"Plendil's new Banes Page" Banes by Plendil

Banes is a town to the South East of Guardalavaca. It has quite a large population and a new hospital is being built. Quite a long way to travel from Holguin, no petrol/gas stations on the way (and only Toilets Au Naturel) but plenty of raw Rum will be offered to you!

We had hired mopeds for a couple of days and took the opportunity to travel there but it was a very long way and my bum got a bit stiff.

We also got very low on fuel and there were no petrol stations or even one single pump so we got a bit worried as to how we were going to return to the hotel (Rio de Luna). However, a small boy greeted us in the town centre and asked where we would like to go so we asked him to take us to some petrol/gas! He told us to follow him (he was pedalling a bicycle) and he would ask his friend to get us some. The next minute we were led around the back streets and met about 6 Cubans - at this point I started to worry because they outnumbered us and I wondered if my $10's and camera would be safe! - but I needn't have been so worried because they had duly started to fill up my tank from what looked like a water bottle you'd use in the desert. By now a rather large crowd of people (all men & kids) had gathered and I wondered what on earth was going to happen. Although the guy who was filling it up was actually chuffing on a cigarette - not a sight for the faint hearted - and I stood WELL back! As everything seems to cost $1 in Cuba the final bill was...$1, we paid our dues and thankfully made a hasty retreat before they could "sell" us something else. I wouldn't have been bothered about this if it had taken place somewhere out in the open but what we didn't realise was we were being sold blackmarket gasoline so it had to be somewhere discreet but maybe such a large crowd overwhelmed us...lesson learned and we know what'll happen next time.