Viñales

22.08.2011 - 22.09.2011

I booked a day trip to Viñales, it is known for its natural beauty and scenery. Pinar del Rio is the main tobacco growing area in Cuba but we could not see the fields since it was not the season for growing tobacco.

The first stop was a small rum factory, it was not a big brand like Havana Club but they used a variety of a Guava to make the rum . The factory aslo belonged to the country, it was a small factory. It produced 2 types of rum, they gave us small cups (Havana Club cups) to taste.......one is more sweet and I think the other was dry. The visit to Havana Club in Havana was more like a museum tour and not a factory tour.

DSC04537

DSC04524

DSC04526

DSC04527

DSC04528

DSC04530

DSC04532

DSC04534

DSC04535

They then took us through town; they have a very nice street there that has some colorful houses.

DSC04541

DSC04545

DSC04546

DSC04548

DSC04549

DSC04552

DSC04556

DSC04584

DSC04586

DSC04587

DSC04588

DSC04590

DSC04595

DSC04596

DSC04597

I had been trying to buy an olive green shirt, just like the ones the guerrilla fighters used during the revolution but could not find any in Havana (they only sold the caps but they never sold the olive green army looking shirts). I was told by the guide from the other tour that I might be able to find something similar in Vinales, it would not be a military shirt but an olive green peasant shirt. That was fine since most of the fighters were peasants, so the shirt would be more or less what I wanted. I tried a couple of shops in Vinales but could not find anything, not even in the second hand clothes shops.

They then took us to a grotto where we walked for a bit and then took a boat ride inside.......the usual grotto stuff. The grotto had some natural rock formations that looked like a skull and a bottle of wine, I did not manage to take photos of them.......my camera was not ready.

DSC04566

DSC04570

DSC04575

DSC04577

DSC04579

DSC04581

Check out this cool plant that was outside the grotto:

Afterwards we had some lunch and they only served pork for the day. The tour guide had asked us earlier if any of us did not eat pork, they would give us scrambled eggs instead........I went for the eggs. There was a huge mountain wall that was painted (prehistoric life) in order to act as a tourist attraction (based on an order from Fidel)

DSC04607

DSC04612

DSC04613

DSC04614

Next stop was to see a guy rolling cigars and selling them. It was more of a tourist thing, I had already seen the guys in the factory make cigars but this was a good opportunity to take pictures since we were not allowed to in the factory.