This morning after a sumptuous breakfast we checked out of
Havana and headed west to a community set up about 40 years ago by one of
Castro’s cohorts (I think he was given this land to keep him busy and out of
the way of real government). Anyway they’ve
reversed the decline in trees in the area and are practically self sufficient
growing their own produce and getting a small income from tourism. We had lunch there and toured the obligatory
small craft initiatives but for me it was a bit of a nothing, but we did get a glimpse of Cuba's national bird, the trogon or tocororo (Priotelus temnurus) - this designation is possibly due to two reasons. First, its feathers have the three colours of the national flag (red/blue/white) and secondly, it is a bird that cannot live in captivity, dying of sadness if caged, reflecting the Cuban national character as freedom-loving people. Poor photo though.
Mid afternoon we drove west for a further 2 hours and are
now in Viñales, which is a beautiful area in the Pinar del Rio province. Strange karst stone hillocks form the
landscape (the same as the formations in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam) and mainly
tobacco is grown here.
The hotel is in a lovely location overlooking the valley but
is unfortunately a bit basic in comparison to the last hotel (how easily one
gets spoilt!)
The town of Viñales is quite different to other small towns
we’ve seen in Cuba, in that it is very well maintained and all houses are
brightly painted. It’s one of the few
areas in which the Government allows property owners to rent out rooms in their
houses.
After a quite basic dinner we headed 2.5km back into town to
a bar for live music. Music is part of
everyday life for Cubans and bands pop up from nowhere immediately you sit down
in a bar or restaurant but, whilst it’s always nice to listen to live music, it
can be a bit intrusive at times. And
then of course there is the tipping aspect and then the CD gets offered …… Anyway the place Alex had in mind didn’t open
for 45 mins so we stopped off in another place and had a nice chat and a drink
and then back to the other bar where a mini cabaret was playing. Unfortunately our timing was a bit off and we
got to hear the crooner followed by some kind of African dancing and fire
eating.