May 5, 2015
Facts about “Gitmo”
From Lonely Planet Guide to Cuba
Procured via the infamous Platt Amendment in 1903 in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War, the US’ initial reason for annexing Guantánamo Bay (or Gitmo, as generations of homesick US marines have unsentimentally dubbed it) was primarily to protect the eastern approach to the strategically important Panama Canal.
In 1934 an upgrade of the original treaty reaffirmed the lease terms and agreed to honor them indefinitely unless both governments accorded otherwise. It also set an annual rent of approximately US$4000, a sum that the US continues to cough up, but which the Cubans won’t bank on the grounds that the occupation is illegal (Castro allegedly stores the checks in the top drawer of his office desk).
Friendly Faces
Hilda: One of a trio of ladies sitting outside of the alojamiento when we arrived; after Andrew asking where the clothesline was, Hilda insisted on doing our laundry so that we could go enjoy some time on the beach.
Today’s Highlights
Snorkelling; playin’ on the playa.
Cycling Stats
Start point: Guantanamo, Guantanamo, Cuba
Destination: Tortuguilla, Guantanamo, Cuba
Distance 44.9 km, 13.1 km/h average speed, 44.5 max. speed
3:25 riding time
What happened…
Andrew writes: While I think most people think of Guantanamo’s American armed forces base, it turns out that Cuba has a pretty big base here too. On both sides of the city there are military campus’. We spent the morning cycling past a number of training fields and military checkpoints, before climbing up and over a few mountains to get back towards the coast.
Things got a little hairy for awhile. Stuck inland, there wasn’t a lot of wind, until we started climbing, and then it was full in the face. This made the first, long, steep climb pretty miserable. On the downhill that followed, the wind kept threatening to push me off the road.
Lewis had handwritten a note on our map halfway between Guantanamo and San Antonio del Sur, alojamiento, so when we stopped for lunch at Playa Guanal, we asked where it was, and it ended up being less than 1km away. In fact, staying at the alojamiento in Tortuguilla, we were able to walk back up the beach to get to the sandy beach and restaurant of Playa Guanal.
Right, so it was early afternoon by the time we had finished lunch, and I was spent. All of the climbing in the morning, plus what I think was a touch of dehydration, meant that I was pretty eager to just call it a day. Technically, we were scheduled to ride 80+km today, but I’m really glad that there was a place for us to lie our heads at a halfway point. So this place is sort of like a “campismo” except maybe one tier down, in terms of quality or service. It ended up costing 112 pesos ($4.50CDN) for a night, so we were hooked. We even ended up polishing off a bottle of red wine (vinegar) for only 50 pesos ($2CDN) and a cigar while reading and stargazing.
Also for future reference, it turns out that there is also a Casa Particular just a bit further east in Tortuguillera, although we didn’t check it out.
Today’s Photographs
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