Day Six - Viñales Valley

Although it isn't allowed, some climbers still come here and manage to do some climbing (and I think find some guides 
that are happy to accompany them).

Day Six
Our hostess Ariel prepared a huge breakfast for us at our Casa Particular in Viñales. We ate it outside in a pavilion built in the backyard with two tables (photo below). Cuban coffee is very strong and somewhat thick. Scott has taken to having milk in it - he usually takes it black. I'm fine with just some sugar. It definitely wakes you up.
We packed our things and left them in her living room. Carmen back in Havana kept our big duffle bag and gave us two small cloth bags for our overnight things.
We met our guide Alex and the three other couples outside the Infotur office. Two of the couples were from Holland and one from Switzerland. They all spoke excellent English as did our guide. And what a delightful person Alex is! We learned so much about the history of Cuba, present day life in this area, farming of all kinds, music, baseball etc. His family have been farmers on their own private farm in the valley for generations. He grew up on the farm but decided not to be a farmer. His cousins are running the Finca now as his father has retired.
We spent 3 and a half hours walking around the valley on trails. We visited two Fincas and were given a tour by the farmer with demonstrations of the tobacco cycle from planting to rolling cigars. The first farmer also grows coffee beans and his roasted beans smelled amazing as did the coffee he provided. The second farmer showed us how the tobacco is dried, sorted, packed in special bales and fermented. The mixture that does this is a family recipe! He rolled several cigars and gave them to two of the couples to sample. Scott was somewhat tempted but didn't. They said they were great.
The scenery was really lovely everywhere and we saw groups of people on horse back tours on the trails as well as a few other walking groups. This morning was one of the highlights of our trip! It ended at a local baseball game where we watched a home run come in by the local team.
This time we made the wrong choice for lunch. I had spaghetti carbonara that was truly (almost - I was hungry) inedible - overcooked pasta with canned ham chunks. I'll say more about the food in Cuba on another blog post summing up our experience, but in general the food is not the exciting part of travel to Cuba.
We collected our bags from Ariel and caught the 2 pm bus back to Havana, arriving around 5:30 pm. After a brief shower and change we walked down to the historic district listening to music and had a pretty good dinner at La Mina on Plaza Armes, sitting outside watching people and the lovely gardens. We were so tired on the way back we caught a bicycle cab. The last few days we've averaged 26,000 steps - over 13 miles at least.

Scott looks a bit grim here? On the table are omelets, tomatoes
& onions, papaya & pineapple, dishes of ham & cheese, fruit
juice, bread rolls, butter and coffee!

Newly planted tobacco plants. After they are harvested the
fields will be planted with corn. That is the rotation. Other
fields are rotated with yucca and black beans.

Many tour the valley on horseback. Outside of Havana you
see many people using horses and carriages for transportation.

This is the farmer we met at the first Finca. He farms with his
two strapping sons. They raise coffee as well. The government
gets 90 per cent of their harvest of the main crops. They get to
keep any vegetables, fruits and small livestock like chickens,
roosters, ducks and pigs. Horses and cows/bulls are only
used for farm work. If they die, the farmer turns in the carcass
and gets a replacement.

This is their home. It is surrounded by flowers, fruit trees
and of course the barns and a room for rent. Six years ago
there were 60 rooms in the valley, now there are over 1,000.

At the second finca we had a demonstration of the tobacco
curing process. That's a sample "bale" which would be made
up for the fermentation and kept in a dark cool place until
ready to use. He rolled several cigars to show us how and
gave them to two of the couples there.

Here is one of the women trying one out!

A view over the valley with our walking path.

Another view with a tobacco barn in the distance.

Scott and our guide Alex.

Alex said this tree is related to the balboab trees in Africa

We watched part of a local baseball games - and exciting
home run (no one unfortunately on bases).

A view down the line of restaurants along the main street
(we didn't eat here)

But we had a very nice dinner here the night before.

Day Five - Viñales Valley

Viñales valley is a karstic depression and an agricultural area growing principally tobacco. Karst landscape is formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves (wikipedia). Other karst locations are around the world in Europe and China.
We had originally planned to take the public bus to Viñales but the woman at Infotur, the Cuban tourist office, suggested we take the bus from the Hotel Plaza. It was the same price but much closer to our casa particular. It left at 8 am and took 3 hours, with a brief bathroom break at a rest stop. The first half of our trip was on a divided highway, two lanes each direction, which changed to a two lane twisty road up into the mountains. The town of Viñales is charming with mostly single story multicolored cottages, almost all with a front porch set with adirondack type or rocking chairs. Ninety per cent of the homes offer at least one room for rent. About 8,000 people live in the town area.
The main street is lined with these homes and restaurants. It's a lively scene! In the center is a park with the church at the head. As usual it is filled with (mostly) young people on their phones or tablets. Public wifi is only available in parks and large hotels.
At the Infotur office we bought tickets for the morning walking tour starting at 9 am the next day. He also arranged for a taxi two hour tour of the valley that afternoon and called Carmen's friend for us. She came to pick us up but due to the bathroom being out of order at her house, we stayed at a different Casa, Ariel's. Our room was very comfortable with two double beds and a nice private bathroom. With breakfast it came to 40 C.U.C.s (the tourist dollars, one for one with American $).
After a very nice lunch at El Meridiano on the main street, we met our taxi guide Renee for a two hour tour of the valley sites. We had planned to use the "hop on, hop off" bus but discovered that we would need more than our available half days to see every location as it only came around every 1.5 or 2 hours. Our first stop was the Indian Caves. It turns out mid day is not a good time to be there - all the one day bus tours out of Havana arrive about then. It was a zoo for awhile but when we finally got our ticket and entered the caves it was worth while. The karstic process hollows out caverns within the mountains all over the area. In this one we were able to walk quite a ways and then boarded a boat for a trip on an underground river and out again to a dammed section where our guide was waiting.
We visited another cavern across the way which was much less interesting although it was fun to see the bar/restaurant tucked in the cavern entrance. Two young girls from Philadelphia we met the next day had quite a fun night in that bar until the wee hours.
The drive through the valley was lovely although I found the "Prehistoric Mural" didn't add anything to the beauty! We were able to take some pictures from a view spot high on the mountain and stopped at a tobacco finca that is now mostly selling souvenirs (like cigars). All in all, the tour was a little disappointing. Happily the next day walking tour made up for this (next post).
The evening was very fun. An excellent band was playing in the center where we enjoyed a couple of mojitos and then we had one of our best meals at El Bily Restaurant. Our waitress was so friendly. We ended up chatting and meeting her family when they came in for dinner.
It was lovely and cool for sleeping although we woke up with mosquito bites in the night and had to cover ourselves with bug spray. This was a first for us here as we haven't had any problem in Havana.

On the way to Viñales we stopped for a bathroom break and
I walked over to a nearby Finca. The couple invited me into
their home and the tobacco drying barn. It was a lovely
surprise!

Every home has a lot of chickens, a rooster or two, pigs
and maybe ducks.

This tobacco was harvested a few weeks ago
as it's still green

The owner showed me around.

The center of Viñales with the church.

The hills are very steep with limestone cliffs.

The start of our trip down into the caverns.

The walk took us through fantastic shaped hanging
stalactites and stalagmites with varying colors.

At the end of the walk we boarded a boat,
the man has two fingers up looking for a
party of two to fill the boat. It was us!

Looking back at the exit from the caverns,

This bar built into the cavern entrance was the location for
a fun salsa filled evening that night - not for us alas!

Our guide Renee and Scott

The Prehistoric Mural wasn't a hit with Scott and I. 

But we loved this fellow on his bull!

View from the top of one of the hills over the valley. You can see the Fincas with their traditional tobacco drying barns
dotting the landscape.

Carillion Flowers - our guide indicated some
people use these as a marajuana substitute
(if we got his hint correctly).

A close up of these lovely blossoms.

Tobacco fields newly planted.

We briefly visited another Finca, although this was a regular
tourist destination and sold cigars.

Our Casa Particular - Casa Burujones with hosts Ariel
and Odeily.

Day Four

Just a quick post this morning at 7:15 am. We're stopping at a hotel to check our email (only available at the major hotels) before taking a bus to Viñales for one night. We're staying with a friend of Carmen's.
On Day Four we visited the Castillo del Morro de la Rocca across the channel into the Havana inner harbor. We took a small ferry over, walked up to the Christ statue and then through the military reservation. The outdoor Museo de Fortificaciones y Armas displayed historic military vehicles and some very big guns. The signs gave a history of the American Russian Cuban conflict. The Castillo itself guards the channel entrance (with the Castillo de San Salvador across the way. It's an enormous fort designed by Giovanni Battista Antonelli, one of a family of brilliant Milanese family of military engineers. They also designed the San Felipe Fort in Cartegena and the Castillo San Felipe in San Juan, Puerto Rico (and a huge number of other fortifications). There was a very comprehensive exhibit of their history and works in the fort in Spanish and in English. 
That evening, after a very nice dinner with Carmen's family at the Casa, we attended the opening performance of Acosta Dance Company at the Gran Teatro de la Habana Alicia Alonso. It was fabulous, one of the best dance evenings Scott and I have seen for a long time. The company was uniformly brilliant and all six of the pieces were riveting. The theater itself is very beautiful and perfectly restored. 

The view as we approached the ferry landing.

The marble Christ Statue overlooking the harbor by sculptor
Jilma Wood

In the continued fortifications along the channel was the
Museo de Fortificaciones y Armas with a variety of
missiles - one of which was labeled as (supposed to?)
containing nuclear missiles.

View from the Castillo over to the Malecon in Vieja Havana

Fortifications on the land side of the Castillo

A series of these very informative texts
formed an exhibit on the
Antonelli family and Spanish
military history through the defeat of the
Spanish Armada. There was another exhibit
on the British victory over Spain and
subsequent brief occupation of Cuba.

The lighthouse

We have been walking an average of 23,000 steps a day and
Scott is happy to sit down for a minute.

There is a beauty contest here in Havana and this young
woman was trying to have a photo shoot - too much wind
though.

It's a huge fort and we toured it all. Then
returned to the city center by taxi.

Artist Duvier Del Dago had a wonderful exhibit here of his
works. We met the artist who was working on a new project
there. 

The artist's statement in both Spanish and English

View over the channel into Old Havana. The Battery along the shore. There is a tunnel for cars under the channel and passenger ferries as well.

.

Day Three in Havana, Cuba

Havana is a gorgeous city. It reminds us of a cross between Naples, Italy and Cartegena, Columbia. But it is meeting the Cuban people that is a highlight of the trip. It starts with our wonderful hostess Carmen in our Casa Particular (Cuban B&B) and her family. We've been welcomed into their home and what fun we're having. We have had long conversations too with Cubans we have met around the city and at the historical sites. People here are really interested in getting to know Americans and very happy to have us here. Some are worried about the long term changes but generally the mood is very positive - or at least it was under Obama. Like everywhere in the world, people are nervous about President Trump.
On our third day we walked for miles through the old city, stopping for tours through the Castillo de San Salvador de la Punta, the Cathedral of Havana and the Museo de la Ciudad. But all of that will have to wait for another post. Only so much wifi at a time! And so much to tell...

Our hostess and now our good friend
Carmen

The two other couples, Allison & Matthew from Pittsburg and
Don & John from South Africa with us around the breakfast
table - fun mornings.

Don bought a huge amount of fruit for the house and hear
we are with Carmen's mother joking around.

Scott and I had a really fun time at the Buena Vista Social
Club dancing and singing with a variety of famous Cuban
musicians. We were up on the stage "trying" to salsa at one
point!

This was the early group at the Birthday party for Carmen's
son. It got busier and more raucous later.

There are musicians everywhere and they love
to come over and chat afterwards.

A number of Santaria practicioners pose for photos and
give advice throughout the city. Here 3 fun chicas pose for
a photo (and I caught it too)

There are hardly any boats in sight on the water or land.
these two were the first we'd seen. We enjoyed talking to
the men working on the boat.

Scott and I post for a photo. We've had long conversations
with many of the official guides at the sites and museums.
They are very knowledgeable about the history but the best
part is talking about our countries and lives.

This Santaria couple were tourists like ourselves. One pair
of women were also on the plane with us coming from
Mexico

Two Santaria women tell fortunes here for customers.

Carmen catching up on her paperwork. She has four rooms
with private bath for rent in her apartment. And her mother
and son live with her too. All on two floors of a narrow
apartment building.