Biking on Cuba part 2 - Oriente: 11. Chivirico

This casa we cannot recommend. It is by far the most expensive, and that has absolutely nothing to do with quality. Probably it has to do with competition, or lack of it here in Chivirico.
Today we start late. Only 40 k to our next destination which is a campismo, a Cuban camp site with huts. Tomorrow's goal is to climb Cuba's highest mountain. Pico Turquino, 1974 meters. Does not sound very much, but the climb start at sea level.
We need some hiking food and manage to get into a Panamerican Store which is run by staff that has no clue what service means (like everything that is state owned). But it does not matter because there is nothing in those stores that people really want, or can afford. We buy some crackers and mineral water. For 12 Cuc. That is a third monthly wage for a teacher. Hard to understand this system, (no, the locals don't get things cheaper in those stores) but acceptance is the key to enjoy Cuba. Get rid of expectations, take it as it is, and don't put western logic onto this society. We are guests here. We have no right to criticize.
So, after the shopping, off we go. On the worst road on Cuba according to Lonely Planet. First hour the road is instead the best Cuban road. Mainly because the total lack of cars, lorries, buses etc. But also - it's stunningly beautiful. After 20 k it ends. And turns into the road that God forgot. It starts with a collapsed bridge. So, thats why there are no cars here. Half of the road has been swept down into the ocean. Luckily this is a short day. The campismo is easy to miss. As everything, because there are no signs. We find a graveyard and some stone buildings without roofs, hoping this is not the campismo we ask our way and finally find it. A true little paradise. Just by the se. We get a stone cabin with electric light, cold shower and clean sheets for 16 Cuc including a fan. And they even have a little restaurant just by the sea.

We bike to the base camp of Pico Turquino. Spend some time under a roof with a guide and a cat, rain just pours down and this is the rainiest "dry season" ever the guy explains. If too rainy not possible to climb the mountain, but we arrange to be picked up at 5.30 tomorrow morning, by a lorry.