Sunrise at Cancun

What’s life without at least one bicycle touring per year? With the ‘beast from the east’ making frequent visits to the British Isles the east coast of North America was the safe bet for some stable and warm weather over Easter holidays.  Florida lost out due to the flight cost and Cancun won. The connecting flight from Chicago to Cancun was full of teenage spring break travellers – all very happy (read loud and noisy).

Playa del Carmen

I had to ditch the idea of taking my bicycle due to some practical reasons and instead decided to hire a bicycle from Cancun. Given that the average temperature was 25 plus (degree Celcius) through out my time warm gear was unnecessary and even the rain gear was redundant – a light weight luxurious bike touring with no tent, nor sleeping bag.

Tulum town centre

One of the pristine beaches at Tulum

I had originally planned to cycle to Palenque ( 1200km) over 10 days. This would have been a hectic ride in the scorching sun instead a more chilled Mayan Meanders ensued.

I had done no research on this area prior to my arrival and assumed Cancun was just a beach destination. I was quite wrong. This peninsula had lot more to offer. If anything, the signposts on the highway was a clear indication of the diverse attractions on offer: jungle resorts, beaches, theme parks, Cenotes and of course the numerous  Mayan ruins. Cenote is the name given for a natural hole in the ground, like a sinkhole. This region had numerous Cenotes resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock. The water in the Cenotes offer an excellent place to cool down and some fabulous chilling out.

The view from Tulum ruins

On the first day I left at 6am when it was still dark and took a detour to visit the Zona Hoteleria just outside Cancun – a narrow strip of land in the sea full of hotels. It was a coincidence that I arrived at one of the famous beaches for sun rise! With just one coffee and a yoghurt from Starbucks I made it to playa del Carmen in just under 4 hours arriving at 10am. This place was heaving with tourists after all the beach was just 2 mins walk from the town centre.

The pyramid at Coba ruins

Some ‘trad’ climbing at Coba Ruins

The second day of ride was to Tulum, just 61 kilometres away – an early morning two hours ride. At Tulum I went to see the ruins and decided to do some snorkelling which was on the list of things to do but I never had the courage. It was an adventure worth it. The water was warm the various shades of bluish green water was fabulous. Nevertheless, I lost the breathing tube within the first five minutes and panic set in. My guide and his assistant couldn’t hide their amusement but was kind enough to throw a rubber tube into the water which I held on to for the next 30 minutes. I dipped my head in every time my guide pointed out a turtle or some lovely coral reef. Next time when some one mentions snorkelling I know what it means.

From Tulum I went inland, another two hours early morning ride to Coba just 47 kilometres away. Tourists get bussed in to this ruins and early mornings are the best to beat the crowd. Cyclists think alike. I met a german cyclist at the entrance of this park who had cycled in from opposite direction. This site was quite big and a private company rented out bicycles for use within the park. Outside bicycles were not allowed. I tried my best but they wouldn’t budge. So we both decided to take a walk. This site had a massive and steep pyramid where people were allowed to climb up. The view of the jungle from the top of the pyramid was excellent. This pyramid must have been quite a task to build without cranes. The site of ruins was in a wooded area making the walk a pleasant one. We met a family of four from Utah who decided to climb one of the banyan trees. The kids were astonished to see the aerial roots. It was fun to scale this tree in the ‘traditional’ manner. It turned out the parents were also Chemistry teachers. 

Testing arboreal life

The out of bounds pyramid at Chichen Itza

Cenote Yodzkonot

Next stop was Valladolid which was the nearest city to the famous Chichen Itza ruins. I was at the ruins at 8am the next day to avoid both tourists and the heat. There were plenty of structures standing intact from the Mayan time but unfortunately the pyramid was off limits for climbing. These structures were grand. After visiting the ruins, as planned, I arrived at the Cenote Yokdzonot which was recommended to me by the guys at the bicycle shop. I went into the water without much fear this time since life jackets were compulsory and also this felt safer than an open ocean. The water was crystal clear and cooler with some beautiful limestone rock formations. Because I stayed there overnight I had the privilege of going into the water once again after lunch. Life felt good in the water there. From the Cenote another early morning long ride took me to Merida, about 102 km – the longest ride of this trip. From Merida I took the bus back to Cancun where this trip ended.

life is safe with a life jacket!

Route: Cancun – Playa del Carmen (90 kms) – Tulum (61) – Coba (47) – Valladolid (63) – Yodzkonot (68) – Merida (102). 

For those who wish to rent a bicycle I highly recommend the bicycle shop ‘Elite Cyclery’ at Cancun who had a wide range of bikes of all sizes and types available for rent (Disclaimer –  I was not paid to write this!). 

After a brief period of lull it was time to revive the cycle touring spirit albeit with a short tour, a very short one, compared to the previous journey.

The criteria to select the place was warm weather and a place where I have never been. Cuba met this criteria and more – this country is well known among cycle tourists for its traffic free roads. Off I went packing my bicycle; this time a trailer was not needed just a small daypack that sat on my shoulders was sufficient.

Close to Trinidad

Some brief respite from the Sun

One of the thousands of crabs that got killed on the highway

Some typical colonial town centres

One of the caves near Vinales which the revolutionaries used, to hide away

The coast line of Havana

Vinales – some greenery

Malecon, Havana

Cienfuegos town centre

Colonial remnants?

My original plan was to ride for about 10 days in total plus two days on either side to just chill. On arrival in Varadero airport I got picked up by the taxi to Matanzas where I assembled my bike and left the bicycle bag in the casa where I stayed at.

The roads were traffic free and wide and the terrain I rode was generally flat, no major hills or mountains, for most part of the route, except near Trinidad. The first day I covered 80 kms to Colon and then second day was 120 kms to Santa Clara from where I headed to the coastal town, Trinidad which was very popular among tourists for its colonial architecture. From here I rode to Cienfuegos along the coast. After about 20 kms the highway was covered with thousands of dead crabs. I had no idea why these pitiful creatures would crawl to the tarmac from the beach sand only to be get killed by the traffic. To ride over these dead crabs for several kilometres was sick. But I had no choice but to just pedal as fast as I could to get away from this crab-disaster zone. After four days of cycling, on arrival in Cienfuegos, I decided to cut short the cycling for it was unbearable to cycle at 30 plus degrees centigrade. From here, I took a bus to Havana where I dropped most of my stuff and left for another 3 days of riding towards Vinales. With no bag on my shoulders, but just the small bag on the seat post rack, the ride was more enjoyable and I took the route which was not frequented by tourists. These three days brought back some pleasant memories from my previous cycling trip and how much I missed it. Vinales was a region that was very popular among tourists because of the hills. It was much better than other parts of Cuba in terms of the vegetation, lot more trees and a bit hilly terrain.  However, I was not terribly impressed perhaps because I was comparing it to the Andes mountains.

In my infinite wisdom I had forgot to restock my puncture repair kit which was missing the puncture repair solution.  I was hoping to get a new one in Cuba. First lesson learnt was that it is hard to find things in Cuba, yes, even a decent bicycle puncture repair solution. Perhaps, the numerous horse drawn carts and bicycles in Cuba never gets punctured. The high street in towns and cities were not typical – the absence of marketing bill boards, sale, offers, discounts was conspicuous. A bottle of cold drink was often hard to find, either they did not have the right size or it was not cold. When available the cost was almost the same as in a corner shop in London. The trick was to rely on things that were local. Freshly squeezed sugar cane, mango or guava juice was just dirt cheap. Although, the quality of the water used to make them could be dubious. A thirsty cyclist may not give a damn about this but only later to run to a pharmacy to get some ciprofloxacin. Alas, that’s when he might discover that foreigners were not allowed to use the same pharmacy shops, or at least the same counters. They may need the same medicine but the administrators believe in extracting a high price from the tourists. I was offered ciprofloxacin for 15.5 USD. Fortunately, I knew a trick or two. I cycled away from the tourist town to a smaller village where, my skin colour and Spanish skills got me a whopping discount of 99%. I paid just 16 cents, (4 pesos in local currency). In tourists towns, foreigners were kept separate, almost. Foreigners were only allowed to use a designated bus company to get around which locals were not allowed to board. It was illegal to host foreigners which meant no couchsurfing or warmshowers. And worse, Cubans were required to obtain a special license even if they wished to host their best friends or families from overseas in their houses.

The hospitality industry was heavily restricted. Hotels were rare however there were plenty of ‘casas’ – bed and breakfast equivalent. The owners of these were required to get a special permit for which the government extracted a heavy price (in USD) from them in the name of license and the price for accommodation was 20-25 USD per night per person. Throughout the island, except in the capital where it was 35, the cost was standard. The cost of internet was the next shock. People don’t have internet access at homes, let alone mobile internet. Tourists, and even the locals, had to buy a special card in the designed offices in town centres at certain times. It was USD 1.50 per hour. The internet access was through wifi at designated parks and plazas. It was quite a sight to see all those internet obsessed people in one location – the plazas and the parks which would have been places for socialising! The lack of internet at homes meant booking accommodation in advance were almost impossible.  Often, it was done by word of mouth and phone calls. Whenever I arrived in a city/town I would see the sign for a ‘casa’ and even if they were full they  would always take me to their relative or friend who had a place to stay. Finding accommodation was not that hard but the standard price was quite annoying. Even in remote villages it costed the same and these casas were eager to make dinner and breakfast for an additional cost, charged in USD. Meanwhile, food at the high street was dirt cheap even though it was just very basic, meat and rice plus onions and tomatoes that constituted salad in the local dictionary.

Havana was a lot different to most of the island and even here there was not much traffic. It was a joy to ride the wide streets with little or no stress. However, the administrators central planning was conspicuous. The road next to the sea, malecon, had six lanes and fast moving cars but bicylces and motor cars were not allowed – pity it would have been such a nice ride. The administrators grand design is also notable by the dilapidated high tower blocks next to the sea. Elsewhere, this part of the city would be buzzing with lot more life. However, the sea breeze and the warmth made it a beautiful combination to walk along this promenade at night times.

Cuba was lot different to most places, perhaps one of the key attractions for most tourists and the traffic free roads were fantastic for some non-stop, traffic-lights free, road cycling. Che’s catchy phrase ‘hasta la victoria siempre’ is omnipresent along the highways although I was a bit unsure if the victory had arrived for the ordinary Cubans!