Vinales- Tobacco and hiking again

After we are left to our own devices again, we travel from Havana to Vinales. The most beautiful valley and main tobacco-growing region in Cuba. We get there crammed into a collectible taxi with a driver who almost drives me crazy. But once we arrive in Vinales, we are greeted by a beautiful casa with a huge terrace and an incredibly friendly casa mama who takes care of us warmly. The next day, we set off on a little hike through the beautiful valley, where we also visit a tobacco farm and wander through the fields. We are not stopped by the rain and the knee-deep mud. At the end of the hike, we treat ourselves to a fresh mango juice, a beer, and an organic cigar directly from the farmer. We buy a few more cigars.

On the second day in Vinales, we want to visit one of the many caves. However, we are discouraged by the touristic cave with its boat ride. But Max's travel guide (the first one in 9 months 😉) turns out to be a true gem. We drive about 30 minutes in a taxi to a national park office where you can get a guide for 10 euros per person, who takes you into the second largest cave in Latin America for an hour. The cave spans eight levels and has a 48km long tunnel system. On the hiking trail to the entrance of the cave, with the help of some financial resources, we manage to persuade our guide to go deeper into the cave. When we reach the entrance, we climb down about 10m and then stand in the entrance of the cave. We turn on our headlamps and embark on the journey into darkness. We learn a lot about the stalactites, the cave itself, and the different tunnel systems. Fidel had also hidden here. Today, we are the only tourists visiting the cave. We climb over rock formations, wade knee-deep through the water, and climb some rocks to reach the different cave levels. We play music on long, organ-like stalactites and reach the eyes of the heights. Two craters in the midst of the rock whose inner parts can only be reached through the cave. In one of the large salons of the cave, we turn off our lamps and experience absolute darkness and silence. Here, you can hear every heartbeat. Without lamps, we would never find our way out here again. After almost 3 hours, we climb out of the cave again. We help a farmer search for a poacher who apparently shot one of the farmer's pigs 5 minutes before we leave the cave. Fortunately, we only find out when we are back in the car. Back in Vinales, we let an adventurous day come to an end and look forward to a few days at the beach.

See you soon,

Max and Marius