the South Coast

Today, perhaps like most days, had both quite good and quite bad aspects. We woke up in this gorgeous hotel in Sancti Spiritus, walked out into the square in front of the place, through the coaurtyard of the hotel in its grandeur, and watched the day unfold. In Cuba, the children go to school erlier, so at 7 the streets were full of kids in their uniforms, heading to the school near us. The streets were full of noisy motorbikes, bicycles, some cars and some trucks. And of course, the engines of the motor vehicles were not well tuned, so there was the constant smell of diesel and unburned oil. But the sky was varied and looked interesting, the square was alive, and the day was fresh. People were setting up for a market near us as well.

We had our breakfast on the verandah of the hotel, and it was adequate if not fancy. I think the hotel had some trouble coping with having most of its guests eating at the same time. But we managed, and even got onto our bikes not long after 8.

We had planned to ride most of the way to Trinidad, about 60 km. The weather at one point looked quite threatening, and we knew that if it rained, we had to stop, since the roads get quite slippery. So we pushed on, and did very well. By about 11, we had done the fifty kilometres we thought we might do, and decided to push on to Trinidad itself, another 12 or so. This we did, and met the buses. But some of us wanted to go further, and I was one of them. After about 70 km, we were told to get on the bus for the final push to the hotel for the night.

That was the good part: good temperature for riding, good roads, good company. this is still cowboy country. The roads were full of horses and horse-drawn carriages, as well as oxen-dran carts. Also lots of bikes, even on the main intercity roads.

This hotel was built during the Soviet times, and it is obvious.

It is a concrete block with poorly-functioning water and electricity. Our room has only one light (there is another, but it works only about one quarter of the time). There were no towels when we arrived. The toilet sticks, so it suns on. The beds are bad. And we are near the open stage, so we get to hear the stage show at high volume, whether we wish or not. Sigh.

But the beach is good, and there is a lot of it. The water is warm and salty. And we watched the sun go down tonight over the Caribbean. Some of us have booked a reservation at the specialty seafood restaurant here, and may go into town tonight as well.

And we're at this place another day as well. So get used to it: the Cuban Gulag, or Chernobl by the Sea.


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Location:Trinidad