Stoked On Fixed Bikes Issue 21

We split up the journey into 12 stages, about 100 km each, and we visited both the inland parts and the wonderful beaches of “cayos”, moving as far as the most remote and uncrowded areas. We crossed famous towns like Santa Clara, Camaguey, Holguin, but also small and remote villages like Mangos de Baraguà, Puerto Padre or Colon. This route, different from the usual ones, allowed us to live the best essence of this place, being able to measure the commercial areas against the out-of-theway places, that tourism and wealth haven’t affected yet. It was really interesting and exciting to observe how that country has responded to so many years of isolation, dictated by the embargo and by an extremely hard and idealistic policy which is now slowly changing. It happened thanks to people animated by a great sense of adaptability and creativity, and always ready to smile in front of daily adversities. At last, we could say that the Cuba essence lies in the eternal oxymoron which encloses its beauty: financially so poor but culturally so rich, aesthetically decadent but also on the cutting edge of townplanning, so irritating and so edifying at once.

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