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Published: February 3rd 2015
Hola Everyone! As mentioned before I was unable to write my blog in Cuba so I am catching up here in Mexico where the internet is better.
What a wonderful time we had in the small town of Vinales a few hundred kilometers west of Havana. It was very refreshing to see the simple way of life here. Many rely on horses and buggies for transportation and oxen and carts are used in the countryside with the farming industry.
The area around the town is fertile tobacco growing land used mostly for cigars leaves. The scraps are used for cigarettes. Apparently in Cuba all the cigar production is done by hand and uses no chemicals in the process. Hense the cigars are all natural and are of the finest quality. As well, 90% of the nicotene is stripped out of the cigar leaves before they are rolled. We watched a very interesting cigar rolling demostration on one of the local farms.
Probably the highlight for us here was our 2 night homestay in a lovely bright yellow casa. Mirium and her husband were our hosts. We had a comfortable connecting bedroom and bath in the casa. They would
prepare us meals when needed for a nominal fee. They were such welcoming people as Mirium could speak some english and we had some great visits. Her 90 year old mother also lives them.. . . what a lovely lady. We really enjoyed sitting on our patio in the rocking chairs watching the daily life of the townspeople..
We had some delicious and interesting meals in what they call "basque style". It's a Spanish tradition in which various dishes are brought out and set on the table to everyone to enjoy and share. It was incredible . . . . plates of roasted pig, fish, lamb, lobster, salad, squash, deep fried plantain, soup, rice and lots of other Cuban specialties including creamy pina coladas. What a feast! These restuarants were in such lovely settings overlooking the lush mountains and beautiful tobacco fields. One of them produced all their own food on a small farm including livestock. It was very cool to see the gardens where our vegetables we ate were just picked.
Other attractions included impressive limestone caves and a giant mural painting on the side of a moutain depecting the evolution of man.
On day two
Warren headed out for a morning of horseback riding through the countryside and tobacco fielss. It was very scenic with lush tropical vegetation and beautiful moutains in the distance. I chose the same journey but on a moutain bike tour. It was lots of fun and quite challenging terrain. I certainly got my workout that morning!!
During the evening we went out to a local night club where we enjoyed excellent live music and watched the local people dancing the salsa. Boy were they good!! As well they had some fire dancers that were pretty good.
Well that's it for now. Thanks for reading!
Mallory y Warren
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Sheila
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Cuba
Wish we could have done the tour of Cuba with you.