Vinales.
A town. A national park. A landscape of
fantastic Migotes. Limestone mountains, with trees and bushes on top.
Hidden valleys. Caves. Underground Rivers. The cliff faces were so sheer
and beautiful. The whole place was a magical wonderland. It was really
cool (and as I've talked to people it is one of the main places people
go when in Cuba). Which doesn't make it any less awesome.
The
only other places I've seen landscape like this were in Vang Vien, Laos
and Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. (Southern China has them as well, or so I
hear). I had no idea Cuba would have them until I got there, and they
were awesome. Awesome to ride horses around, to hike, to climb, to sit
and stare at at sunset.
To Get to Vinales I
went to the Viazul bus station in Havana to buy a ticket the day before I
was planning on leaving. A thing about Cuba... you have to be thinking
one or two steps ahead of where you are in order to keep any sort of
momentum or flow to your trip. Because buses get full, cabs leave early,
there may be only 1 scooter for rent in an entire town. And it isn't
like you book it on the internet. You have to do it old school style by
showing up! It was kind of awesome :)
So I go
to the Viazul bus station and.... its closed for remodeling. No sign. No
other information. Just people inside working. Keep in mind this is the
PRIMARY BUS LINE that runs around the country. And this is their MAIN
OFFICE in the capital city. Ahhhh Cuba.
There
was a helpful Taxi Collectivo (group taxi) dude outside that said you
could go to the main terminal somewhere 3 km away, or he would do a
collective taxi and take me there for 23CUC, which is basically the same
price as the bus. I said sure, signed up. (You don't pay until you are
there, so no scam. This is the way it is done).
Since
I was across from the zoo, I went to the zoo. Saw some animals. Spoke
with a cool Cuban who used to work on a fishing boat all over the world.
He had some amazing stories of searching for Diamonds in Africa and
learning fishing in Northern Russia. Now he works with the animals
including a 53 year old Chimpanzee who has 50 kids.
The
next day we head out, the Taxi shows up mostly on time. And inside is a
dude that looks Jason Statham (I mean, EXACTLY like Jason Statham!) and
some other folks. The Cuban music was BUMPING in the cab and we were
off. This cab was a classic American car. So cool.
 |
| Just travelin with Jason Statham... no big deal. |
We
stopped at a (The afore mentioned) Cigar plantation on the way and learned how that all
worked. Got to try one. It is one of those things you expect in
countries like Cuba, that on the travels you end up being taken to
additional coffee or tobacco plantations. They want you to buy
something. Jason Statham bought 20 cigars.
In
Vinales, the main town has tons of places to eat and drink. It is very
tourist friendly. Which some may view as good and some as bad. I'm
curious what it looked like 5 years ago. Or 10. Definitely 15. Because
Cuban's used to not be able to advertise the rooms in their houses. They
could rent out up to 2, but no ads. No Signs. Now pretty much everyone
rents a room or two or 5. (The 2 room limit has changed).
I
managed to book a sunset horseback ride. It was sort
of weird, the guide basically didn't want to give me the full time, it
was so strange. I paid for 3 hours, he wanted to end in two. ANd most of
the time was spent at a... you guessed it,... coffee plantation! Ugh.
Here was a situation I wanted to just enjoy the ride, the valley and
sunset. It was weird, he literally would not ride any further. Even
though horse riders were coming from futher in the valley, he said he
couldn't go further. I have no idea why. He spoke some English. My
Spanish sucks (as will be mentioned repeatedly) and so....
I
decided to enjoy it. I bought a Mojito sin Azucar. And sat and waited
for the sunset. There were puppies and kittens (Heather you would have
loved it!). And a nice French gal and her guide who rode up. So we hung
out. Took pictures. As you do.
After eating I
headed to the live music bar on the square. There's only one. It's easy
to find. It's 1CUC to enter. I enjoyed the music. Was grabbed by a Cuban
man who used me as a wing man to dance with some tourist gals. Then a
Cuban woman who looked to be around 55 or 60 grabbed me and started
Dancing. Some Salsa, but really she was drunk as a skunk and was bootie
dancing on me. She'd bend over and rub her butt all over me as her
Daughters and sisters laughed and shot video. (she introduced me while
bumping on me, just so it wasn't TOO weird. lol). After the song (and
in Cuba the songs are like 20 minutes long when they're live), she drug
me to the bar, asked if I liked Cerveza. I said sure. She ordered two,
and when I reached for one... she took them both! And told me to order
myself one. I did. And of course paid for all 3. $5CUC total!
The next day I woke up early and went
to go rent a scooter. I was given advice in Havana, from some folks who
were on their LAST day of the trip, that I should get there by 7:30,
even though they don't open till 8:30. I got there at 7:15. I was the
only one who got a scooter and not until 10:45am. But I was chillin and
just going with the flow, cause that is what you have to do in Cuba!
It
was AWESOME! I rode out to a cave. the 2nd largest cave in the
Americas. Mammoth Cave in Kentucky is the only bigger one I think. I
almost had a solo tour, but a Cuban couple showed up last minute. And if
you can believe it, the guy tried to break off formations THE ENTIRE
TIME. The guide did nothing. Literally nothing. Didn't even say
anything. And my lack of Spanish made it hard for me to do anything
about it. (And to be honest, I was so shocked the guide didn't do
anything that I just shook my head which did nothing useful). In the end
he succeeded in breaking off a 6 inch piece of a curtain like thing.
Ride on.
To the gas station.
Strange
thing about Cuba. Gas stations... few and far between. And the one in
Vinales... had no gas today. Guess that happens. There's talk of
building a bigger one. Maybe it'll happen someday. Maybe it won't.
So 25 km away I found a gas station.
How did I find it you ask?
I had been told before I left to get Maps.Me. In fact every single traveler I met had maps.me.
It's an offline Google maps. And with GPS you can see right where you
are at. It even has hiking trails on it. That's awesome!
I tried to get it... but since Apple is an American company, the app store does not work in Cuba.
Doh!
So
I had a terrible tourist map, and had been given vague directions on
which way to go and where it would be (and told that I had 1 liter of
Gas, with which I could go... 20km? 30km? The guy didn't really know. )
I found it. I put in 6 liters. Filled it up!
And RIDE!
One
of my favorite things to do while traveling is to rent a scooter and
go. You meet cool people. See things off the tourist track. It's a great
way to explore an area.
On the way back I
stopped at the LOS AQUATICOS Trail head. These are a few families that
learned the healing power of water from a shamen hundreds of years ago
or something like that. It sounds fascinating, but I didn't make it all
the way there.
The trail, which was paved
with stones and hand carved steps, went up and down over the Mogote's.
Gorgeous views of the valley abounded. The hike was mostly shaded since
it was late afternoon. So I sat and enjoyed the breeze. Then I came to a
junction... the sign to Los Aquaticos lay on the ground. Did it point
along the ridge or down?
Looked like down. So I chose down.
(HE CHOSE DOWN!!! (To almost quote Labyrinth!)
Well down dropped me to the valley floor pretty quickly.
It was getting late ish so I figured I'd just walk along the valley floor till sunset.
Then I saw goats.
And then I saw a cliff face... with a cave entrance in it!!!
SWEET!!!
Waterproof headlamp on (yes, of course I have one in my backpack. As you should too :)
And I plunge into the slot in the rock.
It led back, split left and right...
left a dead end. Right leads deeper.
Maybe 2 feet wide.
Slippery mud.
It splits again, with only the left going anywhere....
50 meters back, I found a pool!!! With a wooden structure above it.
It wasn't huge, but it was awesome!!!
And
the end of the cave. Or as far as I was going to dare go as I'd have to
submerge myself to explore further and as much as I love to explore the
unknown, I'm not that crazy.
So I head out and ... hear voices off to the right.
So I head back the way I came and out of sight.... and then I hear they are AMERICAN voices.
So
I turn around and walk back and surprise a family, their Cuban guide
family (who all spoke English) and the owner of the property.
I made friends and they told me about a BIGGER cave around the corner.
I asked if it was okay to explore (since it was on his property).
He smiled and off I went.
The
cave was like a tunnel all the way through the Mogote. Maybe 30-50 feet
tall, and pitch black until you came around a corner to see out the
other side... and a BIGGER POOL!
So I did what
everyone would do, right? I got down to my underwear and went into the
pool. It was waist deep. I half swam around in it and eventually went
back to the side I started on.
What lay beyond....?
I'll have to come back to find out.
On
my way out of the cave, I enjoyed a song written by my friend and
former Feet Firster, Brandon Miquelon called ROOTLESS TREE. It's a song
he wrote after a multiple month trip through Europe he went on a few
years ago. In truth, this was one of the main songs of this entire trip.
I love it. He captured the feeling of the traveler so well. So thank
you Brandon for the song, if you are cool with it I'll share it with
people on the email thread.
I headed out
of the cave, up to the farmer's house. Where they offered me coffee and I
sat and enjoyed the coming sunset with people who mostly spoke a
different language, but it didn't matter. We shared a nice time, looking
out at the valley, as the guide drove off in his 1952 Pristine
condition car...
I've still got a smile on my face as I write this.
Awesome.
CraigO
