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Published: June 22nd 2017
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Geo: 22.5823, -83.746
We had a private tour booked to take us to Vinales at 8am however Julie had stomach cramps so it was touch and go whether we went anywhere - it's very unlike her not to have breakfast! We decided to go and Manuel our driver met us in reception on the dot. He was very knowledgeable and told us lots about life in Cuba eg: Cubans have ration cards to obtain essentials such as rice, beans, salt. They go to special stores. If they need more food, they go to markets and pay with their wages; Cubans only get a pension if they work for the government for 30 years. Car number plate pre-fix advise who is driving eg an E is an embassy car, a T is a tourist, a B is for business and a P is a private car owned by a Cuban. There are few of these since importing a car is expensive approximately $91,000 for a small family car and as banks don't give loans it's impossible to save money up front. The most common form of transport is horse and cart, bicycle and Cuban local bus (no timetable, they just turn up whenever)
which look like army convoy trucks. Tourists travel on different buses and pay more. The motorway was strewn with locals hitchhiking and there were horse and carts, bikes and walkers in the middle of nowhere. Our first stop was a panoramic view of the Vinales valley, unusual limestone mountains unique formations so quite picturesque. We stopped in a beautiful hotel to have a drink. Overlooking the valley Manuel told us about the WiFi setup where you can buy a card for access and it'll be valid anywhere in Cuba, provided you can find a government provided hotspot. He told us about the 5 government controlled TV channels. After buying a WiFi card for 2 cuc we moved on to the Indian Caves where we had a short walk and a boat ride. Manuel met us on the other side. There was a water buffalo named Thomas having a drink and a bath. Next stop was the mural painted on the side of one of the Mogoles. It depicted the evolution of man; more to the point there was a free pina colada included in the ticket price. Next stop was a typical small tobacco farm. In fact he seemed to
farm lots of things. We were shown the tobacco fields, drying house and then they made a cigar and let me try it. I'm not sure if it was good or not but I only had a few puffs before putting it out. We had show around the house and grounds. It was as rustic as it comes. There were tree rats and rabbits in cages ready for dinner! There were also cock fighting paens there which wasnt too good. Apparently 90% of everything the farm makes goes to the government. The rest they can use and sell themselves.
We'd been on the road since 8am. Being 3pm we stopped for something to eat. We stopped at a Tapas bar in Vinales. To be on the safe side Julie had a cheese and ham sandwich and I had ravioli and a beer (crystal). After a quick look at the market we got back in the car and headed back to Havana. That was a long day!!
Oh... after all the text above I forgot to mention The Package. A 500GB hard drive of information that people can subscribe to on the Black market. It's filled with music. Films. Box sets. News Games.
Etc. Just 3 pesos a month!!
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