April 29, 2015
Facts about the Coastal Road
From Lonely Planet Guide to Cuba
The 185km coastal road connecting Santiago de Cuba and Pilon is arguably Cuba’s most scenic cycle, enhanced by the fact that local traffic is minimal. However, while the majority of the road is paved, certain stretches are gravelly or damaged so tackling it with a sturdy pair of wheels is advisable. There are no good bike shops in Santiago so your best bet is to bring a bike from home. If you don’t have that luxury you should be able to borrow a bike in Santiago (or even find someone willing to build a bike from scratch in exchange for a handshake and a can of Bucanero). As with most things in Cuba: where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Friendly Faces
Klaus: Another German cyclist! I thought Germans only vacationed in the Canadian wilderness?? We met Klaus shortly after leaving La Mula. He has just started cycling in Cuba, and is heading in the opposite direction that we are (like every other sensible cyclist). It was nice to share our enthusiasm for cycling with someone so early in the day!
Today’s Highlights
Great scenery and easy terrain; beach break; Casa Adolpho / Oceano Restaurante
Cycling Stats
Start point: La Mula Campismo, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
Destination: Chivirico km 62, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
Distance 54.4 km, 13.7 km/h average speed, 49.3 max. speed
3:58 riding time
What happened…
Andrew writes: Now today was a lot more like it! First, we were ushered out of the campismo because somehow we were the last ones to leave at 9am!? Maybe it’s all of the time we took eating our breakfast consisting of a cold hot dog in a warm bun. Maybe it was that there was zero headwind, well, there was zero wind at all actually. Anyhow, today was the kind of ride that I expected yesterday.
We continued along the southern coast road, with only one serious climb, near the end. The “road to adventure” ended about halfway through the day and was replaced with brand new asphalt. We took a beach break at what turned out to be the most popular beach spot in Chivirico. The waves were incredibly strong! I loved just being able to dive in front of them and bodysurf in to shore.
We found the Casa (Casa Adolfo, 12km east of Chivirico) with little trouble. It’s one of the nicest ones yet, and the owners have also installed a small palapa and restaurant onsite as well. Dinner was very good value, and extremely tasty. Heck, there was even salt and pepper on the table! And vegetables, real honest to goodness vegetables! Carrots, beets, tomatoes and cucumber. Yum!
I know Amanda wants to go into Santiago de Cuba tomorrow, but I’m wondering if we can eke out another beach day at nearby Playa Sevilla. It’s a private beach apparently; $35CUC ($35USD) to use it for the day, but I’ve heard/read that we should be able to just walk on. Then again, if there is no wind tomorrow, then I wouldn’t mind taking advantage and making some easy distance.
Amanda writes:
Another night of poor sleep made for a grumpy Prenty today. The lack of AC and shack of a room made for a restless night. I woke to the sound of pigs snorting and running around and then the workers yelling across the grounds to each other. After over an hour of this in the morning I climbed out of bed at about 6:30 and went down to the beach to read. It was great because there was a lot of cloud cover and I could enjoy the breeze and waves without being melted by the sun.
After packing up we left with little food in our system. After meeting Klaus I was left wishing I had done more research on Cuba as it relates to the winds. It seems everyone we meet is going in the opposite direction to us because they knew the wind would be at their back. Oh well; it cools us off.
We finally found food in Chivirico and bought 4 hamburgers. There was a parade or protest in this town that was interesting to watch. A peaceful march with drums and singing. As we continued to ride the road improved and we found a most wonderful casa. The couple that runs it speaks very good English although we continually ask them to speak Spanish with us. The dinner we had was just what we needed. I’m looking very forward to a good nights sleep.