2025 Cuba Ride and Adventure

​   My long dreamed of adventure to Cuba materialized with a bicycle trip with my favorite company, Bicycle Adventures. 
     BA partnered with another American company with years of experience in Cuba.
As a result, we were fortunate to have three guides: Katie from Bicycle Adventures; Peter and Ramon from the partner company.  Peter is American but has been leading Cuban adventure tours for 10 years. Ramon, a Cuban, has also been leading tours for many years. The wealth of information was often overwhelming, including some of Ramon’s funny antidotes about local life, including smuggling a casket full of cheese in a hearse.
    Speaking of cheese, the food was also better than expected. Well beyond beans and rice, which were often served on the side.  For the first few days, lobster was on the menu at least once a day. Fresh fruit and lots of it! We got familiar with the local beverage, canchachala, which contains a generous portion of aguardiente (common distilled spirit found all over Latin America and even Asia), lime juice, honey and ice. Powerful! Mojitos were also popular with the group. Beer was light and nothing to write home about.
​   Accommodations throughout exceeded expectations, even factoring the daily power outages; everywhere except hospitals, police, and other critical services. We traveled in a nice airconditioned bus, with a bunch of seats removed to accommodate bicycles.  The bicycles were Trek flat bar, older, but in excellent working condition.

Let’s Ride!
   The first few days were hot and humid with strong headwinds as we headed out onto potholed, semi-paved roads. The rural, backroads were mostly quiet, with majority of traffic being scooters, horse and ox carts. 
   We averaged about 30 miles per day.  Even with shorter distances, riding was tiring due to headwinds and heat, but we made plenty of stops at our support bus for snacks, water and electrolytes. Drivers in all modes of transportation were respectful and considerate to us on bicycles. For the most part we were off the beaten track and tourist routes which allowed for an occasional chat with locals. We also had to permit time for the post ride excursions to art studios, museums, and history walks around town, before dinner.
 

The Country…
   The Cuban perspective as one might guess, is very different than we in the US.  And it doesn’t just have to do with low incomes; it’s a cultural attitude which can be difficult to comprehend (and explain!).  Although, it’s sad to learn that even government jobs earn little, and medical staff are not any better off, having to adapt and innovate with little in the way of equipment and drugs.  The internationally acclaimed medical schools of Cuba, emphasizing social accountability, teach students how to make do with little equipment, while still being successful.  Many medical graduates repay the school debt by practicing in other countries, on behalf of the Cuban government.
   Housing is subsidized heavily by the government and about 85% of Cubans own their homes, resulting in little, if any homelessness. We saw no evidence of homelessness as we know it here. Of course, the Latin culture in general is family-oriented and supports extended families.  In some of the tourist areas we did experience pan handling, but once we told a person “no”, they politely moved on.
   The group completely agreed that in no situation, at any time, did we feel unsafe or threatened.  I personally felt safer riding in Cuba than many of the places I’ve ridden in the US.
Bicycle Adventures returns to Cuba in in November 2026. Be there!