VIALLE DE VINALES – “THE CUBAN YOSEMITE”

 

 

Probably Cuba’s most scenic tourist area, Vinales is actually more Thailand than Yosemite.  The mounded cliffs are not as vertical, they are broken up with both horizontal and vertical rifts, have  creeping jungle vines emerging from every pore, and have the oddity of palm trees nestled within pine forests.  The contrasting rich red soil is said to be the best place in the world to grow tobacco.  And yet, the name comes from grape vines, the economy which dominated here prior to tobacco becoming king.

 

Huge limestone caves abound everywhere.  One, the Caverna Santo Tomas, is the largest in all of Cuba and second largest in South or Central America at 46 kilometers in length.  The 12 by 6 kilometer valley (nearly enveloped by Parque Nacional Vinales) amidst the Sierra de Los Organos Mountain Range was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1999, for its view and unique tobacco based bucolic architecture.  The Casa Particulars here are smaller, but more colorful and actually higher quality than Havana.  Everybody in town, it seems, has a room for rent the moment your bus arrives.

 

The trip in takes three hours.  We roll through surprisingly good roads on the Carretera Central out of Havana, with one bathroom, trinket, and refreshment stop in the interim.  I am enthralled with this stop, given its water surroundings, air conditioning, variety and quality of refreshments, clean bathrooms, and courteous drivers.  I partake of a particularly delightful mixto drink, a combination of fresh squeezed guallaba (watermelon) and naranja (orange).  It is a rapid pick-me-up.

 

Our scenery is a combination of tilled reddish fields, low-fringe palm trees, scrub foliage, slow-motion farmers attending to their fields with teams of yoked oxen, and horse-drawn carts.  The pastoral illusion is repeatedly broken with the passage of both new and modern cars, and tourist buses headed to Vinales and the island’s finest scuba diving spots just beyond at the edges of Pinar del Rio Province.

 

Vinales is easily spotted 21 kilometers away from the city of Pinar del Rio. The flat skyline of previously rolling hills is broken and becomes crenellated with what appears to be huge moss-covered molars on the horizon. Indented clefts between suggest either bad dentistry or a river cutting its way through mountain passages.  A sweeping turn around the corner of The Hotel Jasmine 5 kilometers outside town shows the full scope of the valley’s rich topographical variations.

 

Ody has directed me to a friend’s Casa Particular.  But upon arrival in town amidst the madhouse crush of vendors trying to rent rooms in their homes pouncing on newly arrived buses, I learn my casa is now full and I am voluntarily switched out to another home.  As usual, it is a fortuitous change.  For 48 hours, I am to reside with Gabriel & Damari Semino.  Gabriel is a taxi driver.

 

First duty is to get me over to the internet (such as it is) at the Hotel Rancho San Vicente, eight kilometers away.  People at home have to know my money has arrived and I am not starving or pimping on the streets of Havana.  At last viewing, I had over 400 inbox and 750 junkmail postings yet to view and then purge, as my only previous focus was the pursuit of dinero.  There is little to do at night here.  So it is a good time for writing.

 

But the daylight hours are spectacular.  My intention is to pack as much turista activity as   possible in one day.  So I take Gabriel out of his regular rounds, and hire him for the day to give me a personal tour of the valley.  First stop: the Caverna Santo Tomas.  Seven levels (we will be on six and seven), and potentially 46 kilometers of grotto to explore.  If only the government allowed it.  We will be occupied nevertheless, for two hours after a steep climb to the entrance on only two of them.  No chance to see the underground river at the base.

 

There is nothing new to describe here, for those who have seen Carlsbad Caverns or Lewis and Clark Caverns or dozens of other similar calcite drip-engineered underground chambers.  In terms of stalagmites and stalagtite formations anyway.  There are the usual caricatures of pogo sticks, jellyfish formations, suggestion of famous faces, animals of every construct, candelabras, strange gravity-defying horizontal branches, tools, and dwarf figures residing close to the ground.  What makes it different is the guide’s poetic descriptions of the formations in Spanish and French, his enthusiasm, and the intense humidity in the cave by 9:30 AM.  I am pleased this is not the middle of summer.

 

Next stop is the Mural de La Prehistorica.  Now this IS unique.  A supremely vertical section of the abundant local cliff faces, 180 meters wide and 120 meters tall, was cleaned on its face and then painted by 18 workers led by Cuban painter Leo Vigildo Glezo into one of the world’s largest murals.  Its purpose is to show the earth’s evolution based on Pleistocene era fossils found in Cuba.  Construction began in 1960, and took four years to complete.  The result is a colorful and dramatic outdoor movie screen type effect on a huge scale, of mollusks, reptiles transitioning from the sea to land, dinosaurs, and man.  Wooden construction seats hanging from hugely distended ropes anchored to the clifftop can still be seen partway up the massive face.

 

Next: The Labor of Botanical Love, the El Jardin (Garden) de Garidad.  Located in the center of town, this private reserve attempts to display all things floral, fruit, and generally edible found in Cuba in one setting.  I only took botany years ago because they had great field trips (like to Yosemite and Death Valley), and can’t remember a plant name to save my life.  To me, it is like trying to remember who this week’s hot band or celebrity de jour is.  So perish the thought of descriptions or names.  Except for the orchids.  They were beautiful in their color and asymmetry, and not nearly numerous enough.  I did however, get to sample raw cocoa pods, lyichees (which are great replacements for olives in martinis), coconuts, breadfruit, passion fruit, and other unprocessed delicacies in their raw form.

 

The Cueva del Indio is not nearly as impressive as Caverna Santo Tomas.  Thus the entry fee is half the price, at $5 CUC.  However, there is an element of fun to it not quite shared in the higher reaches of the larger cave.  After an easy walk without having to stoop or slide along a well-lit inside passage, you come to an underground boat ride mindful of a Disneyland E-ticket.  Almost like The Jungle Ride in Adventureland.  But no jungle.  No plants.  Just sloped limestone roofs, more calcite formations worthy of their own special nicknames, a slightly whiny Japanese motor, a smoothly comforting ride along an underground river, and a guide with a laser pointer showing formations of interest along the way.  It is over in half an hour.

 

The final tourist stop of the day is at La Casa de Veguero (House of Tobacco).  Here I am shown the three-part construct of quality Cuban cigars by a now tired and disinterested Cuban guide who nevertheless plays her role very politely.  I get photos both inside and outside the shed (which appear at first to be Polynesian huts, until you realize the palm fronds allow for perfect air circulation around the drying tobacco leaves from the time they are first harvested until they are marketed a year later).  I buy seven Monte Cristo type # 4 cigars for $8 CUC.  They will have to be smoked locally or in Central America.  They will never make it past customs in the U.S.

 

Thence on to the constant demands of the internet.  And other administrative duties.  Like banking.  Note taking.  Expense journaling. Yes, serious travel has those on a regular basis.  Just like a job.  And then on to the best part of the day.  In the morning, Gabriel had asked me what I wanted for dinner.  Now, I think it part of the polite cunning of the Cuban people to never quite tell you whether you will be there as a guest, or as a payor.

 

This is never clarified.  So you have to make the inquiry yourself.  I decline breakfast.  And tell them I have been directed to a local restaurant by “friends” (Lonely Planet, really) with a very high recommendation level.  They look disappointed.  This reaction lingers with me throughout the day.  I realize it is a chance for them to show off their family, culinary skills, and Cuban hospitality.

 

So mid-day I tell Gabriel I have changed my mind, and if it is okay, I would still like to eat dinner with he and his family.  This move is one of the smartest made on my part so far this trip.  Damari’s $8 CUC dinner is cooked over a three hour period.  We eat at 7 PM at my request (not knowing this is well beyond the family’s normal start time but they had asked me to pick).

 

La Comida consists of two kinds of Cuban puerco in all its glory, tomatoes, cucumbers, black and white rice, black bean sauce, ultra-thin banana chips (so much better than potato chips!), malanga (shaped like a banana, tasting like a potato, but much sweeter and healthier), corn maize tamales, red wine, water, and coffee.  It took me an hour and one-half to consume this meal.  Every bite was to be savored – including the rich crisp fat in the pork.  But like seafood or Chinese food, once downed, I am not full, and feel like windsprints are possible an hour later.

 

The choice is a reminder of what is most important in this go-round.  The old saying “You can’t take it with you” is only partially true.  This accurately references only things. Acqusitions.  Meals.  Accoutrements.  Trophies, spiffs, privileges, casas, cars, titles, jewelry, and other bling.  When we finally cash in our chips, what we DO take with us is our memories, our connections, our relationships, and our lessons.  It is all about learning, growing, course correcting, connecting, and helping others in their journey.  Life … is a people business.