Not so tranquilo Vinales

---

Set in a beautiful valley surrounded by limestone peaks and growing much of Cuba’s world renowned tobacco crop, Vinales has the reputation for the slow life; verandahs creak with rocking chairs, horses lope slowly through town and campesinos lope even slower.

However a bit to our surprise beneath the tranquil surface lurks a major party town. The three nights we were there – Friday, Saturday and Sunday – are clearly the time for the town’s many muchachos (youth) to kick up their heels which involves dancing to very loud music until 3 am in the morning on Friday and Saturday, and in a brief nod to the looming work week - to 1 am on Sunday. Generally the music would stop just in time for the town’s gaggles of roosters to kick in, which in turn got the town’s endless packs of dogs yapping in unison.

So not so tranquil... but still enjoyable. Walking, cycling, and horse riding through the limestone hills is Vinales main attraction. There are also numerous caves throughout the region with at least one having a river running through it which was deep enough for a boat (which we dutifully went on). It is also possible to visit tobacco farms; we were invited into one along one of our walks where we saw how the leaves are dried, prepared, and rolled into cigars.

Football again competed unsuccessfully with baseball for prominence and space on the town’s only playing field. However we did discover a very keen and skilful group of muchachos playing football who invited Jackson to play. At the end of the first match the two best players – Alfredo and Jan Carlos – took Jackson under their wings and taught him a number of their moves. Alfredo plays on the provincial team and Jan Carlos is a phenomenal player with potential for the world arena if given the opportunity. We were amazed at their confidence and generosity to help Jackson, and also at just how skilful they were. Cuba has nothing like the coaching support we have in Australia yet these two kids (and others we have met in Cuba) have learnt and mastered football techniques that any player would be proud. Really quite humbling.

---

Comments

[michaela]

Vinales
Looking good on your donkey ride!