DAYS 8 and 9 - La Habana y Varadero

Day 9 was spent in La Habana, one more go at this unique city. Day 10 in Varadero on the beach. Pictures tell the story well enough.

Hope you enjoyed our stories! Thanks for reading!

DAY 7 - Pinar del Rio to Viñales

Oh was I stoked for this day. We had made it all in one piece to Pinar and I knew we would reach our destination. My route planning on Google maps proved feasible!
Even though locals warned us about the hilly ride, we felt strong and ready to take it on. We'd ridden the California coast and comparatively, this was a piece of cake.
It was a misty morning, cooler, thanks to the rainstorm the night before.

We arrived in Viñales with no issues, amazing views of the amazing mountain formations on the ride in. The place is known for it's natural beauty - you can venture into the caves or atop the mountains. Once we got settled, we headed out adventuring and met an Argentinian man who became our third wheel for a while. We walked through tobacco fields, munched on sugarcane and found a cave full of bats. Cristina was too chicken to enter.

This was by far the most touristy place we'd been and one day was enough. The best part was as night. We were walking home from a crumby salsa bar and three older men with instruments were headed in our direction. We maybe exchanged ten words before the men started in a fully harmonized version of Veinte Años. Sarah and I were singing and it was like a dream (this was one of the songs we sang at our fundraiser). We met the men later, they were still wandering around like apparitions and we asked to sing more songs. We all sat down on a bench in the plaza with the cool night breeze upon us. They started playing, then left us alone on the bench with their instruments while they went to go buy rum in tetra packs.
The next morning we dropped off our beloved bikes who served us so well to Juan Silvio's friend. As fate would happen, the turquoise bike I rode for seven days had a flat tire. Just in time! The bikes performed so very well throughout the trip and for that we were very grateful.

DAY 6 - San Diego to Pinar del Rio

Sarah woke up feeling better and even willingly ate breakfast. We set out early enough to beat the heat and started cycling through the misty, emerald green countryside. It was the most beautiful scenery I'd seen yet, plus early morning meant the most fragrant floral scents everywhere.

We stopped for a bathroom brake in a bustling mid-sized town and just as I was about to put a wafer cookie (yes! Found wafer cookies the day before at a stand) a man rode by on a red bicycle with two pig heads strapped and flopping around to his back rack.
We kept on, not far from our savoir Juan Silvio's house.
We arrived on his street and there he was, standing in the middle of it, welcoming us like celebrities. What a man. His wife is incredible as well, bubbly and smiley, I felt as if I'd known her for a lifetime. She was busy preparing us food. We downed a glorious homemade lunch then JS took us to our casa where we'd be staying the night. Another wonderful and welcoming couple with a newly renovated guest suite. We had coffee with them on their veranda and had an interesting conversation on religion.
Sarah and I got ourselves cleaned up and did a little tour of the town before having to be at JS's house for dinner. I went home earlier to nap and poor Sarah got caught in a huge rainstorm.
We decided, due to the rain, that taking a taxi would be the best option back to the house, but there were none in our vicinity. There was one lone bike taxi being operated by a guy who looked way too old for the job. We were plunked onto it by some locals who were convinced it was the right choice. The man looked well into his 80s and was offended when I answered his question on how old I thought he was. His name was Mario and he gave us a ride in one big circle. We graciously declined his offer to keep going, as we were going at a snail's pace in the wrong direction. We paid him, hopped off and power walked our way to another incredible homemade meal.

DAY 5 - Soroa to San Diego

Sarah didn't sleep well and was still not able to stomach a lot. We called a taxi to take her to our next stop, San Diego. I decided I wanted to cycle as it wasn't very far and I'd felt incredibly safe since day one of our trip.
I again had extreme difficulty finding lunch (a tupperware container full of cut fruit from breakfast only goes so far). I finally found a roadside cart where a lady was making little pizza-like creations. It wasn't good, but it was food.
I made it into San Diego and found poor Sarah passed out in bed. It was a quiet town with little to do. I went to check out the local baths which were closed for the weekend, but I was told a five pesos bribe was all it took for the guard to open the door and show me down to the smelly sulfur baths. He was a friendly young man with a young daughter. We had a nice conversation about Cuba during my twenty minute soak after which I was not supposed to rinse which meant smelling like sulfur for the next 24 hours.
Dinner was delicious served at the casa, lots of veggies and rice and beans and fruit. Fuel for the next day!

DAY 4 - La Habana to Soroa

We set out towards Las Terrazas destination Soroa. This was the hottest day and the day Sarah got food poisoning. It took forever to get out of Havana, very difficult to navigate all the winding streets. Highway riding was relatively flat, but hot as hell. We were starting to run low on water and energy and luckily found a cafetería (house/trucker stop). The meal was delicious, but only Sarah at the pork. NB. Avoid pork products when possible. 

After lunch, still thirsty, and not looking forward to spending the next five hours drinking tablet treated water, I spotted a guy drinking a coconut under a tree. I hooted and asked him if we could please to the same. This was a highlight, he was lovely and accommodating. Fueled and quenched, we kept pedaling along the long highway slog. 

We arrived at Las Terrazas and had a pit stop at a beautiful ecocafé. We had a snack after all the international yogis cleared out and enjoyed the sights in this little community.
The ride from there to Soroa was, um, longer and hillier than expected. Sarah was starting to feel not so great and it was long. And really hilly. I was cheering her on best I could, but we knew something was wrong. We had to stop before our destination, but luckily we found a great casa (B&B) to stay at. I ate my fair share of dinner, Sarah couldn't eat and had to go to bed. It was a long, unfortunate night, but we kept her hydrated.

DAY 3 - La Habana

We spent the day cycling around La Habana, wandering the city and organizing the rest of our journey. 
We went for a mojito at the uber touristy Bar del Medio as we had met a guitar player the day before who was impressed that we were cycling and made us promise to go watch him and his band perform. It was lively and fun.
Havana is most famous for its nightlife and upon a recommendation from some lovely international students at the Havana high school, we went to the Fábrica de Arte Cubano. This is an amazing space that has only ever existed in my dreams. Great local artwork, a concert space, a movie theatre, stage and bar/café. 

DAY 2 - Matanzas to La Habana

Unfortunately the next morning was again really hard to find food. We  could only find a little cafeteria on a side street that sold sandwiches and juice and shitty instant coffee. Also a screw had come loose from my back rack and my heavy paniers needed a secure connection. Luckily Sarah had a bungee cord that fit perfectly. NB. Always travel with zap straps. 

After that we spent an hour in the town square squinting in the heavy sun trying, in vain, to find a tiny metal spring piece from our pump. Luckily it still worked even without the missing bit!

We headed out with bottles of water and tamarind juice. Also I remembered I had a piece of halva I'd brought from Canada. But no real snacks, no almonds, no trail mix like we usually stock. This was a major concern because when you're touring you need to eat! 
We eventually stopped for lunch at a restaurant with girls wearing skin tight turquoise jeans and hot pink lipstick. They matched their restaurant's decor! Cuba loves colour. We had some fish, rice and salad to fuel us for the rest of our hot, dusty ride into La Habana. 

We pulled into the capital around late afternoon after taking the ciclobus, a bus that  bikes have to take to get into the city because there's a tunnel. We arrived at our host's house before dinner, then, STARVING set out for dinner with Juan Silvio, the sweetest man and colleague of my mentor, Hilary, from Vancouver. He took us on a tour if old Havana visiting Bar La Floridita (a Hemingway favourite) and we had dinner in a restaurant in one of the city's many plazas.