Plans A, B, C and Beyond:
How Cubans Approach Life and How You Should Approach Bike Touring in Cuba
Cubans want to make your visit to their country enjoyable. They’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen. You arrive in Cuba with Plan A in mind. But then life happens, as it does in Cuba, and these flexible creative Cubans come up with Plan B or C or beyond. When touring in Cuba, to fully enjoy your Cuban experience, you must remember to pack your flexibility.
Day three of our 15-day tour was to be a short 30k ride, a welcome relief from two long riding days prior. We planned to start at noon but news from the locals was not good. Due to heavy rains that had continued past the typical rainy season, the region was a wet, muddy mess. Crops had been devastated and the bridge ahead was washed out with a wild, raging river between us and our destination. Our guide quickly put plan B into place. We would navigate the river in row-boats and the bus would go back, around up and over the mountains, driving 14 hours to get to the same place.
We unpacked our flexibility and packed our necessary overnight supplies in back packs, panniers or wrapped in bags and bungees and headed towards the river.
We watched our bikes, all fourteen of them, packed onto one rowboat, wheels dragging in the water as they headed away from the quiet calm waters around the shore and into the angry current of the flooded river. I couldn’t imagine how this lone-rower was going to fight that current and make it to the restaurant dock on the other side. Once our bikes were loaded then our group separated into two boats. I looked at the youth cycling coach who had come to chaperone us to his town. He didn’t look worried. I looked around at our guides who were chatting and joking, and they didn’t seem to be concerned at all. That’s when I learned to relax and trust our Cuban guides. Plan B was in place. Our paddle across the river became a guided nature tour, lunch on the side of the river was delightful and our time at the hotel was filled with cocktails in the pool and raucous games of dominoes. Flexibility ruled!
The beauty of a supported bike tour, besides that you can ride at your own pace with the comfort of knowing the bus is always behind you, is that there are two guides and one mechanic to care for the group. Cubans see problems as puzzles needing to be solved rather than an interminable obstruction. So, our guides are always prepared with plan B. And C.
On another tour, we arrived at the mountain chalet in the evening tired and ready for a shower but the gate was locked and the place was dark. “No problem, says our guide. Plan B! I know where the manager lives.” We drive a couple of kilometers down the road to a cluster of homes in the beautiful countryside where our guide goes one way and the mechanic the other. They both come back shortly. One with the manager and a sack full of beer. The other leading two cooks, with pressure cookers that I imagined they swiped off their home stove in front of their family and said “sorry, you’re on your own.” While we waited for the cooks to prepare our dinner, we exhausted ourselves even further with a dance party on the porch. Rum, loud music, beer and some great Cuban guides/dancers. Puzzle solvers and flexible cyclists!
Our tours always have Plan A – that’s what you find on the itinerary you’re given. Our plan A on February 6, 2021 is to take you from the timeworn city of Havana to the pristine beach and coral reef of Guanahacabibes National Park on western tip of Cuba. Then on February 20 our Plan A is to take you on a 15-day tour through the varied and stunning landscape of central Cuba.
Along the way you’ll enjoy the bike ride. For the person who loves to cycle, these are well designed tours for most every ability. Some parts are challenging and much less. Cycling is by far the best way to see Cuba, where cars are still scarce and drivers are courteous to all road users (horse and buggies, ox-carts, walkers, cyclists, other cars and trucks). Cuba is the land of the “happy horn” where motorists tap to let you know they’re behind you, not to push you out of the way.
The rides take you through lush steamy forests, into cool tropical mountains, alongside majestic turquoise beaches, and through cities rich in colonial heritage. You’ll pass organic farms (check out this story of organic farming in Cuba), sugar cane fields, tobacco farms and areas steeped in Revolutionary history.
Plan A. That’s the goal. To get from one point to the next. And we always get there. But often with surprises and detours in between, which make for the best stories afterwards. When you pack an unending supply of flexibility and only the expectation to enjoy each moment of this tour, even those challenging moments become part of the adventure.
Our Cuban team consists of the government guide, bus driver, mechanic and tour leader. Our unified goal is to generate the most fun getting from one point to the next using Plans A-Z. The Cuban guides are well trained to create a pleasant and memorable experience for tourists but they also come with built in radar for how to survive in Cuba, a country locked in the 1950’s with shortages, long lines, limited resources, detours, and old equipment. Cubans make up for these deficiencies with creativity, flexibility, patience and a sense of humor. Our mechanic once told us “In Cuba we don’t have mechanics. We have magicians.”
Dot Dickerson is an avid cyclist, a former cycling instructor and a lover of fun. She has been leading Cuban bike tours for Peter since 2016