and downs after the turnoff to the garden. Bad News: When we finally reached the entrance, they wanted our passports for admission. Passports for a garden! Amazing. We'd left ours safely back at the casa, so we turned around and rode back to Bayamo.
 

On the way to the botanical garden, where it says "Bienvenidos" (welcome) ... but only if you have your passport
 

Poking around Parque Cespedes in Bayamo for a while, we noticed an office of Campismo Populares, the organization that runs Campisomo la Mula, an essential stop on our planned ride to Santiago de Cuba. More Bad News: the campismo is closed during the week — open only on weekends this time of year. This threw a huge monkey wrench into our plans.
 

School's out in downtown Bayamo.
 

We returned to Roman and Norma's casa where we are staying, and they spent a huge amount of time on the phone, trying to find us a place to stay between here and Santiago de Cuba — either on the south coast, which we prefer, or along the Carretera Central, which would be better than nothing. But nothing is exactly what they found. The campismo at la Mula is indeed closed, and so are the only two hotels/motels along the Carretera Central. (One has no water and will not accept foreigners; the other is now a drug rehab facility!) Apparently there are no licensed rooms at all, along either route.

That leaves open the possibility of finding an illegal place to stay, but I (Wally) am getting too old for that adventurous stuff, so we've decided to bike the whole way from here, Bayamo, to Santiago de Cuba, in one shot. In fact we did it once before, years ago, and it's reasonable. About 125-130 kilometers, say 80+ miles, and the terrain, as best we remember, is not difficult. So tomorrow we try for an early start, hoping the heat is not too intense and that the winds are not against us.

February 12, Santiago de Cuba

OK, so we didn't remember yesterday's ride too well from years before. It was, as we thought, very easy to start. In fact, we were doing so well around 60 kilometers along the way that I started fantasizing about an early arrival. Things got tougher after Palma Soriano, however, with lots of hills, gradual at first. The only redeeming feature was that, as the terrain became hillier, it was more beautiful.

Along the road to Santiago de Cuba

Around 73 kilometers from Bayamo, we met a cycling couple coming from Santiago de Cuba (below). Somehow they figured out who we were — they were following our book! So by the side of the road, we exchanged photos, and they asked us to sign their copy of our book. Such celebrities!

In the industrial outskirts of Santiago de Cuba — on Avenida de las Americas, in fact — we encountered two more cyclists, a young couple from New Zealand and Canada. They were in a fix but didn't seem to realize it. They'd gotten off the bus from Havana not long before and were asking people how to get to the Sierra Maestra! (The Sierra Maestra is a mountain range that is all around Santiago de Cuba, so their question didn't specify any particular direction.) In fact, they wanted the south coast road to Chivirico, the very route we decided to skip, but they were heading inland, almost the opposite direction. And it would be dark in an hour. And there would be no place to stay. And they had no decent map or any directions. We told them firmly that they should head back into Santiago de Cuba, spend the night, and get a fresh start in the morning. But the guy insisted they were all set with camping gear and all. His companion favored our suggestion. We don't know what they did, but we didn't see them behind us.

Dark was approaching for us, too, so we couldn't help them any more.
We were looking for an address in Vista Alegre (a nice neighborhood), and some people told us the street did not exist! No wonder, it's tucked in a corner and only one block long. But a nice woman whom we asked for directions went into her house, called ahead for us, and solved the problem. When we found the place, it was right by the Hotel San Juan, and should have been easy to find. The owner, Caridad Leyna Martinez, was expecting us and flagged us down as we approached.

Caridad and her family are kind, the neighborhood is pleasant, food is more than adequate, and it's close to the lovely park at San Juan Hill.

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