We woke up to another huge Cuban breakfast, prepared in front of us by our hostess. Grant ended up having to eat not one, but two eggs fritatas on top of the usual fare of fruit and breads&spreads, because she cooked too quickly for us to point out that Jess doesn’t eat eggs. But once again, we couldn’t let her down – way to take one for the team, Grant!
After breakfast, we took a short drive to St. Thomas cave – another large cavern in a mogote. Our guide was a local Cuban, who’s English was very good, though his humor was an intersesting mix jokes about his father-in-law, bad puns and marijuana. It was a little bizzare, given the surroundings, but also very funny. The rock formations in the cave were also quite interesting, and Jess managed to not brain herself on anyting…thanks, no doubt to the safety helmets they made everyone wear!
A bit of a break around lunch gave us time to explore the town, where we meandered the picturesque streets, and even poped into the local store, only to find SHELVES of coke! Whaaaaa?! We were so surprised to see American goods in Cuba!
And then, we were off again, this time for our horseback riding tour of the local tobacco farms. Vinales is known to produce some of the best tobacco in Cuba, so we were really excited to see the farms!
Heading to our horses involved meandering down some of Vinales’ side (and back) streets
Our guide looked like a Cuban version of Mario, and didn’t speak much English. Grant’s horse, Lucero, liked to be out in the front, so our guide ended up having to shout directions from the rear. In part this was because the paths we rode were quite narrow, but also because Jess’ horse, Caramello, was not having any of this horse-back riding thing. In fact, the guide explained in Spanish that Jess’ horse had no friends because he bites the other horses, so Jess was to give a sharp tug on the reins if it looked like he was lining up for nibble!
Riding through the fields, we saw mostly yucca and sweet potatos as summer wasn’t the right season in Cuba for tabacco growth, which is generally late fall to late spring. But we did see a lot of the drying houses, built and thatched out of Royal Palm, which is also the national tree of Cuba.
Big fields with tiny huts of Royal Palm thatching as far as the eye can see!
And strangely, lots of big oxen – supposedly to help pull the carts?
We also eventually stopped to visit another set of caves, this time with a local man who spoke no English. Because our Spanish wasn’t strong enough for deep geological or historical conversations, our tour was basically reduced to simple statements like, “This is called the eagle, as it looks like an eagle,” and so forth. However, we were not disappointed because in addition to our guide were his two dogs, who seemed to have no fear of the caves and the dark and often dashed ahead out of the range of the flash lights, only to double back as if to say, “Hurry, hurry! This way!” As neither of us had never seen spelunking dogs before, this definitely made the limestone caves into something unique!
As we turned the horses back towards home, the sky became ominously dark, and thunder began to roll through the valley. Fortunately, we were near a farm that also doubled as a watering hole, so we were able to wait out the ensuing downpour while sipping a coco loco – a strong cocktail made with Rum, honey and lime, all blended in a freshly cracked coconut. In a word – delicious.
Stopping for coco locos and to wait out the rain!
Also, we had plenty of company as this watering hole was also a farm, complete with ~30 chickens and chicks of various age, two cattle dogs and their adorable puppy and a cat. And these were only the animals that were taking shelter – there were also cows and a pig out in the distance, so it started to feel a bit like Noah’s arc!
Once we finished our beverage, one of the locals asked if we wanted to eat the coconut, which we eagerly agreed to. A few quick whacks with a handy machete and we suddenly had what looked like a coconut ice cream cone, heavily drizzled with even more fresh, local honey – yum!
After an hour or so, the rain finally died away, and we were able to finish our ride back into town. After dropping the horses off at our guide’s house, we were treated to yet another Cuban cigar lesson from a tiny, white cowboy-hat-wearing Cuban man who turned out to be our guide’s father. Unable to say no to such a nice man, we ended up buying more cigars and promptly start to worry about how we were going to get these all past border control (eeps!).
Once back at the Casa, we were greeted by our jovial host with a happy, “Horse is good!?” and cold beers. We parked ourselves on the front porch with Lily the wiener dog and the rocking chairs and once again watched the old cars drive by as the sun. Our hostess again provided the dinner, this time amazingly seasoned Pollo Asado – roast chicken with spices, rice and black beans, sliced veggies and avocado, with sliced mangos for dessert. Over dinner, we’d decided to try to see salsa dancing again and so this time forced ourselves to keep active till it was time for us to head out. Unfortunately, when we got to the plaza, it seemed more like tween night. After some serious middle-school people watching, we felt too old to stick it out and wandered home. Where we promptly proved just how old we are by immediately falling into bed. We are SO party people…
– G & J