That day was really pleasant. The ride was fairly easy compared with the previous day, and they were nice and very long downhills during which the landscapes were quite dramatic.
After having taken some landscape shots, I took a photo of these pretty houses (see below). I did not take a photo of the big building further down the road because it looked like a military compound. It turned out that so were these two houses... A soldier swiftly came out with his rifle and ordered us not to take any photos, as it was a military zone. I replied that I had not taken any photographs of the buildings, only "photos of the amazing landscapes of your beautiful country". He went away and we stayed there for a bit to warn the rest of the group not to take photos!
At this point we started to see the first pine trees, which were a good sign that we were getting closer to the sea, so closer to our final destination. The sea also means flat ground!
What do you say about a cactus hedge to mark your garden?
"Ideas are an essential weapon when humanity fights for its own salvation". Fidel (Castro)
"In each neighbourhood, a committee In each neighbourhood, revolution"Everywhere you go in Cuba, you will see painted signs or post signs saying something like "CDR #15". Always CDR followed by a number. CDR stands for Comités de Defensa de la Revolución. From the information gathered during our journey, they seem to be an organisation at a very local level (1 CDR for 40 people maybe?) and they take care (or take control, depending on how you look at it) of everything, from education, to medical support, helping the parents to bring up their children, providing work, shelter, etc... They were set up by Fidel Castro just after the Cuban Revolution to ensure stability (minimise rebellion and ensure control).
In front of most CDR headquarters, you will see a five branch star, similar to the one below:
In front of most CDR headquarters, you will see a five branch star, similar to the one below:
Sometimes it will be shaped on the ground, marked with stones, or simply painted on a door, always with a message along the lines of "los 5 volverán", "René, Ramón, Antonio, Fernando, Gerardo... volverán". These are messages of hope that "The Five" / "Los Cincos" will be freed and will come back to Cuba. These five Cubans are in prison in Florida on alledged terrorist charges supported by the US government. The Cuban government claims that The Five are innocent and were in Florida to gather information against anti-Cuban terrorist. Everywhere in Cuba there are signs of support for The Five, not only in CDR HQs.
Water refill stop in a little town.
Interesting means of transport, isn't it? Like water-skiing on the road, pulled by oxens...
Off we go again...
The colour of the soild was striking, a bright red that contrasted so much with the sky. Beautiful...
We passed some more tobacco plantations. There are many, many of them on the Viñales area. The big buildings are used to dry the tobacco leaves overnight and when it rains, once it had been harvested. The photo further down shows a man harvesting the tobacco leaves, as well as the stands on which the leaves are left to dry in the sun. We have also seen people moving/rotating the rows of drying leaves so that they get equal sun exposure.
"Against threat and aggression, Cuba's response is: more revolution."
As we got closer to Viñales and cycled through the moutains, we saw many of these birds of prey. I don't know what they were. They seemed quite big.
A few minutes after cycling past the cloud, I saw an amazing "taller" on the side of the road. A local artist workshop with many crazy looking monsters and other dinosaurs. I left my bike on the side of the road and got closer to take photos... until the people in the house noticed me and invited me to come and see the artist's work. I had not time for this unfortunately and did not want to disturb them further. I also feared that they would ask me for money for having taken photos of their garden. I have no problem with tipping if someone does you a favour, but I don't want to encourage people to beg tourist for money for its own sake. It might sound cruel but it does not help their country's economy in the long run.
So I cycled away but here are a view snaps of this weird garden I saw:
Now down to the valley:
As we stopped in Viñales, we were informed that we would go through the town with the bus, not on bikes, which Trave & I were quite disappointed about, but as it started to pour with rain again, we were quite happy to be on a dry bus!
The campsite was very nice, and the people very business-oriented for a communist country!!! As soon as we arrived, they presented us with a tray of mojitos and a bottle of rum if we needed a top-up, and then they told us that we would have to pay for it. They did not really count the number of glasses they served and if someone did not have changed, they would say that it could be paid for later. Except the following day they claimed that x mojitos were left unpaid, which is unlikely to have happened but nevermind.
As we were putting up the tents, some dark clouds came closer to us so Trave & I quickly put our tent up, put our bags inside the tent and whilst Trave finished planting the pegs, I helped B to pitch his tent, as he was on his own and was going to take a wee bit longer.
Then the storm came and everybody rushed under the canopy with their mojitos, until... I noticed that R&L's tent was still not up... so I went out in the tropical rain shower to help R to shelter the bags and peg the tent. While R was rushing around the tent with pegs, I saw... a bull!!! right next to our (Trave & I) tent, looking at R. I shouted immediately "R, the bull! It's looking at you... Your Tshirt! It's red... Take it off!"... And she did!
So let me explain the full picture again: stormy shower in a Cuban campsite, all fellow cyclists sipping a mojito watching us, bull next to the tent, Scottish woman wearing a bra pitching her tent in a flooded field... The locals must have been very amused by the whole thing. But they were kind enough to take the bull back to its field and securing it to a tree.
And below is the bar/meeting room /dance floor.
Trave played a game of chess with a little boy whose parents were running the place. A bright boy he was. It was nice for me to talk to him as you usually get more 'honest' answers and descriptions from children as you do from adults who have been 'indoctrinated'. Also, they usually don't have (yet) a thick local accent or dialect, as they are still at school. I do not use Spanish very often as I don't know anyone I could speak Spanish to, except for the occasional e-mail I send, so it was sometimes quite challenging to understand local dialects in rural communities. I was very happy to use any opportunity I had to speak to people and practice a little bit.
It was surprising to hear that young people I have spoken to learn English at school. This little boy for instance had a one-hour lesson every Thursday. He also said, less surprisingly, that at school, he learned about José Martí, 'Comrade' Guevara, Fidel, etc...
The band who was playing that evening was absolutely fantastic. They started playing before dinner, and then there was a powercut, so it went more disco-like, with some of us moving our bike lights around in flashing mode as if they were strobe lights. It was great fun!
At the restaurant, another motivational speech form Charlotte!
After the meal, the party went on:
Night night...
As we got closer to Viñales and cycled through the moutains, we saw many of these birds of prey. I don't know what they were. They seemed quite big.
Then we hitted the top of the mountains, and the weather turned stormy. You could see 2-3 miles ahead the big black cloud that we would most certain have to cycle through. Abelito, actually local to this area of Cuba, knew better, and instead of taking photos of the clouds like us, tourists, cycled as fast as he could, and was the only person who remained dry! Believe it or not, it hailed!!! We also had very heavy rain. The Scots were quite relieved by this fresh shower and felt like being home for a few miles ;)
A few minutes after cycling past the cloud, I saw an amazing "taller" on the side of the road. A local artist workshop with many crazy looking monsters and other dinosaurs. I left my bike on the side of the road and got closer to take photos... until the people in the house noticed me and invited me to come and see the artist's work. I had not time for this unfortunately and did not want to disturb them further. I also feared that they would ask me for money for having taken photos of their garden. I have no problem with tipping if someone does you a favour, but I don't want to encourage people to beg tourist for money for its own sake. It might sound cruel but it does not help their country's economy in the long run.So I cycled away but here are a view snaps of this weird garden I saw:
Now down to the valley:
And finally, we arrived at Viñales, a region famous for its "Mogotes", which are rocks/mountains coming out from the grounds. These are well-known to climbers. Viñales valley has been registered by UNESCO as a world heritage center. It is a beautiful rural area, quite wealthy compared with other parts of Cuba we cycled through.
As we stopped in Viñales, we were informed that we would go through the town with the bus, not on bikes, which Trave & I were quite disappointed about, but as it started to pour with rain again, we were quite happy to be on a dry bus!The campsite was very nice, and the people very business-oriented for a communist country!!! As soon as we arrived, they presented us with a tray of mojitos and a bottle of rum if we needed a top-up, and then they told us that we would have to pay for it. They did not really count the number of glasses they served and if someone did not have changed, they would say that it could be paid for later. Except the following day they claimed that x mojitos were left unpaid, which is unlikely to have happened but nevermind.
As we were putting up the tents, some dark clouds came closer to us so Trave & I quickly put our tent up, put our bags inside the tent and whilst Trave finished planting the pegs, I helped B to pitch his tent, as he was on his own and was going to take a wee bit longer.Then the storm came and everybody rushed under the canopy with their mojitos, until... I noticed that R&L's tent was still not up... so I went out in the tropical rain shower to help R to shelter the bags and peg the tent. While R was rushing around the tent with pegs, I saw... a bull!!! right next to our (Trave & I) tent, looking at R. I shouted immediately "R, the bull! It's looking at you... Your Tshirt! It's red... Take it off!"... And she did!
So let me explain the full picture again: stormy shower in a Cuban campsite, all fellow cyclists sipping a mojito watching us, bull next to the tent, Scottish woman wearing a bra pitching her tent in a flooded field... The locals must have been very amused by the whole thing. But they were kind enough to take the bull back to its field and securing it to a tree.
And below is the bar/meeting room /dance floor.
Trave played a game of chess with a little boy whose parents were running the place. A bright boy he was. It was nice for me to talk to him as you usually get more 'honest' answers and descriptions from children as you do from adults who have been 'indoctrinated'. Also, they usually don't have (yet) a thick local accent or dialect, as they are still at school. I do not use Spanish very often as I don't know anyone I could speak Spanish to, except for the occasional e-mail I send, so it was sometimes quite challenging to understand local dialects in rural communities. I was very happy to use any opportunity I had to speak to people and practice a little bit.It was surprising to hear that young people I have spoken to learn English at school. This little boy for instance had a one-hour lesson every Thursday. He also said, less surprisingly, that at school, he learned about José Martí, 'Comrade' Guevara, Fidel, etc...
The band who was playing that evening was absolutely fantastic. They started playing before dinner, and then there was a powercut, so it went more disco-like, with some of us moving our bike lights around in flashing mode as if they were strobe lights. It was great fun!
At the restaurant, another motivational speech form Charlotte!
And from Chino, AKA "Agua man". Chino was our official water supplier. If there is ONE Spanish word that people learned during the trip, it is "agua". I surprised myself shouting "Chino!" on my way to work two days ago, as a dark blue van overtook me when I was cycling...
After the meal, the party went on:
Night night...
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