The autopisa is a three lane highway, three lanes up, three lanes back with a medium strip of dirt and grass down the middle. Waist high borders of 4 neatly trimmed box hedges line the middle every 50 meters.
There was hardly any traffic on this mighty road…it was eerily empty. Maybe they had already future proofed 50 years ago, anticipating the rush to come. Then The Operator pointed out they needed three lanes because only one lane each way was usable at any time as there were crater like potholes in the highway everywhere.
Our old beast was testament to this theory, weaving from lane to lane to stay on the unblemished road. Along the road we encountered people walking, cycling, hitchhiking, guys dressed in field clothes riding horses, horses pulling carts full of logs and foliage and belching tractors. As any other faster vehicles came up behind us they tooted their horn to let us know we were being overtaken. The big tour buses fair flew past with the most frequency.
We maintanined a steady 80km and after two hours we came to the detour in the road for Las Terrazas, Haroldo to his credit did pull over to take the turn off…Rosie however told him to drive onto Vinales….all part of her master revenge plan.
The road to Vinales became a skinny, one up and one back lane, the cars became less frequent and horse and carts became more prevalent. Skinny red dirt tracks wound off this road toward brightly coloured houses with chickens and pigs in the front yard and palm trees shading the porches.
We arrived in Vinales 2.5 hours after starting, the cars floor under our feet was just starting to become unbearably hot from the exhaust and steam from the engine was starting to fog up the drivers window.
Haraldo dropped us off at the door of our accomodation, the Casa El Balcon and held out his hand for payment for the ride.
THE REVENGE PLAN KICKS IN – Rosie counted out the ten dollar notes into his hand while The Operator (as per our crafty backseat plan) was untying the rope that held the boot shut so we could get our bags out before Haroldo kicked off, and possibly drove off.
There was no way we were paying the full price after not having our agreed stop offs. Rosie stopped her counting at $80…and said Nada, Finito. $20 short of the original agreed fare.
No,no,no said Haroldo, and held up two hands showing ten fingers. Rosie made the telephone sign with her fingers, held it to her ear and said Orlando.
Haroldo pulled out his Samsung galaxy called Orlando speaking a million miles an hour in Spanish, then, thrust the phone to me. Rosie let Orlando vent about what we had agreed and how how much I had agreed to pay. Rosie in turn reiterated how yes we had an agreement, it was broken when we did not go to Fusterland, we then decided not to go to Las Terrazas as we did not trust Haroldo anymore. We have paid you a fair price for taking us direct to Vinales.
Orlando was going off again and Rosie told him he was a disgrace to the Cuban peoples trying to rip off tourists that come to your country. Orlando then went silent….and told me to hand the phone to Haraldo…who listened, then promptly hung up, hopped in his car and drove away. Well that hit a nerve.
Sorry Haraldo….Rosie did feel sorry for you, Orlando had ripped us both off me thinks.
We made it to Vinales, an incredible small town bursting at its seams, full of hustle and bustle with plenty of amazing surprises, scenery and experiences to be had.
Rosie and The Operator cannot wait to show you around!
