When we were leaving Santa Clara arranging transport was not proving to be straightforward. We would have to take a taxi to the bus station, take a bus to Havana and then switch to another onwards bus to Vinales, and then possibly another taxi at the other end to our Casa. For a few CUC more we could do 2 direct taxi’s all the way. Now a taxi here isn’t exactly a taxi… it just means basically someones beaten up vehicle and the owner holds a permit, or in some cases maybe they don’t and they are just friends of the Casa owner who operate under the radar… this became clear when our driver got out with a bottle of rum and slipped it into the white cloth covered hand of a roadside police office along the way… well hey we were not complaining, we still got from A to B in one piece.
Viñales is a small predominantly tobacco farming town in the north-central Pinar del Río region of Cuba, an absolute beautiful one at that. The rocky outcrops were a stunning backdrop for the quaint centre. As we arrived to our Casa I was initially worried that we had bypassed civilisation and were heading into the sticks, but I couldn’t have asked for anything better. We had piglets running around the backyard, the air was fresh, the people were lovely, there were no guys whistling at you from the street. Along the way we picked up Shendo our Japanese friend from Trinidad at the bus station in Havana, so he decided to share the Casa we were staying at as well.
We walked the kilometre or so into town that afternoon to just see what there was to see and do, try one of the daiquiris that our rock climbing mate from the Casa suggested. It was quite grande, he was dead on. We didn’t spend too long there as we had committed to a home cooked meal with “mama” at the Casa, hopefully again it will top our experience in the restaurant from Santa Clara. Well it was delicious, and the portion size was out of this world, we all felt guilty that we couldn’t eat it all.
The next day we were off horse riding which if I was just traveling on my own I probably wouldn’t have done, but being in a group it was such a laugh. It was Shendo’s first time getting on a horse so that for me was entertainment enough, I kept wanting to whip his to make it go faster. I have ridden once or twice before and do remember feeling a little uneasy but these horses were tiny in comparison, it was like my little Pony, I think being closer to the ground made me feel more comfortable… if you fell it wouldn’t hurt as much.
Our guide was a young Cuban farmer that could speak English, he said to us don’t worry these horses are semi automatic, he was right I guess they knew this route off by heart, he was taking us through all the different fields explaining what was growing where. Our first official stop was a small tobacco farm where first we got to sample a fresh fruit cocktail made inside a coconut, yum! The farmer there was a little cheeky, when he asked if we wanted to add some rum he said for a little bit, its $3cuc, you want me to keep pouring… still $3cuc. Also according to him while we were in Cuba there were 4 things we needed to try, 1 – the tobacco, 2 – the rum, 3 – to dance salsa, and 4 – the cuban men (or in Shendo’s case the women) we had a bit of a laugh and said sure sure, maybe later.
As we were drinking our cocktail he began to show us how to cut the tobacco leaves and roll a traditional cigar, it was quite the art form. It was interesting the way he made them with a small round cap to seal the end, he said you should never use the guillotine to cut the end off when you smoke it because firstly you ruin the hand craftsmanship of the cigar maker, and secondly it can leave you the pips of unravelling tobacco in your mouth. He instead uses a pair of scissors and cuts a small round hole in the middle. He explained to us that he had to sell 90 percent of all his tobacco to the government for them to take to cigar factories to be produced and sold, the remainder he could keep for himself and unofficially make and sell to tourists. We smoked one of his and it was actually the nicest cigar I have ever had, so light and he sealed them with honey which gave off a really tasty flavour, he tried telling us to be careful because the honey was an aphrodisiac, he really did want us to go out salsa dancing that night. I would have loved to purchase a box of his, but I was running into money issues, between the transport and accommodation costs being a little higher than expected I had not bought enough Mexican peso’s with me to change over, and I was sure if my cards worked over here yet. Oh well, I would deal with that tomorrow, back onto the Pony’s it was.
We were headed up towards the rocky outcrops that had been looming in the distance, and apparently there was a cave there we could go for a swim in. We tied our horses up outside, paid the fee and set off inside. It was pitch black so a couple of guides had to shine lights down for us to navigate the slippery ground. Im not sure how far underground we were going, maybe 50 meters? and then we came to the waterhole, I actually decided not to go in for a dip as I didn’t particularly feel like getting back on my horse all damp and muddy. Eve and Shendo had a great time though.
That was our last official stop for the afternoon, we had a quick bite to eat and then head back into town, at this point our guide decided to give us some “gasoline” by whipping our horses into a rapid gallop, I couldn’t stop laughing, it was so much fun, and just the shear look of terror and Eve’s face, even her horse was looking shocked. I thoroughly enjoyed the outing, even though Im sure sitting down for the next day or so was going to be painful, it was worth it.
We were a little tuckered out in the afternoon so we decided to take a little nap, close the blinds, put the fan on, perfect sleeping conditions… until that is I was awaken by a clunking sound… what the.. something had landed in the fan, I could hear it each time the blade oscillated above my head, and then looked up to see an outline of something. I jumped up and turned the light on as the other guys were waking up, then bam a frog falls out of the fan right onto my pillow. Im so glad I moved because I probably would have screamed if it landed on my face. I think it was dead, because the windows wouldn’t open I thought flushing it in the toilet would be the next logical move, well of course it comes to life as soon as it hits the water, shit, flush, flush, flush.
It had been an eventful day, we did attempt to go out salsa dancing that night but were just not feeling the vibe. Eve had come down with a cold and I had been fighting one off, so we decided on an early night. The next day we all just were in the mood to chill out, and I had to sort my money situation out, after trying both my Visa debit and MasterCard debit in the ATMs and them not working I was a little stressed about how I was going to survive my last week here with next to no cash, my only option was to line up for an hour and a half in the blistering sun outside the bank and see if they could do a manual transaction for me. The issue with the banking system here is because of foreign banks being affiliated with American companies, the trade embargo still inhibits business dealings with them. I finally got to the counter and after the woman had all my passport details and inquired about how many $cuc I wanted to withdraw, she swiped my first card, fingers crossed. Sorry transaction declined.. shit ok, well last option.. here goes… oh my face lit up when that paper started spitting out of the eftpos machine, I don’t think I have ever been so relieved. I can finally stop stressing about how I will get by, at one point in line I thought, I was not even going to be able to afford to get back to Havana to make my flight out, what will I do… maybe I would have to find myself a Cuban sugar daddy…. situation avoided!
mareewise 