Riding bikes in Cuba

Our journey began last autumn in Kiel – we moved onboard the Thor Heyerdahl and left Germany. In our luggage, there weren’t only clothes for six months, but also over 30 bicycles. The following three months, they didn’t see any sunlight in a storage room under deck. A few days ago, after arriving in Maria La Gorda, this changed. We brought all the bikes to the coast, where they were tested, to see if they still worked correctly. After that, our adventure in Cuba could begin.

The next morning, we had breakfast in our hotel and left for Sandino, a small city in Cuba. On the way, we could see how the landscape we rode through changed: For the first few kilometers, the road was right next to the beach, so we saw the ocean on our left side. After a little break, we headed in a direction more to the east, so we left the sea and rode through forests and small villages. We met many people riding horses and coaches as well, which I didn’t expect to see. In the late afternoon, we arrived in our hotel for the night, accompanied by a local television channel and were welcomed with a delicious vegetable soup.

Our second day on the bikes, heading to Pinar del Río, was similar to the first one. The landscape changed again, the forest was replaced by fields and in the distance, we could see some mountains. Over the course of the day, the mountains came closer, and with that, the road got hilly. The closer we got to our destination the more traffic was on the streets. You might ask how it’s possible to cycle safely with over 35 persons on a normal road – we were accompanied by two police officers on motorcycles the whole time. Additionally, we had a bus driving behind us, which you could use for example if you felt sick. All of this felt really weird in the beginning and many of us weren’t comfortable, especially in contrast to the Cuban people, who are suffering hardships.

The following day, we only cycled in the morning. Unfortunately, Viñales, our destination for the day, is situated in the mountains, so we had to drive uphill a little bit, but supporting each other, we all arrived, looking forward to going downhill again – which was after a stay three days later.

This last day, going mostly downhill, was my favorite, but overall, I enjoyed cycling in Cuba very much!