Mountains, the beach and a slightly boring city - Vinales, Varadero and Cienfuegos

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Vinales

After the big city we left the smoke and pollution behind us and went to the countryside to a place called Vinales. It is one of the many UNESCO protected sites in Cuba and is famous for its limestone mountains that have been formed due to some geological abnormality in this area.
This time we didn't have accommodation pre booked and did it the good old backpacker way of getting off the bus and getting harassed by casa owners where everyone has the best place. Turned out well though as we found a nice place including rooftop terrace with view of the mountains.

Vinales is a small rural town where a lot of cowboys still ride horses in the streets or drive horse carts. These are as much part of the street scene as trucks or cars.

We joined the equestrian crowd and went horse riding. It started off superbly as the taxi that brought us to the horses was a cream colour 1940s, 70-year-old car that looked like the Ford T-model. A very special taxi ride for us.
A modern day cowboy escorted us on our two horses, called mojito and tequila, through the green countryside and farmland to a stalactite cave which we explored with torches, to a small coffee farm and finally a brief visit to a tobacco farm where we learnt how they make cigars, the area is famous for tobacco. Unfortunately, it wasn't growing season at the moment so we only saw the remnants of some leaves in drying sheets and the finished products. The farmers have to sell 90%!o(MISSING)f the crop to the state at a fixed price. The other 10%!t(MISSING)hey can sell themselves. This way the Socialist country gets the revenue to fund, amongst other things, the healthcare and education system. One way to do it I guess. At least no one gets left out, the literacy rate is amongst the highest in the world and everyone gets free healthcare.
The next day was spent exploring another cave into which the Cubans even brought some boats to do a cave boat tour. More important was that we took Dillon to a nice hotel (think 1950s was the last time it was full) on the hill in which we spend a couple of hours in the pool while admiring the view of the town and mountains.

Varadero

After such an exhausting couple of days it was time for some much needed R&R. The next stop was Varadero which is Cuba's most famous beach resort strip and has 20km (yes twenty) of finest sand beach.
We went there by Collectivo which is basically a shared long distance taxi. In our case it was a two tone orange 1950s Cadillac station wagon. Not the most comfortable drive (bumpy backseat) but certainly stylish. The roads are surprisingly good and the central autopista is a 6 and sometimes 8 lane highway... with next to no cars on it. Sometimes we drove for 10 minutes and only saw a handful of trucks and a couple of donkey carts. Not exactly sure why they need more than two lanes but it seems they think more people will have more cars soon...

Once arrived we got into our casa and then onto the beach. The water is crystal clear so you can see the shells on the bottom, warm bordering on hot and very shallow. Even Dillon could walk 10 metres and was only waist deep. We build sand castles, swam and didn't do too much otherwise. We spent 5 nights here and were lucky to find two casas that were a stones throw from the beach. The second of which had a fantastic backyard...think 1970s aboveground round pool, crochet hanging swing seats, double wrought iron loveseat and the ever present cuban rocking chairs...our own wee beach resort.

Cienfuegos

Cienfuegos was sold to us by our guidebook as one of the highlights of Cuba. Guess sometimes you have to be disappointed. Not that the description "well preserved city from the nineteenth century" is not appropriate but if the highlights of the town consist of the main plaza and some buildings at a seaside suburb then there just isn't much to do. We barely spend half a day "admiring" the sights before retiring to the nearby beach. The beach was certainly better than the town as it had some small restaurants with eager waiters which brought beer and food to the beach. The water was like Varadero but a bit murky due to coral and bordering on boiling, a nice temperature fo a bath (not refreshing at all). It was also our first session in the Caribbean sea! One of many to come I hope.
Back in town we found out that it goes to sleep at around 7 on a Friday night!! and it was impossible to find anything to eat. We were basically forced to go to the top floor terrace bar of the best hotel in town with a remarkable sunset view over the main square and harbour. Our cocktails and pizzas was served by our own bartender as we were the only guests. One of the perks when traveling in the low season.

Wi-Fi

You might have wondered how we get this blog to you from Cuba. Cuba has an interesting way to provide internet. You can buy scratch cards which allow for one hour of internet usage. The main problem is to find somewhere where you have a WiFi signal to use it. Most towns have just one area where this is available and sometimes this area is kilometres away from where you stay. Once you are close they are easy to spot though. Just look for the locals and foreigners which are glued to the phones. Think about that when you get emails and blogs from us...

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Photos

varadero beach before the mandatory evening shower
It basically rained every day at around 4 for 30 minutes to an hour

being serenaded by our own band
They appeared out of nowhere and we were the only customers

entrance to Australia
A little town called Australia in the middle of Cuba.