Vinales Landscape
From Havana to Viñales is a 2 hour drive and along the way you will come to a cigar farm where the tourists flock to see the cigar leaves hanging in a purpose built building made from wood. They select the leaves for each type of cigar and this is how they depict whether they are for Montecristo or Cohiba cigars and the type of Montecristo or Cohiba cigars as they are many variations.
It was interesting to see the tourist’s mill in and out of the farm and the locals helpfully assist them in purchasing cigars and other souvenirs from the café/shop that is also on site. After reading a particular travel guide it stated that Viñales has not yet been subjected to tourism, well that needs severely revising because just at the farm alone stood 7 bus loads of tourists and that’s before I even got to Viñales.
Cuba as a whole is not yet the tourist overloaded island but you can begin to see that in the next 5 years that will change and should communism move over to accept the import and export of goods and cabled internet to be brought in then I can only imagine how quickly things will change.
Valle de Viñales is stunningly beautiful and the landscapes across this area are jaw dropping as you stare at the worn rocks from where the river once flowed and left behind natural caves and crevasses in the side of the mountains.
I also visited the one of the caves sites (Cueva del Indio) which has boats that take you from inside for a 10 minute journey for 5CUC along the river flowing inside the cave and comes to a mooring site where directly outside is a restaurant and souvenir shop. It is very interesting to see these caves but don’t feel obliged to spend 5CUC for a 10 minute journey when the walk across the Viñales landscape is far more inspiring and interesting.
Just outside Viñales sits Mural de la Prehistoria where 15 people over 5 years painted various depictions of dinosaurs and people on the mountainside. It’s not necessary to get up close because the best view is from afar and it also gives you a true view of the size of the work that these people took on to complete the mural. It is similar to the Prehistorical statues in Santiago de Cuba, it seems that they were seen as a way of attracting people to the site and both work very well in doing this.
From Viñales I headed to Pinar del Rio…..
Jay
