Woke up at six in order to pack our panniers and make ready to leave Havana. Bought some cheap bread and sweat bread and cycled off to a local, smart, hotel to find a decent road map of Cuba. Mission accomplished we headed off for the ferry that would save us about an hour of cycling on our way towards Matanzas and the eastern beaches. At the ferry they insisted on us emptying our just packed panniers to show them ALL the contents. They were OK with my Swiss Army nail clippers, but told us that we could not take our Swiss Army knives. We looked angry and they finally relented and let us on the boat after Tadek showed them the map of where we would have to cycle if we could not take it. The boat had NO safety equipment and no doors. The other side was a little poorer than Havana central and much more built up than I had expected. Several stops to ask directions, before we found our way onto an exceedingly well kept highway that would take us all the way (105kms) to Matanzas. At our first stop, I managed to leave my helmet on the steps where I had been sitting. Once I had realised, some 3kms later, it was too late. I rode back to see if it was there, but on the way I passed a Cuban wearing an amazingly similar helmet to mine. Ah well, 6 more kms on undulating terrain that I really did not need. The route was quite depressing, with oil derricks and fuel refineries stretching on for miles and a hideous stench of oil and fumes all day. We really struggled to find anything decent to eat and only had 3 poor quality chocolate biscuits for lunch and dinner. I started to flag seriously when we passed 50kms, but we could not find anywhere to stop. The beaches were monopolized by gated holiday resorts and there was no land where a tent could be pitched away from the road. Just as it was getting dark, we found a track leading off the main road and pitched our tent on a patch of earth with a view of the sea.
Teresa and TadekInexperienced cycle tourists of Cuba, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Thailand, Laos & Cambodia Categories
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