Another Hotel Day

Today was another boring day: sunny, blue sky, warm, little wind. Actually, it would have been nicer to have one of those things different. It was hot, almost 30 degrees before ten in the morning. And we were going to ride on black pavement, so it was probably hotter where we were.

We got an early start, getting in the bus about 8 to drive a ways past the really rough road to Chivirico, where we were let off to began our ride. Chivirico is a pretty little town with a cinema, several stores, a school and clinic, a central square, and many houses.

They even had curbs on the main street! And the by-now-usual menage of people waiting for buses, or other rides; horse-drawn carriages, trucks full of workers going to their jobs, pedestrians, and so on. In short, city life in the small town.

We set off on mostly paved road with some areas of rough pavement to go over. this was an area hit by two hurricanes in late 2008, and the repair work has started but is far from complete, on the roads at least. After about fifteeen kilometres, we got to a bridge which had been damaged by the storms, with its central support washed out, and a major collapse of the bridge surface. we were able to bike over it, but the bus could not. We thought that was the end of our ride, but in fact the Cubans had worked out a side road down into the river bed and back up the other side, so the bus got through, And, actually, while we were waiting for the bus to get around this obstacle, another truck with a load of dried palm leaves came twoards us over the bridge, as if it were entirely safe.

Some up and down things, as the road wrapped itself around the hills and stayed near the ocean. Some areas were seriously washed out and undermined by the storm, and we had to go up onto the shoulders to ride through them, some areas had only a small amount of damage, and we pedalled through them. And some were intact, pretty well, with the usual potholes. the scenery was anywhere from wonderful to spectacjular, and I got some pictures of it.

The main problem was the heat. By now it was approaching 11:00 and 30 degrees, and the sun was unrelenting. Water was needed, and the buses would stop periodically and re-supply our water bottles, as well as giving us bananas for sustinence. Lots of animals as well (we learned that all cows and horses in Cuba belong to the state, although they are raised by the locals. Sheep, goats, chickens can be privately owned.).

I pedalled overall about 32 km today, and by that time, I was too hot to go on. I went into the bus, and stayed there until we got back to the hotel. Some of the others cycled back towards the hotel, and probably did about 45 km overall. But it was not for me.

The afternoon was quiet. I slept for a while, then went down to the beach, after going through the laborious double signing process to borrow a towel, and swam in the ocean, read and talked to Ron (an ex-teacher from Toronto). We stayed down there until about six, then had the horrible work of arriving for supper.

Tonight I might even stay awake enough to go to the show they put on at this resort. We'll see.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad.

Location:near Chivirico