The Handsomest Man in Cuba: An Escapade

August 16, 2004 -- In the glut of Cuban travel books, this one really stands out - The Sun Herald
One of the best on-the-road travel books of this generation - The Launceston Examiner
The only time you will put it down is when you finish it - Peter Sutherland, Australian Cyclist

The handsomest man in Cuba: an escapade

Big fat cigars. Tropicana dancing girls. Mojitos. Hemingway. A guy named Fidel. This is not a book about the Cuba you already know.

With several American citizens facing stiff fines for independently traveling to Cuba ($55,000 in one case), or merely scratching the surface of the culture through controlled, authorized tours, this book is an apolitical account of exactly what it is like to eat, drink and be cautiously merry among ordinary and extraordinary Cubans - as told by a lone woman traveler who can take almost everything that's flung at her – and just about everything is.

From pedaling across the country on a small folding bicycle, voyaging to Trinidad with the ‘world's worst sailor', fighting off males with mucho calor (loosely translated as ‘a lotta hotta testosterone') and adapting to a country that hits the pause button for precisely one hour every day for a syrupy soap opera, Lynette Chiang unveils a Cuba that embraces life, a little food, a lot of love, one huge family – and her.

La China, as the Cubans call her, discovers a people who earn as little as $US5 a month, yet refuse to accept money for help, arguing that ‘friendship is better'. Who are rationed one bread roll a person per day, but insist she take their share ‘for energy'. Who might have to choose between a bottle of shampoo or food in any given month, yet who seem strangely more at peace with themselves than the average wealthy foreigner.

The Cuban government restricts what travelers may experience by making it illegal to stay outside government sanctioned hotels and guesthouses. By illegally ‘sleeping with the enemy' Lynette describes a hidden Cuba that the average American tourist will never see - a Cuba that is disappearing in the scramble for US dollars. Some readers claim the compelling narrative ‘saved them the airfare'. Part travel tale, part philosophy, it makes us think about what people were like before commerce took precedence over humanity - that we might re-learn to ‘love thy neighbor'.

First published by Random House Australia, this new USA edition features 8 pages of color photographs, a technical touring section, map and a foreword by author and renowned fellow bicycle adventurer, The Metal Cowboy.

7 years ago Lynette Chiang fled a decent job, three-bedroom house, fastish car and a nice bloke in Sydney and, armed with a congenitally poor sense of direction, set off to see the world on a folding bicycle. Her distinguished careers include that of computer programmer, failed waitress, trainee chef, chief cook and bottle wash of a mountaintop hotel, creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising in Costa Rica and parading outside Windsor Castle in the freezing cold dressed as an English Lady. She has lived in enough countries to learn that to not fit in, is part of the experience. Lynette currently works as the Customer Evangelist and chief storyteller at Bike Friday, maker of the world's leading performance travel bicycle. She hopes to inspire women the world over to ‘just do it', through her travel website http://www.galfromdownunder.com

Lynette will be touring the east and west coasts from September 1, 2004, with a slide show presentation of her trip. See schedule here:
http://www.bikefriday.com/bf/handsomestmanincuba








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