Blogs from Viñales, Oeste, Cuba, Central America Caribbean - page 3

Vinales Soroa The final destination on the tour around Cuba is Vinales on the west side of the island. We stop off on the way from Santa Clara to Vinales at Soroa. Soroa probably has quite a lot to offer but as this is a stop-off on the way to Vinales and we just have time to visit the Orchid Garden here. The gardens have more than 25,000 species of orchids from around the world with the microclimate of the region being particularly suitable and it’s not long until I’m filling up another memory card in my camera. Vinales Vinales itself is a small town set in a beautiful limestone valley. The limestone has been eroded leaving a lot of interesting rock formations called magotes. The area is now a UNESCO World Heritage site with a ... read more

People laughed when I told them I was riding a bike through Cuba. Veronica at work, humoured at my distress (when I discovered one of the riding days was 98km) added me on facebook, promising to closely follow my demise. But I remained determined and during my 2 weeks prior at a friend’s place in Mexico City; I made the conscious effort to use the stairs to the ninth floor; even when I returned to his place roaring drunk. On day three of the bike trip when the temp once again was rising into the forties and the humidity remained above 90% Jose* took me to the hospital. I had awoken at 3 am the morning prior with severe pains in my stomach which even with a generous helping of drugs, did not subside. I fell ... read more

The best part of seeing all of Cuba from East to West was discovering how incredibly different every single square inch is from the next. Not only were the Cuban people diverse, but the terrain of Cuba too. So far we have traveled through jungles, deserts, forests, cane fields, and now these fantastic mogotes (limestone pinnacles) that jut sharply out of red soddy earth. Breathtaking! Vinales isn't just eye candy, it's a soul stealer. I was already on a high from visiting a famous orchid nursery on the way in. Okay...yah I know. Yawn for most of you, but for me...crack! I won't go into morbid details, but it is worth the stop, even for the non-horties. This garden is perched precariously on a hillside, and the endless flora from around the world are so well ... read more

Finally, after ten years of visiting Cuba, I was on my way to see the strange and unusual landscape of the Vinales valley in Pinar del Rio Province - a land of isolated cylindrical steep-sided limestone hills, riddled with caves, which tower above the surrounding tobacco growing farmland with its bright red soil. These distinctive formations are the same as those seen in ancient Chinese watercolours of the Li valley in Southern China. Early in the morning we headed west along the autopiste which links Havana to the province of Pinar del Rio, crossing miles of flat scrubby land with occasional patches of sugarcane, sisal, poor pasture and even a few small rice fields; the main feature was the huge water reservoirs, supplying Havana, which covered much of this landscape. Passing signs to a designated ... read more

We were up at 0645 and managed to see the last few moments of sunrise over Viñales from the front porch as vultures flew around us. We’d ordered breakfast for 0800 so we filled in time reading and lazing about. The egg, bread and coffee hit the spot just nicely and we headed off for the town square to catch a hop-on hop-off bus around Parque Nacional Viñales. The portacom that was the ticketing office was still not open at 0915 and there was no sign of a bus so we made some enquiries and were told that the bus was not working. Moped rental was not an option either as we were told that none of the bikes were currently licensed. The helpful lady at the car rental place suggested we hire a taxi but ... read more