Heading somewhere, anywhere will do..

Heading somewhere, anywhere will do! I have to admit I was a to sad to say cheers to my hostess at Casa Mimi in Trinidad. She was a funny lady and always tried to help me with speaking better Spanish and I tried to help her with better English, if I could. She was always walking around giggling and telling me stuff and laughing away, but she knew I had no idea what she was on about, mostly. If anyone ever heads that way, give me a shout and I'll let you know where her place is, really is great with a roof terrace, really central and right next door to a really cheap and good restaurant. I headed out of town with a good feeling about being on the road again, and my idea was to go to Sanctions Spiritus, as I mentioned previously. I got 17km out of town and my attention was suddenly drawn to a really tall tower, which looked amazing and just there in the middle of nowhere, so I veered off left to go and check it out. I am always open to following signs and this turned out to be exactly that and changed my entire day and life in a way. The place was called Manaca Iznaga, and until then wasn't on my radar at all, actually never even seem the name or what it was. Torre de Iznaga was what I had seen and was alongside the oldest sugar cane press and happened to be quite an attraction for tour groups and travelers in the area. Who knew?

I had wandered around and taken some pics and was standing back at Penny when a few people had gathered around and were enthusiastically discussing the bike and that it was titanium, etc. They seemed pretty clued up generally. They turned out to be Dutch. It turns out the one chap called Bert, is a tour guide in the Dolomites, but also anywhere else people wanna go in Europe, so we chatted a bit about our common interests and how we found Cuba, and him particularly about travelling as a group tourist, on a bus tour...he said it was the first and last time. I could so identify with what he was saying, seeing a country like that, nah! On that note I have realized that Cuba, is diverse in so many aspects, and there are different spheres and layers to her, but the subterfuge is the same, across the board. If I had to leave now, I think I could say I have known and experienced Cuba, but perhaps I will be surprised down the line. Whichever way it turns out, I'm super amped, excited and grateful about having this opportunity in life. Anyway, an awesome contact, and I have a definite feeling we will reconnect sometime down our lives paths again. On the back of that I also changed my entire route and continued down the road I veered off left on and up and over the mountain range I had climbed up to get to Topes de Callantes a few days before. The steepest gradient was 20% , twice, which was tough on a loaded Penny, but generally a lot easier than last Saturday. I rode 94km into Santa Clara, a busy, bustling town. I don't enjoy the towns as much as being out where there are fewer (not less, for Russell and Paul), people. I am going to stay one night and then head off to the coast and try and reach Playa Ganuza, by sunset and camp on the beach. It's 100km, so I need an early start, but can't wait to be back at the ocean, this time, the North Coast again. I'm in the Caribbean FFS, may as well be on the beach, no?

The night was restless, I'm not sure why, perhaps it was because I was in bed at 7.45pm? These are the down, or upsides of riding all day in the humid heat. Even though I was really tired after my cheap, yet small dinner and a sleeping tablet, I woke up several times. The thing about having a lot of devices too is that they need charging and because I only have one plug which fits these sockets, it's a lot of juggling to recharge all by departure hour. I guess that played on my mind a bit so whenever I awoke, switched a few things around and went back to sleep. Even though it was restless, I felt recharged and fresh and left to go back to my cheap restaurant I had found for dinner, and had an even cheaper huge brekkie. It does seem that up here it's way cheaper than down on the South coast. I'm still trying to figure it all out, but perhaps I'm finding a way to sniff out cheaper places? I rode to the coast and stopped along the way at quite a cute town called Remedios. I had a stop at a window stall, a like shop kiosk from someone's house, everyone has one almost, they are everywhere, selling drinks and beers and sandwiches, etc. It was so hot I asked for water, and given that my communication skills are not breaking any world records here, I was charged 1 peso for 2 glasses of cool drink and the full bottle of water. So I took out my coins and started to count out one CUC, which is a USD. He started laughing at me when I didn't have a dollar in coins and gave him 10 CUC. That's the trouble with having 2 currencies and both are pesos, for me it gets confusing sometimes, especially after lots of exerting myself. One CUC is the equivalent to 25 National Pesos or Moneda. In the end he took 50 cents, which is actually 2 pesos the cheeky, thieving bastard...haha! I don't know. I pressed on, intent on getting to Cayo Santa Maria, an island off the mainland but connected by 45 km of thin asphalt bridge. One has to pass through a town called Caibarien, like how some spell Caribbean when they don't know what's up. It is a tricky spelling. Anyway, I stopped for a hamburgeusa just on the outskirts and didn't really check where I was going, so ended up going out through town to a peninsula, instead of finding my way to the thin asphalt strip. I was on the edge of the Caribbean Sea, the wind was howling, and a small sign which read, "hostal", right on the beach, caught my eye. I enquired about cost for the night and asked to see the room, in my best most fluent Spanglish. "Diez CUC" she said. "What, wait, huh?" The room has got to be a real hovel for that, not holding out for anything great as she showed me the room. Sea view, 2 double beds, what's the catch? Normally rooms are double that, if not more. I can't work it out. It may save me money to just make a home here for a while. If the wind dies in the morning am gonna head to Cayo Santa Maria for a night then head back, stay one more night here and then head towards Varadero. That's 250km away so will require a few stops to get there but hopefully the wind will continue to blow the way it has and I'll get pushed along rather nicely.

I have to admit that since just relinquishing control of my journey and have had faith that what will unfold will be, and is meant to be, I have had a much better experience. I know for most that will seem like hocus-pocus rubbish, but nothing can be further from the truth. Just trust the universe with an open heart and mind and you will find that such unexpected and fantastic things unravel before your very eyes. It takes a bit of faith, but try it, you may never look back. We think we have such control of our lives and our destiny, but I disagree, I think it has already been set, but we think we have choice in our lives. It's way to big to be left up to us...I think we have the illusion of choice and that we decide, but I can't see that. Time for a nap... It's actually great to chill at one spot and just relax and have the time to write and reflect on the journey past and the journey to come and the unknown stuff which will accompany me and the experiences I will have, allow myself to have, and the degree in which I feel I am being open minded and free. It's quite an interesting perspective. I have some Jack Parow on my iTunes, and it's actually really cool to hear some South African music, makes me identify with my (sort of) roots and a smile when I hear it. "Jy dink jy's koeler as ekke", has created a whole new meaning in my head.

The early morning plans to ride to Cayo Santa Maria were scuppered at 3.30am, when I was woken up by big rain, thundering down on my roof. There was also a small issue of a slight leak onto my bed which aided in me being woken up. Such is life of a travelling gypsy on a budget... I thought I would wait until dawn to see out towards where I was planning on going before I made a final decision, but sunrise only confirmed the overcast thundery sky. I decided on another day at La Tormenta Casa and then come Saturday was gonna head towards Varadero, although I have now seen the forecast and there is rain anticipated for 3 days on this Northern coastline. It is winter after all, at 30 degrees every day, of course it is. My advice is don't come in summer unless you plan on spending all your time in an air conditioned room. I just took a ride into town to buy some WIFI airtime and to check in with the outside world, and it seems nobody was concerned or missing me having not been online for over 2 days. Nice! It's also a real hole of a town. Almost all the buildings are dilapidated and broken and there is more squalor than normal, especially for a town which is the only way in and out of the resort island. It's so strange, it's like someone removed all the people for half a century, then put them back. It's even hard to work out what or why this town was established initially. It's not like there's a shortage of coastline to put a town on, this island is a monster, and even so, there are not that many beaches as one would have expected. Unfortunately. There are some signs of a fishing industry, but I rode along the seaside and the factories are even falling apart. There seems to be a railway line in and out which also suggests past industrial activity. On that note, I have seen many many train tracks and in 3 weeks have only seen one train that was operational, half as many as I have seen as ornamental statues. Bizarre stuff. On the train note again, I saw an actual steam train locomotive today whilst taking Penny for a little exercise, as she was getting restless with the rain that's been continuously falling, so stripped her down and took her for a burn. On the return from the distant beach I went to investigate, it started really bucketing down, and the different roots I took were cattle paths and back roads, and the mud became caked all over both of us. She even got chain-suck, which on a one-by upfront is generally unheard of. I had to resort to washing us both off in a river just outside the town. Messy.

Due to the fact that there was a monster after party where I am staying I didn't get much sleep last night, and when I went down for breakfast at 7am, there were still about 20 people still going. It's interesting when you are the sober one and seeing how drunk is, from the opposing standpoint. Perspectives. They do love to have a party here and it's so interesting that there is never any "agro" behavior. It must have something to do with ego and one-upmanship, such interesting psychology around that sort of thing for me. People with less or fewer things (Russell and Paul), seem to have a much better sense of brotherhood and societal bond than idiots who think they have somehow had their human status enhanced because they drive a smart car. That whole concept is strange to me. Those people should actually be more humble and grateful and kind to people who are less fortunate than them...wake up Capetonians, this means you. Due to the rainy ride, my phone with my maps of Cuba and my translator app has been destroyed and now won't switch on, so could make the next two and a half weeks very interesting. Eldorette, download Cuba maps offline please! I'm hoping it will dry out and once again be my savior in navigating these murky waters of Cuba. Luckily all my photos were on my SD card which seems to be ok and working in my other phone. Rain ends tomorrow I am hoping and will perhaps leave on Monday and head towards Varadero, my time near Caibarien is coming to an end I feel, but I have to say the people are very cool and friendly and I have enjoyed this part of my journey. Different is not always a bad thing, as most of my mates know, don't you? The rain has gone, the suns out I have a tailwind so I'm heading wherever it blows me next. It was sad to leave Vincente, Riccardo and David but a new adventure beckons... Everybody dies, not everybody lives. There is no getting away from death and taxes, only with one can you try and cut corners. Think about that for a second, I will leave that there.