Viñales

Wednesday 1 June

 

Today we travelled west about 170 km to the Viñales Valley. We visited a cigar factory and watched cigars being rolled by hand. Hot, hard work and not like we saw in Carmen where they were rolled on the thighs of beautiful girls. As we waited to go in there we signs on the wall with slogans from Fidel. The cigar place was once a political prison and during the revolution the prisoners were freed. These were the sort of people who were given the big houses previously owned by the aristocracy or corrupt officials.

From there we went to a local rum factory, a pretty basic concern. Our next stop was the Indian cave where we climbed deep down and had a boat ride on an underground river. Fortunately we didn't have to climb back up, but were taken out the mouth of the cave to a garden landing.

 

Lunch was in a place where slaves had lived after they were freed. We visited a farm and saw the thatched shed where tobacco leaves are dried. The farmer rolled a cigar and one of our group, Liam, smoked it, or at least a bit of it. We also went to see a huge mural representing prehistoric Cuba. It was pretty awful really but the gardens were nice. Some big black storm clouds were starting to gather as we moved on to the Los Jazmines lookout which had a splendid view of the limestone mountains. Snapped a couple of pictures and raced back to the bus just before the thunderstorm hit us.

 

Then it was the long drive home, an hour's rest and out again to dinner at a brewery. We have a lovely group and really enjoy chatting with them over meals. Liam comes out with some great one liners. His wife, Anne, is a sex therapist. They come from Dublin. The other couple are Vicky and Ralph. He's a real gentleman and often helps one off the bus or makes sure you're OK as you climb down stone stairs. A big day but a very pleasant one.

 

 

 

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