James summary

Unlike most tourists who visit Cuba for Salsa dancing, rum cigars or sex I went for the sole purpose of biking as much of it as I could and see as much farmland and farming practices as possible. With Cuba supposedly being the sustainable country of the world, green parties and organic farmers hold Cuban farming practices as the holy grail. A country who cannot produce enough food to feed their people, with the land mass that they have, I dont see as sustainable, which is partly due to lack of capital. I once saw a movie which stated a barrel of oil was equivilent to 1000 man hours, so with as much labour as you can get, with a tractor and some machinery you can probably achieve a lot more. I do feel the livestock (dairy/beef) could produce alot more and better with tweaking management, but I didnt get to talk to any farms so cant say what is happening.
As far as cycling Cuba I covered 1800 kilometres, virtually the length of the country other than the far west, and zigzagged from coast to coast. We saw a far bit of country though it was rushed and tiring. The stand out things for me were the happy easy going people and the great upbringing for kids especially in the country - no TVs, playstations etc like western kids, so making the most of their climate and what they did have. I disagree with most people in thinking Cuba will change in a hurry, with older people and country people still proud of their revolution. There are disgruntled younger people is the cities and tourist areas. Unless you stand up and demand change it doesnt happen. Unlike other communist countries Cuba doesnt have alot of resources (labour, minerals etc) to offer, to drive a capitalist system. But they do have tourism, but it needs a lot of work to improve it!
On the whole I enjoyed my time - one highlight was being able to do big k's and to cycle the country. I t was also good for Chris and I to seperate for those times.
I came home appreciating what I had and how beautiful our own country is. If I went again I would take more time to spend in areas and enjoy the culture more - a a bit of spanish would be a big help!

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