The Operator was awake with the sparrows, he had a date today with Don Tomas. For the last two days we have been in Vinales he has been trying to rent a scooter so we can investigate the outlying areas under our own steam.
Every day the operator comes back and there are no rentals. Don Tomas does not speak English, there are no English instructions/signs on his rental place which is out the back of his restaurant. After the third time of being told there were no rentals available, Mignallys our Casa landlady gave him a call and it was confirmed to her that there were no reservations. He may have a couple of scooters available tomorrow, it depends what comes back tonight, first in gets them, he advised to be there early.
Don Tomas opens at 0830. At 0800 The Operator trundles down to secure a place in the que, he is second in line….by 0830 there are 9 people waiting…he has three scooters for rent that day and true to his word, the first three in line got a bike. After carefully scrutinising of The Operators NZ Drivers license ‘the man who cannot speak any English’ hands The Operator the key…we are mobile and away. YAY!
Rosie loves the freedom of the scooter! To be able to go anywhere at her own pace and in her own time. Ironically The Operator has a sore backside from his horse ride yesterday so is finding the seat a little uncomfortable, Rosie is feeling great! More padding me thinks.
The Operator picks Rosie up from the Casa and away we go out to the west of town. Once you leave the town boundary behind you are out in the countryside proper, the road is narrow and relatively busy with cyclists, scooter drivers, horse and carts and banged up cars.
Even the occasional tractor and bullock team come into play.
There are also plenty of propoganda? Inspirational? signboards around, to keep the free Cuban engaged and reminded of the past struggles. This board commemorates the 12 local men of the Los Malagones, the first rural militia in Cuba to band together in support of the Revolution. They rooted out a band of counter revolutionaries hiding in the mountains and were triumphant and revered in their capture.
The rules of the road, if you are about to overtake, a courtesy toot or bell ring is useful as a precautionary warning. Every road user is patient and no one is in a hurry, plus, you would actually be surprised how fast a horse and cart can go.
The country side is covered in magotes, which are unique to this region. They are giant limestone, steep sided hills that just rise out of the landscape in a rounded tower like form. These giant, vertical hills are all surrounded by the fertile alluvial plains the Vinales Valley is famous for.
On the side of one giant mogote is a 120metre long painting, the Mural de la Prehistorica. Painted in 1961 it is 600 mts high, it took 18 people 4 years to complete….hhmmmm, the drive out was fantastic, the mural on the other hand depicting sea monsters, dinosaurs and humans in an evolutionary struggle is somewhat….amateur, and flaking off quite badly.
Rosie cannot decide whether it is groovily psychedelic or just plain horrific…in situ, it is pretty impressive, just purely because of the size. Rosie was not going up close and pay $2 to officially see it….we were close enough on the roadside 500 metres away.
Next up was the Cueva de San Miguel, this is a small cave in the beginning of the Valle de San Vincente. Giant limestone mogotes tower all around us and we drive through the shade cast by them. The air is damp, breezy and cool, very refreshing after the heat out in the full sun.
This bizarre little cave has a bar inside it and a big stage, it is apparently a happening night spot after dark. The caves in theses limestone mogotes have passages and tunnel networks throughout them.
Back in the day runaway slaves from the sugar plantations used to hide and live in them. For an entrance fee of $2 each we get to walk through these tunnels and our entrance ticket gets a refreshing fruit juice and honey drink at the end of our cave adventure.
You enter the caves through the back of the bar, and after 5 mins walking through a cave tunnel with a few ups and downs, tight passageway and open caverns…you are spat out at the other end where they have a remarkable restaurant set up for tour bus patrons to stop and enjoy a meal. Quite groovey in its uniqueness, and yes, the fruit drink was delicious in the coolness of the cavernous cave bar after we walked back.
Next cave on the list was a favorite of the tour bus groups. There were so many people at Cueva del Indio we considered skipping it. The queue seemed to be moving quickly though and the line was a shady, snake under banana trees before entering the caves.
The unique nature of this cave is that it has an underground river flowing through it. You traverse in a slow line through the beautiful cave passage to the boat pick up point where you board a wee boat and sail through the dark underground cathedral like gloom with bats swooping overhead. Rosie kids you not.
Its times like this that Rosie wishes she couldn’t understand English, we were stuck in front of an American High School tour group who were the loudest stupidest bunch of kids Rosie has encountered in awhile…their supervising teacher looked like he had had the life sapped out of him already and they had only just started their 11 day tour of Cuba. Rosie and The Operator are thankful they were not headed our way and only had to encounter them for 30 mins.
The beauty of the cathedral like cave made up for the kids annoying buzz. It was short lived but very ethereal.
We buzz around the town and the back roads of Vinales and make the most of the movement of cool air whilst on the motorbike.
After returning the bike to grumpy old Don Tomas we went to have an early evening cocktail at JPs Tapas bar. We have made a friend there called Alex, he is a waiter and speaks good English. He is wanting to learn new English words and he is also helping Rosie with her terrible Spanish.
We love sitting on the terrace watching the crazy going ons of main street Vinales and they do the best Pina Coladas Rosie has found yet in Cuba. They are big, creamy and yes, this is the place where they give you the rum bottle to add your own rum to your taste. Between us Rosie and The Operator normally use a third of the rum bottle for one round. Alex wanted a photo of us on our last day…that is him on the left with the boss of the joint, JP himself, in the middle.
Rosie logs on to the internet as she sits in the town square to post some pics of Vinales and have a quick chat to whoever is online, and, so the sun sets on our last day in Vinales. The world is certainly getting a smaller and smaller place and The Boss reinforces this by sending through a note on messenger to remind Rosie of pending staff reviews on the week she is home….really, that world still seems so far removed from this one.
Tomorrow we travel to Cienfuegos, this is the most ‘modern’ town in Cuba, there was alot of wealth there back in the day and the natural harbor makes for a spectacular Caribbean back drop.
Mignalys is organising a car to take us there…..Rosie is dreading this a little…..
