Bike Trip Day 5 ... Havana

Havana - Karen and I at the Water, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

The next day we returned to Havana and took a walking tour to the old city. I had such a fabulous time I really didn’t want to go back to Canada, especially since it was 28 degrees in Cuba and –28 in Toronto. Oh well.

Bike Trip Day 4 ...one more thing

town outside of San Cristobal (day4)
Originally uploaded by girl from finito

Who knows where this was shot...
we at just biked through San Cristobal on our way to our last stop...
make sure to notice the awesome nurse and horse drawn cart..

Bike Trip Day 4 ... a few more pics

The road to San Diego, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

I took the best pictures this day.. most while speeding along on my bike. I think I was probably more relaxed and could go a little slower and take more because it was the last day.

mind the poo...

man there are vultures everywhere in cuba. alot of the time Karen and I would imagine the vultures waiting for us to wipe out/ pass out from exhaustion on our bikes so they could sweep down and eat us.

Bike Trip Day 4 ... Victory!

Victory!, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

The last day of cycling we traveled about 70 km back to San Diego. Checked into our hotel and had massages. Well worth it! Before dinner we went on a tour of a cigar factory which we had missed the day before. That night we had a little band all to ourselves and we danced until we were too tired to move. We didn't last too long.

Bike Trip Day 3 ... Las Terrazas

Last stop, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

By the third day we all though we were insane but the cycle trip, though longer (about 65 km), it was an easier cycle from Vinales to San Diego and then we bussed to Las Terrazas. Las Terrazas is a project set up by Castro of sustainable rural economy based on the rational use of its natural resources for tourism. The buildings were designed to blend with their surroundings. Many of the people that live there are farmers whose fields are located a short distance away and others are artists. Before checking into the hotel we went swimming in the natural waterfalls at Banyos de San Juan. The pools and waterfalls was used as a spa when the Spanish first came to the island. There is only one hotel in the city and it was gorgeous.

The Hotel Moka was 4 star and deservedly so. We ate that night at a converted coffee plantation on the top of a nearby mountain.

Bike Trip Day 2 ... a few more pics

Just thought I would add a few more pictures.. I can't find them on flickr.. but will post them anyway
here..
once I upload them...

UPDATE! I think there should be more but I can't seem to find them.. I think they weren't scanned in?? oh well, follow the link for some more pics.

Bike Trip Day 2 ...Outside of La Palma

Outside of La Palma (day 2)
Originally uploaded by girl from finito

a little video shot while i was cycling along the road in the hills just outside of La Palma.

Bike Trip Day 2 ... La Palma and back

Tobacco field, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

The next day we did a round trip from Vinales to La Palma and back that was about 60 km. There were massive hills to climb up in the morning half of the cycle and I had trouble with all of them. The first was steep and "short" (read "shorter"), the second was "flat" and long (read "not quite as steep") and the last was steep and long (this mother of a hill is what everything else was compared to.. and it was horrid). When we stopped in the main square in La Palma they actually laughed at us when we told them what direction we were traveling in.
At midday we stopped at a farmer’s home at the top of the longest steepest hill and had the most delicious lunch. Pork rinds, pork stew, chicken soup and yucca, rice and beans and white cake. There seems to be only one cake recipe in Cuba, something we learned at the Blau. This food was miles above anything else we ate in Cuba. The family feeds the farmers that work on the land nearby and take it upon themselves to feed travelers and passers by. They were the most lovely inviting family.
After that we cycled very quickly downhill to a river where we went for a quick swim and then back to the hotel.

Bike Trip ...Cayo Jutias

The first real day of cycling I found out why you wear bike gloves. My hands were so sweaty from biking in the heat and humidity that I couldn't change gears. That was a problem, thankfully, easily remedied. Our first trip was a day trip to Cayo Jutias about 55km away from Vale de Vinales. We were rewarded with a secluded white sand beach and a swim in the ocean.

Cayo Jutias - the 1st beach, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

The bike trip begins

Vale de Vinales, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

After a few daysin Habana we started a bike tour of the Pinar Del Rio province. Pinar del Rio province is just north west of Havana and is one of the best tobacco growing regions of the country. It is known for it’s beautiful scenery and pincushion mountains. (The mountains were formed from a high bed of limestone that was eroded underneath by the sea and then collapsed.)
There were 12 of us on the bike tour with a Cuban guide and bus driver. The rest of the group was mainly from Australia with a few others from England and Canada. The first day of the tour I almost crashed on the gravel traveling down too quickly on the steep mountain roads, not such a good start but that was the only near miss minus one. The fist night out we headed to a Salsa club in Vinales. It was great, another live band, lots of dancing and lots of mojitos!