Most Inspirational Moment
There were so many special moments and enough inspiration to keep me going for a lifetime that I couldn’t possibly single out one of them. So here goes with just a few of the things that dreams are made of: Swimming beneath the waterfall at the hotel in the Sierra Maestra after our hardest day’s cycling. Hearing the excited squeals of delight and seeing the smiling faces of the children on the road side as we cycled past, tapping their outstretched hands and shouting ‘Hola’ to them. The electric atmosphere at the Casa de la Trova in Santiago de Cuba as one of the many live bands blasted out those classic la música Cubana tunes and my two left feet, lubricated by gallons of mojitos, attempted to salsa. The warmth and friendship that the Cuban people showed us, with the brave faces they were putting on despite the hardship that they lived in. A lesson to us all, I would say. The taxi ride along el Malecon Habanero (Havana’s seafront) in a 1953 Cadillac on a warm night with the windows wound down, the city lights twinkling in our eyes and those exotic smells of a tropical city after dark permeating through our nostrils, as music from the Buena Vista Social Club played on the radio.Just a few of the special times but there were dozens more.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Juan Carlos Junco was an absolute star of a man. The trip was incredibly good but exhausting yet this man did everything that the group did plus all the organisational stuff too. He managed to do this without ever showing any sign of fatigue or impatience with us despite the fact that we must have behaved more like naughty children on a school trip than the elite athletes that we professed to be. He knew the history and culture of his country inside out, he had an answer for all our questions, he ensured that we enjoyed every moment of our trip and he brought much more humour to it than I would ever have expected. If this man does not succeed the Castro Dynasty as the next president of Cuba then I will eat my Che Guevara revolutionary beret. I would add that our two drivers, Jose Luis Garcia Gutierrez and Lazaro Rojas Garcia, also enhanced our enjoyment of the trip. Despite their limited English vocabulary they never ceased to entertain us with their singing, dancing, huge friendly smiles and their laughter.
Advice for Potential Travellers
On the coach journey from the airport to the hotel on the first night, our group leader told us to remember that Cuba is a very small and very poor Third World country that is trying to do its best for its visitors. If we could accept that then we would enjoy our holiday. I took his advice and it meant that when things weren’t quite right (which wasn’t all that often) they weren’t quite right in beautiful Cuban style to be treasured and if everything had been perfect I’d have been disappointed. So my advice is to do the same, to embrace and take the time to appreciate the people of Cuba and every aspect of their culture, especially their music. If you do this you won’t want to go home again.
Suggestions
I’d like to add another two weeks to the trip. We didn’t spend enough time in some of the places that we visited but there was nothing that we did that I would have wanted to spend less time doing. And I’d like to add my thanks to everyone I met in Cuba, to all my wonderful and inspirational travelling companions from Britain and New Zealand and to Exodus. Without you my holiday wouldn’t have been quite so perfect.
