WOW, I&#8217;m at the sea, at the lighthouse in Punta de Maisi, the easternmost point in Cuba. I like places where the road ends or begins&#8230;  For me, it begins HERE and NOW! The ADVENTURE across Cuba. A country with around 110,000 km² and 11 million inhabitants.  When I set off, I always have a destination in mind and lots of thoughts about how I will get to the other end.  And yet there is always the uncertainty of whether everything will work out and whether the time available will be enough to carry out the plan.  Starting signal&#8230; at first it climbs steeply until the first forests are reached. Then the path soon leads steeply down again and along the coastal road to Imias. Shortly before arriving, I notice that my fork bag is moving strangely.  Oops, one of the three screws is missing&#8230; Luckily, I&#8217;m now in town. Instead of resting a bit, I start looking for a suitable screw. Nothing special really, and in Europe you can buy screws like this almost anywhere. Not in Cuba!!! After the third bicycle shop, where the mechanic quickly waves me away, I have to change my search strategy. There are no DIY stores, and I can&#8217;t find any garages. The so-called ‘supermarkets’ are unknown on the island. So, I ask as many people as possible, left and right, for a suitable screw. Finally, after more than an hour of persistent work, a man says, &#8222;Ah, let&#8217;s go to Josua. He can definitely help, because Josua is an avid cyclist and amateur mechanic. The passer-by even takes the time to take me to Josua&#8217;s house and ring the doorbell.  Josua is at home and welcomes me like a guest of honour. In the garden, he opens his workshop and shows me an arsenal of cardboard boxes full of screws. Problem solved. I then spend some time chatting with Joshua about touring. It quickly becomes clear that Joshua is a cycling fan and that he and his family often host guests. Preferably cycle tourists. He shows me several guest books with handwritten entries&#8230; Back at my accommodation, nothing is working.
No electricity, no mobile reception and constantly hot in the room. Mosquitoes everywhere&#8230; At least I can protect myself under the mosquito net and read my travel book, CUBA Lonely Planet, with my head torch.
Tomorrow I&#8217;m off to Guantanamo. As a traveller, you don&#8217;t notice anything about the infamous prison. It&#8217;s about 30 kilometres outside the city and not open to the public.  I&#8217;m glad to arrive at the Casa particular in Guantanamo City at around 1 p.m. I immediately ask my hostess about a grocery store and want to get some water. She couldn&#8217;t really tell me where to get water. I found that quite strange, but when I went hunting for water myself, I understood more and more why&#8230; BECAUSE only after a very long search was I finally able to buy 0.5 litres. I don&#8217;t like the taste of the water at all, and I see that the best before date on the bottle is 06.2021!!!! Hello, almost three years past the date&#8230;  Back at the casa, luckily there is electricity now, so I immediately boil as much tap water as possible with my kettle.
In Santiago de Cuba, directly opposite the imposing cathedral, is Parque Céspedes, which is teeming with people on their mobile phones. Their need is simple&#8230; they benefit from the network reception, which is rare in Cuba, and in their homes, they rarely have electricity. NO electricity = no router reception = no Wi-Fi reception.
In Las Tunas, I want to go to a pharmacy. However, my host says I can save myself the trip because there are definitely no plasters. Hard to believe. People are queuing in front of the one pharmacy, and I must admit that my host was right, of course. I have never experienced such scarcity and a lack of products and goods in any other country.

East Cuba