Vinales

Vinales was a 4hr bus journey from Havana, to the region of Pinar del Rio. It's a gorgeous town. We arrived with a recommendation of where to stay - in fact our previous land lady had organised a casa for us so our new landlords were expecting us. This casa was fantastic, a tiny little green house complete with no ceilings between rooms, often no water or electricity and our first problems with the language barrier. Although lucy spoke a decent amount of spanish and i know the (very) basic, the owner of this house spoke no english and most conversation was aided by hand signals. Her name was Minelia, her husband Fernando and they had a young son who enjoyed teasing the many lizards who lived in and around the house. He was also a willing audience to some of my basic magic tricks, which helped cheer me up in a time when we all suffered from diarrhoea. They were a great family, she'd wash, hang up and somehow get rid of the creases from our clothes, he'd give us local cigars, and we ate very well. Having said that they gave us so much food we felt guilty about not eating it all, especially as the other 3 didn't eat much at all leaving me and lucy to try and make up for it. I also had lobster - wicked! Often we'd eat in the company of goats, stray cats and dogs, and too many bugs. However we got stung with the bill at the end of the stay, all the mojitos added up to quite a lot, but we'd had such a good time we didn't mind paying.

Their house backed on to the open country side, an area filled with cigar farms, and routes perfect for walking and horse riding. Dan, lucy and I went horse riding with Fernando's cousin Carlos, leaving the other 2 behind because caroline is allergic to horses and blake was struggling to hold the contents of his stomach. The ride was fantastic, 2 hours amongst amazing scenery, we passed pigs, piglets, goats, bulls and no hustlers! Unfortunately my horse was pathetic - his name was Morro, and he seemed scared of the other horses, he farted for cuba, and when i did approach the others i got a kick from lucy's horse which almost broke my foot - luckily it just ricoched and bruised, but had it hit my shin it probably would have broke. I couldn't walk properly for a coulple of days, but i guess i was lucky it wasn't worse. I did milk it a little for sympathy. The muppet of a horse also managed to get his back right leg caught in a loop of barbed wire - not realising why he couldn't continue he just panicked and went a little crazy. I had to call Carlos back (he and the others were quite far in front) who freed the horses' leg and calmed it down. For a minute I did think I was going to get thrown off the horse, but just about managed to stay on.

We also visited a local cave, Cueva del Indio which included a short boat trip, and went to a mural on a rock face, which was largely unimpressive despite its size. We just hired a cab, the driver waited around for us at the attractions and it was a relatively cheap day. We also went for a walk through a similar route to the horse ride - but this was terminated when caroline, lucy and i were suddenly hit with diarrhoea, and we had to return back to the house. Being the perfect gentleman I am, I let them use the toilet before me and stood in agony outside for 5 minutes. Fortunately for us this was a time when the water was on, but remember what i said about no ceilings between rooms? Everything from the toilet could be heard wherever you are in the house... lovely. Caroline especially was scared to use the loo half of the time in case anybody could hear her.

Evenings were spent at a bar, there was one next door called Don Thomas, which had little turtles in a pond out front. Many cocktails were consumed, as was the theme for much of the holiday. Favourites include Mojito, Ron Collins, Cubanito, Havana Special and many, many more. We also found other bars along the main street, some were busy, and there were a few, but not many tourists. Watching the locals dance to the salsa music was a treat; two people who did not know eachother would dance together as if they had known their partner all their lives. They had more rythm in their left nostril than i have in my whole body.

Other highlights of this town included the local bus service - cows or trucks dragging a trailor-load of locals; the lack of hustlers; the friendliness of the locals and generally making the most of being out of the crowded, bustling city of Havana. It was great to be able to sit outside the house and just read, or watch the locals go by..

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