Vinales!

Looking back at these photos I remember how much I loved Vinales - so much that I had to extend my trip there!

Vinales is a beautiful valley in the Pinar Del Mar region. We took a taxi from Havana (which between the 6 of us was a quick and affordable way of getting around!) who took us to our casa particulares – Casa El Porry. The casa is located right on the edge of the valley, providing amazing views! We ate dinner there every night and for 10 USD we were fed like kings with more lobster or crab than you can ever imagine! 

Vinales grows some of the best tobacco in the world and all throughout the valley are tobacco huts. One morning we went on a horse riding tour through the valley. Our tour guide only spoke Spanish – so we could only make out the occasional word! We stopped at one of these tobacco huts to learn about how Cubans make their famous cigars. The process to make cigars has not changed much in the last 100 years – after the plants have grown the leaves are hand picked by the farmers where they are hung in the tobacco huts to dry. Once they are dried they are hand rolled to create the cigar. Our tour guide dipped the cigar in honey before he lit it to create a surprisingly sweet and delicious taste! 

What I found most strange about Cuba was how hard it was access money – for someone who pays for everything on credit card, to no longer have these facilities or even have easy access to money which really difficult. I had heard it would be tough but it requires much more budgeting than I realised (which is hard to do when you are not sure your plans!) The only ways to access money was through ATM machines which were often without cash and did not take any American based credit card. Not having access to cash became a real issue when we were leaving Vinales to go to Cayo Levisa as there were no ATM’s in the region with the only way to access money was through the bank which opened at 8 with our bus leaving at 8:30. Even after lining up for half an hour we still hadn’t reached the front of the queue. If it wasn’t for our amazing host Porry and the friends we were travelling with who could lend us some money until we got to Havana we would have been broke. Even when we arrived at Cayo Levisa we assumed the resort we were staying at would take credit card (it doesn’t) so we really had to budget! Having easy access to money is a luxury that I definitely take for granted!