| Hotel Havana Libre, Tuesday, April 5, 2005, | | | | floor. Again a reminder of how different life |
| 6:54 pm | | | | can be in this country.... |
| | | | |
| On Sunday it was gorgeous. The cold front had | | | | Then we crossed over a small mountain range |
| finally passed through, the rain was gone and | | | | and back into the Valle del Ancon, where we |
| we had a beautiful warm sunny day without any | | | | saw a Casa Campesino, a traditional farm |
| humidity. | | | | house/museum, which had also been visited a |
| | | | few years ago by Fidel Castro. Next to the |
| My hostess is also a guide for the National | | | | farm house is a beautiful river that exits |
| Park System and Vinales is a nationally | | | | from a cave and 3 young cuban teenage boys |
| protected natural habitat. She had a tour | | | | were swimming and jumping into the water and |
| planned through a side valley of Vinales | | | | having a ton of fun. The entrance to the cave |
| (Valle del Ancon) with 3 participants, an | | | | is also surrounded by wasp-hives (if that |
| older couple from Germany and me. | | | | word exists), so there are tons of wasp |
| | | | dwellings hanging down from the rock |
| The tour was fabulous, we got picked up by a | | | | formations. |
| local in a taxi and went about 20 minutes | | | | |
| outside of town and got dropped off at a | | | | We took the taxi back into town and I had |
| local primary school, which had several | | | | another 3 hours or so before my departure |
| communist slogans painted on the outside. | | | | with the Viazul bus. 2 local teenage boys, |
| Political graffiti, paintings and message | | | | Rider and Rigo, approached me (truly in the |
| boards are extremely common in Cuba. Although | | | | style of the underground economy), offered me |
| there is no western style advertising, there | | | | to rent a bicycle for $3 and to take me to a |
| are plenty of political slogans (a collection | | | | Paladar or private restaurant. I thought, why |
| of a few of which I will summarize at a later | | | | not, they seemed pretty decent. So I took the |
| point). | | | | 3rd bike and rode up with them into the hills |
| | | | above Vinales. |
| This is a very strange experience when you | | | | |
| come from a Western capitalist country like | | | | There they introduced me to a local family |
| Canada, and then you see all these political | | | | and the lady of the house served me with a |
| slogans about Communism and defending the | | | | complete vegetarian meal for $8.00. |
| Revolution. Truly fascinating indeed, a | | | | Afterwards I rented the bike for $2 for 1 |
| completely different world. | | | | hour and I rode around Vinales and outside of |
| | | | town a bit to take some photos of the |
| On our 3 hour trip we walked through local | | | | Mogotes. The bike tour, even though extremely |
| fields, were told about local wildlife, | | | | short, was a great way of exploring the town |
| special birds (the Cuban Tocororo, Turkey | | | | and surroundings. |
| vultures and other birds. We also heard about | | | | |
| local farming which still takes place with | | | | At 4 pm I hopped back on the Viazul bus and |
| human labour, manual ploughs and oxen. We | | | | went back to La Havana (Havana). At 7:30 or |
| were introduced to crops such as Malanga | | | | so I arrived at the Viazul bus station and I |
| (pureed and given to babies), Yucca, various | | | | ended up taking a "Cocotaxi", a yellow |
| types of sweet potatoes, corn and yams. | | | | 3-wheeler type of scooter taxi with a rounded |
| | | | yellow roof partially covering the 2 seats in |
| One of the highlights was a 20 minute walk | | | | the back and the driver in the front. |
| through a limestone cave through one of the | | | | |
| Mogote hills. We saw some interesting stone | | | | The Cocotaxi driver was initially fixing his |
| formations and even strange pale plants | | | | vehicle since a tire had blown out and he was |
| growing inside the pitch-dark cave. Our guide | | | | changing the wheels. The ride took about 20 |
| had illuminated the cave with a strong | | | | minutes to the hotel and was definitely an |
| flashlight for the 4 of us and it was a | | | | experience. He then inisted on inviting me |
| pretty easy walk with no cave-dwelling | | | | for a drink and I told him immediately that I |
| animals in sight, only one political slogan | | | | was not interested in any funny business, |
| spray-painted in the cave (apparently this | | | | that I was a married woman, only here to |
| was a hideout for the revolutionary army at | | | | study Spanish and not interested in romance. |
| some point..). | | | | (Romantic approaches by Cuban men and women |
| | | | of foreigners are very common here). |
| After exiting the cave, we ended up in an | | | | |
| uninhabited small valley completely | | | | He said no problem, he just wanted to talk |
| surrounded by mountains and we ran into a | | | | and we sat down for a conversation that was |
| local farmer of 60 years, whose leathery face | | | | reasonably pleasant for a while until he |
| and slim body gave him the appearance of an | | | | started to make the moves on me, some very |
| 80 year old man, evidence of many decades of | | | | verbally explicit ones by the way. I never |
| sun and hard work. | | | | felt physically threatened, especially since |
| | | | he was about as short as me, but I definitely |
| He had a flock of turkeys (with 61 young | | | | got annoyed with him and he apologized at the |
| chicks), a dog and some fields of corn and | | | | end for his behaviour. |
| beans. And he generally spends most of his | | | | |
| days working manually in this little valley, | | | | Nevertheless that brief experience taught me |
| completely isolated, sometimes staying | | | | to curb my friendliness and my openness a |
| overnight in a single hut made from the wood | | | | little bit with the locals, since things can |
| and leaves of the royal palm tree, Cuba´s | | | | be very easily misunderstood in this |
| national tree. No radio, no TV, no | | | | culture.... |
| sanitation, no kitchen, just a wooden bed | | | | |
| with a blanket in a hut with an earthen | | | | Another lesson learned.... |