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
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