Pinar Del Rio - a bit of R & R

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After the hecticness of Habana I needed a few days to chill out. My couchsurfing friend David took me and another couchsurfing friend called David (a little confusing so I will refer to him as "German David") to visit his uncle in Pinar Del Rio. It is a region of Cuba to the West of Habana which is famous for growing tobacco, and also has beautiful countryside.

David´s uncle has a farm just outside Pinar Del Rio town where he grows tobacco for sale to the government and subsistence crops. The land is owned by the government so in return for being allowed to farm rent free he has to grow for and then sell tobacco to the governement for rediculously low prices (despite being extremely valuable).

The farm was fascinating: water was drawn from the well in the yard, the only electricity was battery operated lights, and there were chickens and chicks roaming the floor of the farmhouse. David's uncle grew various subsistence crops and kept chickens, pigs, goats, cattle, which were all kept in close vacinity to the farmhouse. In the afternoon we helped harvest some Yucca (a root crop similar to a sweet potato), which was then cooked for dinner, and planted banana trees. We had dinner of rice, beans, and Yucca and then I had a much needed early night!

Next morning me and German David took a share car to Vinales, which is another town about 30km away. Vinales is a lovely small town surrounded by strangely shaped hills and tobacco farms in the valleys. Unfortunately, due its picturesque setting, it is also extremely touristy. Every Cuban person I came accross there seemed to be involved with extracting money from tourists in some way and I kind of felt that I was in some sort of tourist farm being milked for money!

The next morning David and I hired bikes and did a cycling tour of the countryside. It was great to get out into the country and do some exercise. The odd shaped hills were beautiful, if a little straining to cycle up and down. We spent both that evening and the one before taking it easy having a couple of beers with some other travellers we met.

I returned to Havana the following day recharged and ready for a final weekend of partying before flying to Cancun, Mexico on the following Monday.

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Comments

[james]

LOL
you look like the least likely manual labourer! did you plant many

[LukeStableford]

No i planted a couple and then got bored and gave up