| On Sunday it was gorgeous. The cold front had finally | | | | back into the Valle del Ancon, where we saw a Casa |
| passed through, the rain was gone and we had a | | | | Campesino, a traditional farm house/museum, which |
| beautiful warm sunny day without any humidity. | | | | had also been visited a few years ago by Fidel |
| My hostess is also a guide for the National Park | | | | Castro. Next to the farm house is a beautiful river |
| System and Vinales is a nationally protected natural | | | | that exits from a cave and 3 young cuban teenage |
| habitat. She had a tour planned through a side valley | | | | boys were swimming and jumping into the water and |
| of Vinales (Valle del Ancon) with 3 participants, an | | | | having a ton of fun. The entrance to the cave is also |
| older couple from Germany and me. | | | | surrounded by wasp-hives (if that word exists), so |
| The tour was fabulous, we got picked up by a local | | | | there are tons of wasp dwellings hanging down from |
| in a taxi and went about 20 minutes outside of town | | | | the rock formations. |
| and got dropped off at a local primary school, which | | | | We took the taxi back into town and I had another |
| had several communist slogans painted on the | | | | 3 hours or so before my departure with the Viazul |
| outside. Political graffiti, paintings and message boards | | | | bus. 2 local teenage boys, Rider and Rigo, approached |
| are extremely common in Cuba. Although there is no | | | | me (truly in the style of the underground economy), |
| western style advertising, there are plenty of political | | | | offered me to rent a bicycle for $3 and to take me |
| slogans (a collection of a few of which I will | | | | to a Paladar or private restaurant. I thought, why |
| summarize at a later point). | | | | not, they seemed pretty decent. So I took the 3rd |
| This is a very strange experience when you come | | | | bike and rode up with them into the hills above |
| from a Western capitalist country like Canada, and | | | | Vinales. |
| then you see all these political slogans about | | | | There they introduced me to a local family and the |
| Communism and defending the Revolution. Truly | | | | lady of the house served me with a complete |
| fascinating indeed, a completely different world. | | | | vegetarian meal for $8.00. Afterwards I rented the |
| On our 3 hour trip we walked through local fields, | | | | bike for $2 for 1 hour and I rode around Vinales and |
| were told about local wildlife, special birds (the Cuban | | | | outside of town a bit to take some photos of the |
| Tocororo, Turkey vultures and other birds. We also | | | | Mogotes. The bike tour, even though extremely |
| heard about local farming which still takes place with | | | | short, was a great way of exploring the town and |
| human labour, manual ploughs and oxen. We were | | | | surroundings. |
| introduced to crops such as Malanga (pureed and | | | | At 4 pm I hopped back on the Viazul bus and went |
| given to babies), Yucca, various types of sweet | | | | back to La Havana (Havana). At 7:30 or so I arrived |
| potatoes, corn and yams. | | | | at the Viazul bus station and I ended up taking a |
| One of the highlights was a 20 minute walk through a | | | | "Cocotaxi", a yellow 3-wheeler type of scooter taxi |
| limestone cave through one of the Mogote hills. We | | | | with a rounded yellow roof partially covering the 2 |
| saw some interesting stone formations and even | | | | seats in the back and the driver in the front. |
| strange pale plants growing inside the pitch-dark cave. | | | | The Cocotaxi driver was initially fixing his vehicle since |
| Our guide had illuminated the cave with a strong | | | | a tire had blown out and he was changing the wheels. |
| flashlight for the 4 of us and it was a pretty easy | | | | The ride took about 20 minutes to the hotel and was |
| walk with no cave-dwelling animals in sight, only one | | | | definitely an experience. He then inisted on inviting me |
| political slogan spray-painted in the cave (apparently | | | | for a drink and I told him immediately that I was not |
| this was a hideout for the revolutionary army at | | | | interested in any funny business, that I was a |
| some point..). | | | | married woman, only here to study Spanish and not |
| After exiting the cave, we ended up in an uninhabited | | | | interested in romance. (Romantic approaches by |
| small valley completely surrounded by mountains and | | | | Cuban men and women of foreigners are very |
| we ran into a local farmer of 60 years, whose | | | | common here). |
| leathery face and slim body gave him the appearance | | | | He said no problem, he just wanted to talk and we |
| of an 80 year old man, evidence of many decades | | | | sat down for a conversation that was reasonably |
| of sun and hard work. | | | | pleasant for a while until he started to make the |
| He had a flock of turkeys (with 61 young chicks), a | | | | moves on me, some very verbally explicit ones by |
| dog and some fields of corn and beans. And he | | | | the way. I never felt physically threatened, especially |
| generally spends most of his days working manually | | | | since he was about as short as me, but I definitely |
| in this little valley, completely isolated, sometimes | | | | got annoyed with him and he apologized at the end |
| staying overnight in a single hut made from the wood | | | | for his behaviour. |
| and leaves of the royal palm tree, Cuba´s | | | | Nevertheless that brief experience taught me to curb |
| national tree. No radio, no TV, no sanitation, no | | | | my friendliness and my openness a little bit with the |
| kitchen, just a wooden bed with a blanket in a hut | | | | locals, since things can be very easily misunderstood |
| with an earthen floor. Again a reminder of how | | | | in this culture.... |
| different life can be in this country.... | | | | Another lesson learned.... |
| Then we crossed over a small mountain range and | | | | |