After the hassles of Havana, Vinales was like a tonic for the soul.
We bundled into a taxi with our new friends early in the morning and set off from Havana. The 2hr drive was filled with potholes and our taxi had no suspension, jolting our poor tired bodies awake every 5 minutes. All this was forgotten when we arrived at our casa and our fluent English speaking host was friendly, gave us a clean room, cooked us breakfast and was happy to arrange all our tours. SUCH a welcome relief after Havana.
(Our home in Vinales)
Situated in a valley Vinales is tiny, with a population of around 30,000 but you wouldn’t know it. People sit on rocking chairs on their porches and men play dominos in the street. A little country town, there are mountains on 2 sides giving it such a beautiful outlook . There are farms and plantations in the surrounding area. The locals smile at you and say hello. Men ride by on horses or bikes (usually doubling someone else) and horse/ox drawn buggys are the norm. You still see the American cars, as well as huge old trucks that seem to serves as buses that locals can flag down and climb into – like hitch hiking, no one pays. Everyone helps each other out.
(The valley)
(Parking for the music concert in the local square)
(The local ‘Target’)
(The vegetable man)
With 3 days here we explored lots of the surrounding area, including caves, watched Cuban cigars be made and rolled and generally took in the amazing scenery.
(Four of us piled into this for our day trips!)
(Old Cuban mural depicting evolution…yes, that looks like Spiderman to me too)
(Eden making his own cigar)
We also day tripped to a local beach on a nearby island. After discovering that our driver/host Mario had to wait all day for us we invited him to the beach with us. He proceeded to tell us that Cubans weren’t allowed as they may use this as an easy way to flee the country… Though you see the propaganda everywhere stories like this reinforce that socialism is still alive and well here.
(Our ‘Cuban free’ beach – bizarre)
We decided to embrace a little bit of Cuba while here and smoke a Cuban cigar. It was clear that we had no idea what we were doing when we had to ask the sales lady which end to light and then buy a lighter…. We spent the afternoon consuming wine, chocolate and for me, the briefest taste of a Cuban cigar. Not a pleasant taste!
Chilling out in the countryside made me rethink Cuba. Do I want to go on to other places? On the drive here I was convinced I was going to buy a flight out, but now I think might take it day by day and see how I go…
