Jiminez, Mexico June 1, but later....

Nice beach, eh??

Guatemala, Colombia, and Guatemala again..keeping me safe...

Blondy is hiding...

Guess who fell asleep in the Sun??

 Now to set up camp and have a peaceful night on the Cuban coast, away from the cares of the world....

It was so warm, I was cooking, that I decided that a tent was not necessary.  10 minutes later, a flight of mosquitoes descended on my baked skin and started to feast.  I decided that a mummy bag was in order, so I climbed into the bag, and did it up to my nose.  Suitably embalmed and secure from the invading mosquitoes, I thought that my night would be peaceful, with the lapping of the waves and nothing to disturb me...

About 3 hours into a deep sleep, I was awakened by two large headlights right in my face.  I was entrwined in my mummy bag, and as I heard half a dozen voices in Spanish yelling and screaming, I thought that this was it..the military were going to bayonet me for sleeping on a roadway on a beach.  The more I struggled, the more I could not get out of the damded bag.  A mean looking guy leaned down and yelled at me: "Hablez usted Espanol?".  I wasn't too focussed as by now I was hoping around with the damded bag around my knees, ready to be bashed about without even getting my feet free.  I rolled to the side of the road, as I was sleeping in the track, because no one would be using the beach at 12 o'clock at night, right??

The yelling voices calmed down a bit when they realized that I was not a dead body wrapped up in the middle of the road, and when I had hopped onto the side of the road, they suddenly lost interest, jumped in their truck, and drove the final 30 meters to the beach, where they struggled to turn around the truck and their trailer.

I thought to myself, these guys are smugglers or contrabandistas, or something.  What in hell are they doing out here at 12 oclock at night?  They had a powerful flashlight, and I could see it in the mangrove swamp near where I sat.  What is going on, I wondered.  After calming down, and realizing that I was not going to be beat up by God knows who, I decided to take a peek at their truck, and try and figure out what they are up to.

If you have any idea what a 1927 Chev truck and trailer, full of 6 guys with flashlights are doing on a remote beach at 12 o'clock at night, you have a clearer idea of what was going on, than I ever got from this little scare.

About an hour later, I heard the group come back out of the jungle, crank over the truck, and as they passed Blondy and I, saluted me with a Beunos Noches..  Jeez thanks guys.

Well I thought that was exciting and at least I can get some sleep now.  I fell into some sort of slumber for about an hour, only to be woken by the snorting and snuffling of what turned out to be two very big and black oxen, who were of course pulling a cart.  Well, this experienced traveller was fully used to being overwhelmed by surprises such as this, and while these guys were not nearly as noisy, they basically repeated the same process as the Chevy.  I did not bother getting a picture of the two snuffling oxen, but I did finally break down and put up my tent, because the everpresent Mozzies were having a field day on my crispy skin..Sometime during the early morning darkness, the second set of  beach intruders left for parts unknown..and I had a snooze..

 Warning: gratuitous moto pictures for awhile, as the sun rises on another day in Cuba...

You see, Horizons Unlimited has this photo contest, whereby you can win a trip to South America...

Moving around the northern end of Cuba...

I end up in Havana, of all places...

to be continued...with another warning about old cars, old bikes, and older guys....

Jiminez, Mexico, June 1

I get to wish my sister another Happy Birthday, as my internal calendar was out a couple of days.  In order to celebrate Sis's birthday, I stopped at the first classy hotel that came into view after today's run north.  I could see the pool through the lobby as I negotiated a room.

 I have had a swim, and although the internet only seems to work in the lobby, it is pleasant to sit and fire off Cuba pics and watch somebody's little princess have a birthday party.  It is probably more interesting to watch her little friends' Mom's tackle the job of wrangling what appears to be 50 or so 5 year olds...

More of Cuba:

 When the Revolutionary War broke out, Che led a group of rebels in Santa Clara into a battle with Batista's forces.. He and his comrades took this Cat and tore up a section of the train tracks, thus overturning an armoured train of Government troops which were sent from Havana to quell the insurgents...

We met this fellow after a visit to the Che memorial museum.  He was taxing a couple from Havana.  He also has 15 old Harleys in his home in Havana, and he was involved with bringing a group of riders, from the States, into Cuba.  Werner and Claudia ended up spending a few days with Luis as he diagnosed and fixed an electrical problem on Werner's bike.  There truly is an international comradship of moto riders...

This was a "Whizzer" of unknown vintage...

Blondy needed to have a pic in front of Che...

Luis' classy taxi...

On the road again...

 

Cuban pizza was to become the staple food for the journey around the island, mainly because the street food was one tenth the cost of tourist food, and able to be purchased in "Nationals"

Anybody who doesn't recognize this car has not really lived a full life...

My Dad had a Ford Falcon, which I totally abused...

Did I ever tell you about the '56 Chevy that I blew up getting my daughter to the hospital so that she could be born???

Do I have the tourist look or not, eh?

Or the '51 Willy's that went head on with a truck and cost me my spleen?

All in white, and I never did figure out what they were about...

An old dually International...

Blondy is a very accommodating girl, under the circumstances..

Or the '49 Ford which was my daughters' first ride???

A visit to a tobacco farm and this fellow showed us how to make real cigars.  He has been doing it for  43 years, so he made it look easy...

 Drying the tobacco leaves for three years...

 Fermenting the leave to achieve the unique aroma and taste...

 This fellow did an excellent job of explaining the process...

After the visit to the tobacco farm, Werner and Claudia went one way, and I the other, as we set about exploring the Island.   

 On this road to the northern coast, Blondy rolled over 120,000 kilometers.  I promised her a party when we rolled into Mexico City..

I found this peninsula and the beautiful water...

The beach was chock a block with what I tood to be coral...

Nice eh??.....

Did I tell you how much I like these Cebu trees?  When I grow up, I am going to plant one and build a treehouse in it...

I decided that particular beach was not campable, and moved on...

 finding this wonderful casa particular..

 and meeting the landlady's son, Tony...

 and his pride and joy: a renovated Lada, which is 33 years old..

 He said it cost him over $10,000 dollars to get the car running.

Tony is an electrical engineer, and his sister was studying to be a dentist.  Both of his parents worked in the medical field...

I knew I should have been serious about the changing cows of North and South America...pictures don't do these guys justice...

 In some parts of Cuba, it is better to ride the dirt to the side of the road, rather than deal with potholes and broken pavement.

In some parts of Northern Cuba, the soil is so rich-looking, one could throw a seed down and have it  start growing...

 Plowing  with oxen...

Nearing Mantua...

 These trees are such a brilliant red, that I could not resist taking a few pics.  Everpresent Spring and Summer down here...

 This looks interesting...

What do you think?  A little stealth camping by the beach?   No one will ever see me...this will be easy....

 I will just set up a temporary sun shelter for awhile, and when everybody leaves...make camp.

 Easy as pie, right??

Notice the intensity of the sun....to be continued....