Cuba day 15 Vinales

Unfortunately the day dawned grey; a low pressure system had moved in and there was drizzle on and off all day.

Luci's foot was still hurt so she stayed in the room most of the day.

Aleisha, Mira and I walked into town and rented bikes, not the most comfortable but in general they worked. We headed south into the countryside between fields of tobacco and maize. At the sign to the 'Mural de la Prehistoria' we turned right. Just a little way in I saw a couple of men milking a cow 50 metres off the side of the road by a tree, so we stopped and went and talked with them. A tall skinny guy around 30 was doing the milking, he didn't say a word. His father, in his mid-50s, was sitting, watching. He talked a lot. About how the revolution had brought many improvements, how he ran his farm with cows being milked once per day and giving about 8 litres each. The milk is collected in 25 litre buckets and sold to the state. Depending on quantity he earns about CUP6-7000 each month (around CUC9 per day).

We continued biking, passed a camping ground, a dirt track went straight on (to the Valle de Palmerito, which would have been good to see) but the road curved left and we came to a large cliff that had been painted in bright colours, it looked ghastly. Entrance was CUC3 so we declined and rode back.

Mira was thirsty and a stall with no-one there was selling bananas. When a bright, excitable, happy young man appeared we asked for water and he offered a bottle of water that comes from a spring. He took us on a tour of his farm; it had a mango tree, avocado tree, coffee trees, tomatoes growing, pigs, chickens, tobacco. The mother showed us how to roll and smoke a cigar, her mother showed us coffee beans. There were a couple of young girls who danced with Aleisha on a trailer. A worker cut tobacco leaves and hung them to dry on timber racks, later they would be transferred inside a covered drying room.

The guy offered to take us riding to Los Aquaticos but I wasn't sure despite Mira's enthusiasm, we ended up agreeing to call of we were going. It was getting late now, so we rode back to town. We met up with Luci and had dinner at Casa Nenita, it was ok but not special.Read more