Vinales

Breakfast is normally included with a night’s stay in Cuba and our hotel was no exception.  However, the big challenge was finding a plate and flatware when you arrived.  We watched the breakfast procession and there seemed to be an ebb and flow to both the plates and the food.  We were lucky and got both with few difficulties.

We boarded our bus for the trek to the Vinales region.  This took us over lush hills before descending to the ocean.  Tobacco is grown in this region in Cuba.  The conditions of the soil and weather make for some of the best tobacco in the world.  Tobacco drying barns dotted the countryside with their thatched roofs.  Oxen drawn carts worked the fields.  Tobacco is planted in September so it was only about 10 inches tall now but it will reach high into the sky by the time it is harvested.

Limestone dominates this region which makes for lots of caves in the cliffs and also underground.  We were to tour one of these caves this morning.  This is a very popular tourist destination and there were already several buses in the parking lot.  Once inside, we did have a little space to take some photos.  There were several smaller chambers we wondered through before reaching our water exit on boats that also gave a very short tour of the caves.  They were interesting but I don’t think they’ll be the highlight of our trip.

Along with tourists comes tourist restaurants which is where we ended up for lunch.  This sprawling diner had several outdoor eating areas butted up against the cliffs.  They served a set menu of grilled chicken, rice and beans, sweet potatoes (not like the ones we have at home but a sweeter white potato) and fruit.  There’s a notable lack of dessert in this country.

We stayed around this area after our meal to see what might happen along to photograph.  Old taxis (classic ‘50s cars) came at regular intervals with horse drawn carriages, bicyclists and trucks mixed in.  There’s also a large population of vultures in this country and we had a chance take some upclose shots of them. 

This region is also known for jutting rock formations called majotes.  They resembled pipe organs reaching into the sky.  We stopped several places to photograph them with the final stop also serving as our sunset shooting destination.  We hiked up a hill which gave us great views over a valley with the mogotes (flat topped hills) off in the distance.  This too was a popular tourist spot with lots of people gathered for the sunset. 

We ate dinner at a place right on the hill.  Men were gathered around a Weber type grill cooking chickens for the dinner crowd.  They also had the typical fish and ropa vieja, a shredded meat dish that could almost be the national dish of Cuba.  Included in our $10 meal was three kinds of rice, beans, sweet potatoes, fruit and salad.  It was delicious and quite a bargain.

Tomorrow: A visit to a cigar factory