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.

MONSTER JAM! .. go us!

MONSTER JAM! .. go us!, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

My friend Naseem is one of the best people I know. She's always suggesting weird fun things to do. Last weekend was a monster truck jam/ demolition derby. We sat way high up in the rogers centre and watch cars hit each other.. and had so much fun. I sat there alternatly knitting and yelling (note the earplugs-- essential).

Ladies!, originally uploaded by chipzdarsky.

Afterward we headed to a friends birthday party at a gay bar in town. Running serendipitously into our good pal Chip we followed him to a pan sexual club for a night of dancing. Oh did I mention Chip was writing a story for the National Post and so was dressed in drag? yeah, he was.

awesome!

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!

Habana

After a few days at the resort we traveled by bus to Havana. It was a little bit of a trial as we didn't realize we needed to reserve our spot on the bus the day before. Luckily there was a second bus, and some other travellers who spoke a little spanish to help us get on. There we stayed in a beautiful hotel that overlooked the Macelon, the seaside road.



At night we went to live music concerts including the Buena Vista Social Club. Cuba has such excellent musicians and we were impressed unfortunatly the food left a lot to be desired... a lot of pork and beans and rice.. all a little dry. We had a great time exploring the city and I took a lot of photos of the old cars for my dad.

antenna, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

on the set of star trek

on the star trek set, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

so I've been waiting a little while to start this post because.. well I don't really know how to start it.
my plan is to chronologically go through my trip to Cuba -- but the first thing we did was go to an all inclusive.. and it was the boring part of the trip.
This is the best photo of the hotel we stayed at... the Blau. It's a giant monster of a building sticking out above the tree line... the inside filled with "cascading vines".. a total look of an abandoned cardassian outpost ("a what?" you ask .. i respond: "never mind").

The Blau was filled with vacationing 1st year undergraduate students and vacationing families all embarrassingly from Canada. Karen and I were a little misplaced. But despite the horror of an all inclusive it was a funny building with a lot of bars. Actually drinking was about the only activity offered 24 hours. The food was beautifully presented but terrible.
Blau became a synonym for an overly pretentious presentation of sub-par goods; equally relevant for the food, the hotel and for some of the reading materials we had there.
The saving grace was the ocean and beach both of which were amazing testaments to nature. (pictures below)
We spent new years here.. salsa-ing the night away and recovering the next day. After that we packed our stuff and headed to Havana (yea!)