12. Pico Turquino. March 16

5.30 it's pitch dark. We are standing at the side of the road wondering if this lorry will turn up. And it does. It's an adventure climbing up to the platform in the dark. Very exciting, the Cuban way of traveling. There is a bunch of young Cubans, also climbing up on the platform. They don't really look like mountain hikers but are very sure they are going to give it a go.
We get a guide and a third companion from US. Roland thinks he looks like a CIA agent.
Pico Turquino is not for the weak. Almost 2000 meters steep climb. Some views on the way up but most of it is just an endless, steep, muddy stairway deep down in a damp jungle gully created by water over time. But this mountain is a rite of passage for Cubans and we are hiking in the Cuban history itself. Here Ché, Fidel and the others hid and fought, and won the victory of revolution for the miss treated people and country under the Batista regime.

The going down is one of the hardest coming down a mountain I've experienced. And I have done quite a few, living in the Rockies and having hiked and scrambled all over the world. Maybe because it is steep and very, very slippery. You can never just relax and jump happily down. Every step is with full brakes. And then you are using muscles not trained when biking. Which we realize next morning when just walking the few steps from the bed to the bathroom is so painful we believe we will not be able to do anything today, just stay in bed.
8,5 hours up and down. We are welcomed by a huge pasta meal that is included in the park fee. And of course two ice cold beer.

Of course we would like to go back to the campismo. The guide, the CIA guy and the young Cubans. They are far, far behind. We have to figure this out by ourselves. Hitch hiking in Cuba is very easy. But not on this road. Because there are no, absolutely 0, vehicles. After an hour or so we give up, walk back to base camp. And here comes the lorry, probably booked by the young group. But they have still not arrived, and when they arrive they will eat, and me and Roland Really Really want to go back. To our cold shower. I manage to bribe the lorry driver, after some hard negotiations, including not pretending being interested at all. Just walking away.
The Cuban way.