VINALES

VINALES - Havana Cienfuegos Trinidad

A 3 hour drive, much of it through heavy rain, took us to Vinales, a village west of Havana in the tobacco growing countryside. Here our group was split up to be accommodated in a “home stay” – private homes with spare rooms that have been licensed to provide accommodation to tourists. They also cooked our evening meal of fish, some salad and the ubiquiteous rice and black bean mixture which seems to accompany every meal.

Included in the visit to Vinales was a salsa dancing lesson ….. the one hour lesson, held in the front room of a small house, left us exhausted, sweaty and not much the wiser.

After dinner a few of us went out to a local music venue and were entertained by a fantastic band with an accompanying dance show. Just watching the locals dancing made us realise that we probably needed at **//least//** one more lesson before we take the floor here!
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I was up early for a stroll around the town and take a few pictures – the number of people on the streets at 6:30am was amazing. Workers heading off for the day on foot, bicycle, and horseback mingled with school children looking smart in their uniforms (school day is 8am – 5pm). A number of bicycles had a passenger sitting side-saddle behind or in front of the rider – usually with their hands calmly setttled in their laps – obviously they had had quite a deal of practice.
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The morning was spent with a guided walk through the countryside ending up at a tobacco farm. Here we had explained the methods of cultivation, picking, selecting, curing, marinating and finally shown the hand-rolling of cigars. Of course most of us purchased some – just have to get them through US customs now!

A visit to a limestone cave which included a boat ride on the underground river completed the daytime activities but was followed by a fantastic evening at an organic farm which provided a meal of roasted pork plus a variety of rum drinks (including a “big black guy” and a “Melancholic”) all with the ever present Cuban musicians playing their hearts out.
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Unfortunately, that night I suffered a bout of "the bug" which continued for a day and a half, no sleep for what seemed to be forever, and thus a forced diet! Gail managed to also fell ill on the long bus ride to Trinidad (9 hours) but thankfully had appropriate tablets on hand. Ah, the joys of travelling in third world countries eh?
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