Cuba 2016: Vinales

March 19, 2016

Today we traveled west of Havana 130 miles to a colorful town and area named Vinales. Our first venture outside Havana pointed out how poor the public transportation is as many personal vehicles and modified box trucks are used to transport Cubans who stand along side the road to be picked up. Not sure the fee, but believe it was based on distance traveled. Many of the stops are located under overpasses so they can stay out of sun and rain while waiting for a ride. Tour guide said that even tour buses will stop if they have extra seats. The box trucks would have benches in the back for riders to sit on.

First stop along the way to Vinales was at a somewhat modern rest area with restrooms and food.

We visited an organic farm, where they were growing flowers, vegetables, fruits, etc. They built boxes from cement type boards and made their own compost using rabbit feces mixed with whatever was available. The owner, Eduardo, was quite the character and spoke to us in good English without a translator. He was demonstrative in his expressions and loved showing off his farm. The food produced by the farm supports his large group of relatives and restaurant on the premises. Eduardo was extremely proud of his place.

Eduardo

Plants

View from farm

The lunch stop was nearby at a picturesque location. They had cooked a pig to serve us in their open, but covered dining area. The guitarist played for us during our meal. This is where the driver Antonio, the owner and guide Jade danced. One of the couples in the group was celebrating their 50th, so we all were offered shots of rum for a toast.

Pig remains

We traveled down the road a piece to a National Park that had an Indian Cave with a river flowing through it. Many stalactites and stalagmites present. We had to walk down a bit of a dodgy, rock stairway to the river, where motor boats took us for a ride through the cave and out into the open at ground level.

Cave/river opening

This night we were lucky enough to get tickets to the Buena Vista Social Club music group performing at a restaurant in Havana Old Town. We had a choice of buying tickets with dinner or with 2 drinks. We all chose the latter so we could roam Old Havana before the show.

Nan and I woofed down a Cuban sandwich (worst we had) at a brewpub (beer was good), then rented ($10) a peditaxi for an hour's tour around Old Havana, mostly in the dark. An hour turned out to be quite long, especially for the poor one pedaling, but we enjoyed seeing the back streets. Peditaxi we were in did not appear to have any gears. Many doorways were open and you could see the living quarters that opened up directly to the street. Many appeared to have small living/dining/cooking area in the front. Some appeared to open up the further you got in to the quarters. Unfortunately the taxi driver could not speak English, so we didn't learn much about what we were seeing.

The performance of the Buena Vista Social Club was great. They had two dancers who added to the show. They later made their way around the room dancing with the audience members one on one including one of our group. The drinks were a Mojito, Cuban Libre and we received an added rum drink. Should mention that this was an unofficial tour event, so we all came up with extra cash for the driver. When he came to pick us up, he had his wife with him. He would later show us on his iPad pictures of his beautiful daughter. Here are some pictures of the performance, etc.