I've left out the "getting to Cuba bit" which isn't of much interest; suffice to say it was a long trip!
A wrote a journal each night and so the blog is this journal, pretty much as written at the time with a few editorial adjustments afterwards!
22.11.10 – Havana to the Bay of Pigs to Cienfuegos – 40km cycled
Not much sleep again so get up a little before the alarm went off at 6, showered and went for a little explore round the hotel. Phoned Bill from by the pool – reception is as clear as a bell.
Had a very chaotic start to the day; didn’t hear instructions to wear my cycling shirt so had to fix that, left my luggage key in the ladies and general disarray! But we get off (more or less) on time and head off to the Bay of Pigs. Our guide, Ennio, explained some interesting things such as the colour coding for school uniforms; primary students wear red and white, secondary wear yellow and as far as I recall, Orange was for technical college students. Colour-coding is obviously a big thing, as car number plate colours as well as the numbers and letters give a great deal of information about the driver, rather than the vehicle - In Cuba number plates identify the driver not the vehicle and a range of colours and codes identify everything from your status in "the party" to your nationality and even how you make a living.
The colour coding of number plates is a system by which the powers that be have kept tabs on people for decades. Indeed it is a system copied from the USSR.
Government owned vehicles have dark grey number plates with white letters. The numbers signify where and when the vehicle can be driven and whether it can be used for personal as well as official duties. Bosses at government owned companies get blue plates. They can only use their cars for getting to work and back. In Cuba, the first letter on the number plates show which province the car is from, "H" for Havana for example. Army vehicles have red number plates, pale-green plates are for vehicles used by the Economic Ministry. Purple number plates are for embassy staff, who have certain immunity to traffic laws; this also applies government ministers or heads of state organisations.
The first two digits on the number plates of diplomats indicate the diplomatic rank of the driver. For example, if you see a vehicle with the number plate xxx-003, that means the driver is the 3rd highest ranking diplomat from that particular embassy.
The public transport system can’t cope with the people needing to move around and so there are hordes of people standing in certain key areas hoping to get lifts. If they have money in their hands, they are prepared to pay someone over the odds to get to their destination quickly, even though it’s illegal. Tour buses such as ours aren’t allowed to pick up locals whilst we’re using it due to previous trouble with thefts from tourists but, once we’re off, the driver has to pick people up if he has the space!
We stopped for our first break at a roadside café/shop with some very skinny dogs. As we pulled up, all the people in the shop jumped to attention; put music on and put out more souvenirs.
Driving around you can see what a subsistence rural lifestyle they have; lots of people scything by the side of the road for no apparent reason; Alison explains that everyone must have a job and so there are lots of pointless activities going on.
There are 40 of us, excluding Sonia and Anna; a much larger than the average group apparently.
We arrive at the bay of pigs and we’re introduced to the cycling crew who will look after us and then we have our bike fitting. 
This is at a lovely bay with palm trees and we set off with the ocean next to us- fantastic!. We stop for lunch at a beach-side café which was really good with some pork and really tender chicken (cue more cute dogs!) The off-road section of 12km is not my favourite but at least I missed the assault by crabs that the front riders got, we just encountered all the squashed ones! We cover in all a little over 40k between 11am and 16.45 when our cycling guide, Miriam, forces us to stop as she won’t let us ride in the dark. 1hour and 20 minutes to the hotel where we have a very mediocre supper. Miriam (our cycling guide) described the hotel as a bit eastern bloc but it’s fine and there’s a great band playing in the foyer when we arrive who then return to play by the bar after the meal. Try my first Mojito which is pretty good and cheap (much cheaper than the hotel in Havana apparently). Tuck up at 10 and hope to get a good night’s sleep.
Map of cycle route on left
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