Beautiful Vinales!

We heard from some cruising friends that Vinales was a beautiful place in Cuba to visit. This is the area where they grow all the Tabbaco to make Cuba’s famous cigars in the valleys of the mountains. As it was too far inland to sail, we decided to hire a car with our friends Anna and Ryan that we met while in the Marina. Bella came along for the 2.5 hour car ride. Once there, we realized that there were places everywhere we could stay called “casa particulars” which is people’s homes that they offered rooms for rent. We found one that was beautiful for all of us with 2 rooms both with separate bathrooms. We negotiated $20 per night down from $35! At first, they were unsure about Bella as most of the dogs in Cuba are ether strays or live outside. Bella’s charm quickly earned her entry!

We set out to the town and walked through the mountains. We had dinner a really delicious vegetarian place for about $20 per couple including drinks. We headed back for a goodnight sleep. The next day we had a delicious breakfast served by our host which was local fruit, scrambled eggs and fresh squeezed mango juice. The 5 of us (including bella) heading out for a hike. It was here where Bella interacted with all sorts of wild farm animals she has never seen before. She had the best interaction with a a few pigs and they seem to play together well! We walked through a cave and saw some rock-climbers along the cliff side. We headed back as we need to be back for our horseback ride that we booked.

On the way back, we got a chance to stop into a Cuban baseball game for 0.10 entry! They were actually really good! There was almost a bench brawl and the umpire got pretty heated with a few players! The crowd was going wild! We were the only tourists in the place and Ashley was the only female in the stands! It was a great game and a really neat cultural experience!

Bella actually turned out to be the hit of the town! We even had people stop us and ask if they could take pictures with her. Everyone loved her especially the hosts of our house we were staying. They were amazed how well trained she was and enjoyed asking her to give them “high fives”! They loved her so much they agreed to watch her while we went on the horseback ride as it was a hot day!!!

A horse trolly was waiting for us back at the house and took us to a place where we met our horse escorts for the day mojito and mojo. The tour was about 5 hours through the mountains. We stopped at several spots the first being a tobacco and vegetable farm where we met the farmer and he took us through the process on how to make cigars and gave us a freshly rolled one to smoke. We also made other stoped to see how Cuban coffee is grown and dried as well as the guava plants to make rum and honey. We made a final stop at a freshwater lake where you could swim and a few look out spots.

That evening we went out to a locally recommend spot for dinner where they had meals and amazing fresh mojitos for $2 CUC each. After dinner, the girls went out for drinks at a local club where the Cubans tried there best to charm us into dancing!!

The next morning we said goodbye to our gracious hosts and left them with gifts. We got in a shared cab where Bella had to sit on Steve’s lap because it was so crowded! While on the highway, our friend noticed that another tourist luggage flew off from the roof onto the highway! As soon as we told the driver, he abruptly slammed on the breaks and drove into the oncoming lane to go back to retrieve it! He then made sure everything was strapped up properly!

This was an amazing trip to part of the country that we are so glad we had a chance to experience! Stay tuned for our next blog where we sail East to Varadero to beautiful white sand beaches! Here we will join our friends Jesse and Amanda to stay with us on the boat for a week while we explore Varadero and surrounding area!