We were picked up from Maria La Gorda at 10am for our 3 hour drive to Viñales in a small taxi. David, John and Lorna crammed in the back and Catriona sat in front. The road back to Pinar Del Rio was very bumpy and in some places the driver had to drive at almost a crawl. We saw a few near misses with free roaming animals and vehicles. The straight flat roads changed to hilly e arrived at 1pm and were met by our local guide Yosenki. We left our bags at the casa and Yosenki took us on a guided walk through Viñales. Our first stop was the Cambio to change money then lunch at a nice restaurant before heading out into the valley. We walked past a few tobacco plantations with their huge drying sheds. We went into one and Yosenki explained that October to February was the growing season for tobacco and that is why the shed was empty because the plants were still out in the field. We headed into the farmers house for a coffee, which he also grows. The farmer gave us a cigar making demonstration and when David asked him how much they were he was motioning to hold on. He then pulled out a couple of cigars he had rolled earlier and was expecting us all to have some. When we all declined he looked quite put out and Yosenki tried to encourage us to have a go. Both Lorna and Catriona had their photos taken having a few puffs on the cigar which was quite aromatic.
We walked through a fruit growing farm and had some Guarapo (sugar cane juice). They grew pineapple, mango, papaya, guava, bananas and peanuts. We continued our walk through the valley down small dirt lanes passing wandering pigs, chickens, goats and cows. All this with the spectacular backdrop of the mogotes. Yosenki pointed out a group of mogotes that looked like 3 elephants. Heading back into the town we passed a small hospital and people selling vegetables and fruit from carts. Yosenki explained that the people selling from carts and the farmers we purchased from were unable to do so a little over one year ago. Times are changing quite fast in Cuba and there is a rush to find ways to make extra money that previously was unavailable to them. We had dinner at the casa that evening and David and John sat on the roof chatting till around 10:30pm.
We had a filling breakfast and set off with our guide in a 1957 Chevy belair to Gran Caverna de Santo Tomás, Cubas larges cave. The car was in good condition and we sat in the front on the way to the cave. We had to don helmets with lamps and climb up to the entrance to the cave. The tour took around 2 hours and was very interesting. The guide pointed out a few of the caves inhabitants such as the bats, insects, spiders and a crab. On the way back to the casa we rode in the back with Yosenki. We hired bikes for the after noon first having lunch at a peso restaurant that only cost 38 pesos which they converted to around 2 CUC, and cycled 4km out to the Mural de Prehistorica where they have painted on the side of a mogote. David took many photos of the views and cute little farm houses. We passed horse and carts and many other local cyclists on our journey around the valleys. We ended our ride up on the hill at the hotel La Ermita where we had drinks overlooking the town and valley. We met up with Romey's group, who had arrived in the afternoon, for dinner at an organic farm. This was included in their trip and we only had to pay 10 CUC for a huge meal + 2 for each mojito we had. After dinner we walked back into town to see a caberet show. The dancers were very entertaining and energetic. The singer had a great voice but sang cabaret style songs which ended up being very amusing.
Next morning we walked around the back streets of Viñales and also sat in the square watching the passing parade of people going about thier business. We tried to get lunch at the Peso restaurant but as Yosenki was not with us they only gave us the menu in CUC which was 4 times the price we had paid the day before. We ended up going to the same restaurant as we visited the first day. We said our good byes to our host and set off for the Bus stop with Yosenki. He waited with us until the bus arrived and gave us his email address and told us to keep in touch. The trip back to Havana took 3 1/2 hours and there were only 10 passengers so we were able to spread around.
After checking in at the Hotel Nacional for our third time we met John and Lorna our on the terrace overlooking the Malecon for our final drinks with them in Havana. The two of us had a quiet dinner by ourselves at Palador Nerei before heading back to the hotel for our final night in Havana.
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