Cuba – Vitality in Viñales

December 13-14

Hello everyone!

Cuba is one of the larger islands in the Caribbean and possesses wildly varying landscapes. Time to leave Havana and explore the sights, sounds and smells of the country, starting in Valle de Viñales.

Transport can be a bit different outside of Havana...

A fruit juice stand

Smell is arguably the most important sense in this western province of Cuba as it is the goldmine of the country’s most famous export: its cigars. Tobacco farms with green shoots sprouting from the reddish-brown earth are a common sight near the town of Viñales.

Cigars from Cuba became popular after Christopher Columbus
brought the tobacco back to Spain

The farms are in stunning settings

Owing to its economic model, most cigars are made in factories near Havana, but some of these tobacco farms are allowed to sell a small portion of cigars to visitors. We were shown how cigars are created, from starting life as tiny seeds through to the rolling together of the dried tobacco leafs.

The strength of the cigar is determined by the location of the leaf
on the tobacco plant - the stronger taste is from the higher leaves

After five months, the leaves can be rolled into cigars

It would of course to remiss not to try one of these cigars when in their spiritual home. Interestingly, they recommended dipping the end which goes in your mouth in honey or whisky, to enhance the flavour.

This is a Cohiba, which many think is Cuba's best cigar brand

The Viñales valley may be the home of cigars but Cuba’s other famous export, its rum, is ubiquitous. Drinks such as the mojito and cuba libre can be found everywhere in Viñales for a very cheap price. They also don’t seem to bother with measuring the amount of rum, which I greatly appreciate.

One of many marvellous mojitos

$2 for a lot of rum

The prevalence of rum contributes to a party atmosphere in the small town. On the second night, a Saturday, the main street running through Viñales closed to traffic and became a set of open-air barbecues, with live music at one end and a wild dance party at the other. What struck me was the number of Cubans who were out – this wasn’t an event created for tourists.

The street party was right next to the main church - read
into that what you will...

The previous night had been even more cultural. We had gone to the one ‘nightclub’ in the town, a ton of tables and chairs scattered around a small dance floor. Large Cuban ladies boomed out passionate songs called boleros in between cabaret-style performances from a group of colourful dancers. The crowd often sang along with the ladies, with some even getting up to shimmy and shake to the music. We realised there weren’t many foreigners in the club when the singers and dancers kept coming over to us for tips.

Cigars, rum and late night partying – it’s a wonder that Cubans can rouse themselves to do anything during the day. If any landscape is going to inspire you, it would be the Valle de Viñales. Large limestone rocks, called mogotes, magically appear throughout the national park, with clouds blanketing the tops.

One of the days was grey and cloudy, resulting
in the mountains being blanketed

The view from one of the mountains

I didn’t really research much about Cuba before arriving so this panorama of mini-mountains was a pleasant surprise. I used the opportunity to hike, climbing one of the mountains to the west of town…and then climbing it again to get back to the road once I realised there was no possible route through from the other side of the rock.

View of the Vinales valley

It was at this point that I had to turn around and retrace my steps

There is another method of moving around the mogotes – using a zipline. This was probably my favourite activity in Viñales. The four sections, totalling a kilometre in length, allowed you a breath-taking view of the valley below and were relatively gentle.

Zipping through the trees

There are no pictures or videos from the line itself, owing to the massive gloves we were required to wear. I’ve been told Cubans are very resourceful but these seem like they were stolen from a welder.

The final line was about 400 metres long

Many of the rocks have small cave systems within their outer shells. The one I entered, Cueva de San Miguel, used to be used as an escape route by slaves. Throughout the cave there are sculptures of fauna which these slaves may have encountered, such as frogs and snakes.

The caves were narrow and much cooler - and drier - than outside

Many stone sculptures of animals were visible in the cave

Just as I was about to exit the cave, a long, thin, green figure shot out from a hole in the side of the cave, springing across my feet. It turns out this is the first part of an Afro-Cuban traditional ceremony you get to watch, which involves drumming and a man extinguishing a flaming baton in his undercarriage. Very confusing, particularly with my lack of Spanish. Ever the teacher, I may have added a rude word to their vocabulary when the piece of fabric – the ‘snake’ – crossed my feet.

The traditional religion is called Santeria

The main sights in the valley are quite spread out. Rather than shelling out many pesos each time for a taxi, I tried to make use of Viñales’ hop-on, hop-off bus. I say tried – it left at 9am as scheduled but couldn’t get to the canopy for the zipline as, unbeknownst to the driver, the road had been closed for a cycling race. Being a slightly impatient and active person, I decided to walk to the aforementioned cave. The weather was changeable – let’s just say I was glad I had my coat. The driver smiled as he passed the drenched rat an hour later.

Amazing mountains 

A mountain view after a wet and wild morning

The bus worked successfully for a while after that until the time I needed it the most – getting back from the zipline area, where I had scaled the mountain (twice), to Viñales. Simply put, the bus didn’t show. This meant trekking another 5 km back to town, so I set off with an American hiker and a dog who seemed keen to guide and protect us on our walk.

Tobacco fields

Local casas with a hill looming behind

There are many dogs here but they are probably outnumbered by horses, which seem to be a common method of transport. About halfway down the road, a man with a horse and cart – and romantic music playing out of a boom box – stopped and asked us if we wanted a ride. Paco took us back to town, showing that Cuban people are friendly as well as lots of fun.

Paco with his horse

It’s always nice to get out of the larger cities and explore the countryside, particularly when it is as lush and green as the Viñales valley. With all that walking, I feel I fully deserved my many mojitos. Viñales, the home of cigars, certainly deserves its reputation as a place to definitely visit in Cuba.

Love you all,

Matt