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Published: January 18th 2009
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Touts
We were pleased that we had booked ahead and avoided the touts. Our taxi showed up at 0710 - 20 minutes early - so we hurried our packing and shot out the door, collecting a list of Nicolas´ friend’s casas in various cities on the way. Rebecka and Karolina, two Swedes staying in the room next door, had the same plans to go to Viñales so we shared the CUC5 cab.
The rain was coming down heavily and the roads on the way to the station were under anywhere between six inches and a few feet of water. Additionally - just to keep things interesting - the windscreen demister on the taxi wasn’t working.
We managed to get tickets on the 0900 bus for the three and a half hour trip for CUC12 each but had over an hour to spare. The cafe was located upstairs from the terminal and should have been some respite from the rain, lightning and booming thunder but the holes in the roof conveniently located above most of the tables ensured that everyone had a little taste of the outside - inside. I was only a few pages from the end of ¨My Life¨ - a biography of Fidel Castro so we bought a copy of
“United States vs. the Cuban Five - the Cuban version of the story of five men held in US prisons for espionage. We arrived into Viñales on time at 1230 and just as Nicolas had told us, Mariano was waiting for us sign in hand and struggling to see over the hoards of touts advertising their casas. At least in Cuba one “no” seems to do the trick and none of them were even a tenth as pushy as the touts we had encountered in Peru.
Mariano’s casa at 10 Camilo Cienfuegos was a tidy light green painted house with a sunny terrace and a clean well presented bedroom for us. Mariano spoke no English and realised our limited Spanish abilities almost immediately but retorted with “No Español - No Problemo” and gave us both a few shots of rum whilst lighting himself a cigar. Mariano’s wife fixed me a coffee and we got talking (well - signalling) about cigars. Nicolas in Havana had told us that Mariano rolled his own cigars and I was keen to take a look at the process. Without a moments hesitation we were taken to the back room where Mariano had set up
a desk in the base of a 200 year old tree that was growing, quite literally, through the middle of his house. The maestro took all of three minutes to roll a huge cigar and wrap it up so we could take it back home to New Zealand. A mate of his who spoke reasonable English explained the steps as he went along. We bought two bunches of ten cigars for CUC20 - just under NZ$2 each. Equivalent size and quality cigars in New Zealand would be around NZ$30-50 each!
We spent a few hours walking the main street of Viñales (it is really pretty much a one street town with a population of 14000) taking photos and sucking in the atmosphere. Half the town sat on rocking chairs on their front porches smoking cigars and watching the world go by over a shot of rum. The concept didn’t sound too bad to us either so we bought a hip flask of Havana Club (CUC4) and went back to our casa - joined a few hours later by the Swedish girls and Mariano and some of his mates that dropped in throughout the night. About 1700 I was sent
Having a drink
The Swedish girls, Mariano, Jo & I for a new bottle of rum and, with the exception of a huge dinner at 1900, we drank, talked and cigarred the night away. We could see why rum, cigars and rocking chairs were a way of life in Cuba.
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