After my tour of the Santo Tomas caves, I return to Vinales. I find the local market and stock up on food; my prize purchase is a giant watermelon which I struggle to strap onto my bike rack on top of my tent. I pass through the town and catch sight of an English woman [...]
Tagged cuba, dirt roadsVinales Valley is famous for its amazing rock formations, domed limestone outcrops known as mogotes. The area has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site not only because of its natural beauty but also for the cultural significance of its traditional agricultural practices which have survived unchanged for centuries.
It certainly is a picturesque scene.
I [...]
I leave the Gunahabibicanes Peninsula, somewhat reluctantly. I dislike the sense of haste I feel because I know my stay here in Cuba is limited to only 30 days. I know that I would stay for longer on the Peninsula without that pressure.
My attempt at a reasonably early start in order to evade the midday [...]
I finally reach the Gunahabibicanes Peninsula and head straight for the National Park Ecological Station for information.
The station manager opens our exchange by offering to buy my bike. I explain that without a bike my life wouldn’t actually function and that it wasn’t really just a bike but also my companion and friend. He looks [...]
I set off from Playa Jutias with my new French friends, Sylvia and Regis, but our ways diverge soon enough – at the end of the causeway I turn west while Sylvia and Regis head east towards Vinales and Havana.
The Gunahabibicanes Peninsula is still a couple of hundred kilometres away so I have a few [...]
I strike out for Cayo Jutias, an island off the north-west coast accessible by a causeway, with high expectations. I have a copy of Lonely Planet’s Cycling Cuba and the beaches of Cayo Jutias are described in it as wild and pristine.
As I cross the causeway towards the island, thunder rumbles around me and a [...]
After a few days, I leave Havana, heading west towards the Gunahabibicanes Peninsula. I am keen to avoid the more touristy parts of Cuba and this region is, supposedly, quite wild and untouched by the kind of insensitive development and tacky holiday resorts that seem to have blighted many of Cuba’s most beautiful beaches.
Tourist accommodation [...]
Since I have been off my bike for a while, I decide, before setting off around the island, to warm up by taking a quick spin around Casablanca and Cojimar, suburbs of Havana which lies across the harbour from the old city. A short ferry ride deposits me on the opposite shore where I am [...]
Tagged cubaLooking at the image below you might imagine that the pile of twenty peso bills is worth more than the pile of ten peso bills.
However, you are wrong.
Cuba has two currencies: Cuban Convertible Pesos (CUC) and Cuban National Pesos (CUP). CUC, which are pegged to the US dollar, are worth 25 times the value of [...]