Free Afternoon in Vinales

We returned to Vinales for lunch at a Mediterranean restaurant with homemade goat cheese as its speciality, and then we had the afternoon off.

After lunch, we all headed into the town square, where the state telecom company has a wifi hotspot, and we used the cards we purchased yesterday to access the internet and get caught up on news and social media. Each card, which we bought for CUC 1.50, buys one hour of wifi access. I learned that there isn’t much of a data network and most homes do not have internet access. Indeed, nobody seems to be walking around Cuba staring at smartphones - children were actually out and about playing and interacting with one another.

The town square was full of tourists and some locals logging onto the internet. From what I understand about official salaries in Cuba, I doubt many people would make it a priority to purchase these cards on a regular basis to access the internet.

While we were at the town square, we came across another type of worker on their own account... let’s just call her the Town Square Lady. She sized us up, opted to ignore me and engaged Jeff in conversation, telling him about her guesthouse and various relatives who own a taxi service. She lost interest and wandered off when he pointed to me as his spouse in response to her question about whether he was married.

After our internet session, Jeff and I went on a walk around the town, and we also explored a few side lanes. We then had a lemonade at a drinks stand before heading back to our guesthouse for a short rest.

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