We got up early, as instructed by the crew: breakfast was to be served at 7am, so we had to get up at 6.30, get dressed, pack up our bags and the tent, etc... One thing we learned in Cuba, is that no matter what time the staff tell you, things naturally happen a good hour later. It is just how things are over there! It is also funny how they bring dishes for breakfast at campsites, but also in restaurants. Some people will have finished they entire breakfast (or meal), before others get their first cup of coffee or their first toast! A couple of things are to be noted on Cuban breakfast: 1) mountains of fresh fruits were available everyday (pineapple, papaya, guava), 2) very sweet bread very close to a brioche, yummy!
It was very cloudy as we left the campsite in Las Terrazas. After our stretching ritual, we headed off in this still hilly area. I could not and can still not describe how beautiful and amazing this country is. The landscapes are just stunning and these photos don't do them any justice.
The photo below is unfortunately blurred, but you get an idea of the gradient!
A common sight in Cuba, particularly on countryside roads, are animals. You will see wild animals crossing the roads, cows grazing on the side of the roads, horses in fields or pulling carts, and oxen pulling carts. We have also seens hundreds of dogs. It is sad to see how generally these animals are underfed and it is heartbreaking to see so weak-looking animals pulling heavy loads.
During the journey, we also saw various plantations of the main crops cultivated in Cuba: coffee (I'm not sure they were actual coffee trees though), sugarcane, tobacco, pineapples, mango trees, black beans. We did not see (or I did not notice) any cacao.Is this tree with the red beans coffee? If anyone knows, please leave a comment!
We finally reached the end of Las Terrazas reserve after a LONG LONG hill... On the top of that hill, something weird happened. A & B who were about 50 yards ahead of me, when suddenly I saw them both jumping on their seat, then off their bike, and threw their bikes in the ditch at about only 20 yards from the top of the hill! I thought "It's not THAT bad, they may be fed up with all these hills, but c'mon guys, you were almost at the top!". When I got to the top though, I learned that they had been 'attacked' by a swarm of tropical bees... The guards were very quick to react, and removed a few stingers out of A's head as the bees had gone under his helmet.
The green cubicle below were toilets... well, a hole in the ground. Which I wouldn't have had any issue to use if there had not been so many bees inside. Didn't want the forest guards to have to remove stingers from my bottom!!!
What a beautiful tree that was!
The building below used to be a sugar factory. At the time when the relationships between the USSR and Cuba were good, Cuba used to export a lot of sugar at good prices to the USSR. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, the Russian Federation stopped subsidising the import of sugar from Cuba. This combined with the American embargo meant that producing sugar became less than profitable for Cuba and many sugar factories closed. They now use sugar canes to make rum, but it is cheaper for them to import sugar than to produce it themselves. (source: Abelito, our local guide, full of useful information)
Houses are very pretty despite their simplicity. Sometimes it looks like they have been about to collapse for years, and people seem to take immense care of the houses. It was not unusual to see people brushing their front porches.
We stopped for lunch somewhere on the side of the road, but the people living nearby offered their covered patio and chairs and even opened their house for us to use the toilets. They were refurbishing their house and garden after having obtained permission to open a restaurant. Based on the number of cages with cute bunnies inside, there will probably be rabbit on the menu :(
Also, they had a big mango tree in the garden:
Later on in the afternoon, we had a water-refill break where we enjoyed our first Cuban bananas, which were very different from the ones we find in the UK. They were really, really, really tasty, and perfectly ripe.
Finally we arrived at the campsite later that afternoon, where we saw... Charlie's Angels!!! Unbelievable!
As we got there, we were asked to pitch our tent quickly, and then we could get our bathing gears and jump onto the carts which would take us to the stream! I had no intention to dive but went along for the cart ride and to take photos.
It was quite an experience! It took about 15 minutes to get to the stream and the path was quite narrow with pot holes. The two locals in our carts seemed pleased enough to see a few exotic-looking women wearing bikinis and sarongs. S's sarong slid down to her ankles at one point which did not remained unoticed! C drove the cart for a bit, which made the ride even more 'interesting'!We got to 'the stream' and we just stared at the 'water' thinking "we are so NOT going to touch this water".
Who's going to dive in first?
J did!
And all to follow: except me, not a water person, and A, because I insisted he should not leave me alone with the locals, who knows what they could have done to me whilst the others were bathing... I really felt silly afterwards, because there were very nice people. It just is that they may not be used to see Europeans, let alone in bathing suits!We had a pleasant evening but I did not sleep very much because the locals had organised a big party with their friends and they stayed up drinking and talking quite late in the night.
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