Sunday is gorgeous. The cold front finally passed, the rain has disappeared, we have a beautiful warm sunny day without any humidity.
My hostess is also a guide to the national park system, and vinales is a natural habitat protected by the state. She plans to visit a valley in Vinales [Valle del Ancon] with three participants, a couple from Germany and my old couple.
The trip was very exciting. We were picked up by a local taxi and it was about 20 minutes outside the city. It was knocked down in a local elementary school where there were several communist banners drawn outside. Political graffiti, painting and message boards are very common in Cuba. Although there are no Western-style advertisements, there are many political slogans [I will summarize some of them later].
When you come from a Western capitalist country like Canada, this is a very strange experience, and then you will see all these political slogans about communism and defending the revolution. It's really fascinating, a completely different world.
During our three-hour trip, we traveled through the local fields and were told about local wildlife, special birds [Cuba Tocororo, Turkish vultures and other birds. Introduced to crops such as Malanga [mud and For babies], yucca, various types of sweet potatoes, corn and yam.
One of the highlights is a 20-minute walk through the limestone caves of one of the Mogat Mountains. We saw some interesting stone formations, even strange strange pale plants growing in the dark caves. Our tour guide illuminated the cave for the four of us with a strong light flashlight. It was a very relaxing walk. I couldn't see the animals in the cave. Only a political slogan was sprayed in the cave [obviously this is the revolutionary hiding place]. The army is at some point..].
After leaving the cave, we finally entered an uninhabited valley completely surrounded by mountains. We met a 60-year-old local farmer. This face and slim body made it look like an 80-year-old man. This is Evidence for decades. Sunshine and hard work.
He has a group of turkeys [61 young chicks], a dog and some corn and beans. He spends most of his time working in this small valley, completely isolated, and sometimes spends a night in a hut made of the leaves of the royal palm trees and the trees of the Cuban country. No radio, no TV, no sanitation, no kitchen, only a wooden floor, a blanket on the bed, and dirt on the floor. Remind me how different life in this country will be...
Then we crossed a small mountain range and returned to Valle del Ancon, where we saw a traditional farm house/museum, Casa Campesino, which was visited a few years ago by Fidel Castro. Next to the farmhouse is a beautiful river. From the cave, three young Cuban boy boys are swimming, jumping into the water and enjoying the fun. The entrance to the cave was also surrounded by wasp hives [if the word existed], so a large number of wasp dwellings hang from the rock formation.
I took a taxi back to the city and it was about 3 hours before I set off on the Viazul bus. Two local teenage boys, Rider and Rigo, look for me [of course the underground economy style], let me rent a bike for $3 and take me to Paladar or a private restaurant. I think, why not, they seem to be decent. So I took the third bike and rode them to the hill above Vinales.
There, they introduced me to the local family, and the lady in the house provided me with a complete vegetarian meal for $8.00. Then I rented a bicycle for 1 hour for $2. I rode outside Vinales and took some pictures of Mogotes. Although the bike tour is extremely short, it is a great way to explore the town and its surroundings.
At 4 pm, I jumped back to the Viazul bus and returned to Havana [Havana]. Around 7:30, I arrived at the Viazul bus station. Finally I took a yellow three-wheeled motorcycle taxi "Cocotaxi", a yellow round roof, partially covering the two seats in the back row. And the driver. before.
The Cocotaxi driver was initially repairing his vehicle because the tire had exploded and he was replacing the wheel. It takes about 20 minutes to get to the hotel by car, which is definitely an experience. Then he invited me to drink, and I immediately told him that I was not interested in any interesting things. I was married, only to learn Spanish here, not interested in romance. [The romantic way of Cuban men and women foreigners is very common here].
He said no problem, he just wanted to talk, we sat down for a rather pleasant conversation until he started to make some moves to me, by the way, these movements are very clear. I never felt physically threatened, especially because he was as short as me, but of course I was angry with him and he finally apologized for his actions.
I have never blindly experienced the church that cursed my friendship and my openness to the locals, because it is easy to be misunderstood in this culture...
Another lesson...
Orignal From: Hello from Cuba (3) - Hiking Vinales and exploring nature
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