Sunday, 16 February 2020: Vinales

Elana served our breakfast between 7:00 and 7:30.  We were a bit earlier this morning so that we were ready when our cab arrived for us about 8:00 am.  Elana arranged for our shared taxi to take us to Vinales.   There were three other passengers in our blue 1952 Chevrolet.  Am I getting used to no seatbelts?  The roads along the way were perhaps comparable to roads in Mexico but certainly cleaner.  There is no trash along any of the roads anywhere.  We stopped along the way at a tobacco “plantation.”  We certainly got the ten cent tour.  The talk was quite informative and both Justin and I smoked a cigar and we bought a few for another day.  Mine was the most mild “Romeo and Juliet” cigar.  Justin chose the medium and we left the more robust “Monte Cristo” to the rest of the tourists.  

Back on the now much more narrow road as we continued our way to Vinales

Elena from our air BnB in Havana had made the reservations for the taxi and for our lodging in vinales.  It was a stretch for me to let go and let her do it, but not near as much of a stretch as it would have been to arrive here with nothing booked.

We checked in at Casa Isabelita  a bit before 1:00pm.  Our room is great and the rocking chairs outside... well, it’s just as well they won’t fit inside my suitcase because I’d love to have a dozen of these on our terraces at Casa Colibri. Vinales was up in the hills, hence the tobacco plantations.  

We talked with daughter Yarelis for a bit and unpacked before we set out to explore.

We drove through mountains of Cuba to get to Vinales.  Was this where Jurassic Park was filmed?  There was one peak that looked just like three beers and two mojitos all lined up ready to serve.  Justin and I decided that we’d do our darndest to just start visiting one establishment after another to perfect our daytime drinking.  Since no one is driving, the opportunity is just there.  Our first stop offered a magnificent vista.  The restaurant also offered a few decorating and gardening ideas we might want to steal.  The bentwood rockers certainly caught my eye but I think I’d have a difficult time getting those back to Casa Colibri given I have a 10kg weight limit on the plane.  The second stop didn’t have WiFi but we enjoyed a delicious tomato, anchovy and olive bruschetta.  I’ll want to replicate that!  Third stop had WiFi so we were there for a while.  

Yarelis and her husband prepared our dinner of cabbage, tomato and cucumber salad, black beans a rice, fried sweet potatoes, steamed yucca, French fries and pork chops.  A vanilla pudding rounded out our meal.  Totally stuffed (from too many carbs) Justin and I settled into a cribbage match to wind down from our day.