Another grandiose breakfast. Packed early, locked ourselves out of the room to find out that the owners had only one key. Broke back in with the help of a broom handle. We eventually left Vinales at about 10 am. Five km. out of town we found a rustic original Tabaco plantation. Harvesting was underway but the farmer’s wife had time to show us the whole process including the thatched triangular drying barn, the method for stone filtering water from the well and the home grown and roasted coffee. The picture postcard house was just too good to be true. We left the family all of our things we could get away without for next three days in Cuba: T-shirts, torches and especially Teresa’s old mobile phone were highly appreciated. 20 more kms to Pinar del Rio. Cooler temperatures than Costa Rica made the cycle really easy. Dilapidated colonial buildings and a seedy atmosphere welcomed us. Cafes with not much available on their menus, poachers continually harassing us and nothing open on Sunday, made us want to leave the town quickly. We booked our return bus to Havana and got some recommendations on places to visit in the area.
10km south, heading for the nearest playa, I stopped to take a picture and asked a man smoking a cigar if he had some for sale. He happily showed me his selection of hand rolled cigars out of home grown tobacco (as used for Cohiba) and sold me the best 20 of his cigars for just under 1 Euro! We had a chat and his wife begged me not to tell anyone where I got them from. Farmers are allowed to keep up to 10% of their tobacco for personal use but not for sale - another astonishing experience (by accident) . We left them my blow up sleeping mat, unused tool kit from Nicaragua and a pillow (every other item of our equipment was still needed).
Warmed after the visit, we cycled on to arrive half an hour later in La Coloma – a total dive of a fishing port crossed with military base and “mucho” unemployed people drinking on the streets surrounded by soviet style concrete blocks. We had a lovely banana yoghurt drink out of a plastic bag (1 litre costs around 10 euro cents) in a cafeteria on the seafront (not pretty). We spotted youths diving in of the jetty were sign a sign read “do not swim”. Two minutes after entering the town we were on the way out, passing some locals racing horse carts. 7km west, Playa Las Canas was not much better but at least it was peaceful. Found a sea fronted Casa - bonus. At least a third of all houses on playa were uninhabited or/and ruined: it must be as a result of a hurricane or two. Unpacked and relaxed sat on a long dilapidated jetty watching a Cuban woman catching her “pescado” dinner while puffing on the first real top quality cigar of my life…
10km south, heading for the nearest playa, I stopped to take a picture and asked a man smoking a cigar if he had some for sale. He happily showed me his selection of hand rolled cigars out of home grown tobacco (as used for Cohiba) and sold me the best 20 of his cigars for just under 1 Euro! We had a chat and his wife begged me not to tell anyone where I got them from. Farmers are allowed to keep up to 10% of their tobacco for personal use but not for sale - another astonishing experience (by accident) . We left them my blow up sleeping mat, unused tool kit from Nicaragua and a pillow (every other item of our equipment was still needed).
Warmed after the visit, we cycled on to arrive half an hour later in La Coloma – a total dive of a fishing port crossed with military base and “mucho” unemployed people drinking on the streets surrounded by soviet style concrete blocks. We had a lovely banana yoghurt drink out of a plastic bag (1 litre costs around 10 euro cents) in a cafeteria on the seafront (not pretty). We spotted youths diving in of the jetty were sign a sign read “do not swim”. Two minutes after entering the town we were on the way out, passing some locals racing horse carts. 7km west, Playa Las Canas was not much better but at least it was peaceful. Found a sea fronted Casa - bonus. At least a third of all houses on playa were uninhabited or/and ruined: it must be as a result of a hurricane or two. Unpacked and relaxed sat on a long dilapidated jetty watching a Cuban woman catching her “pescado” dinner while puffing on the first real top quality cigar of my life…