Adventures in Viñales Cuba
Viñales is a quintessential stop in Cuba according to every travel guide you will ever read. I definitely agree due to its immense natural beauty, but some of the typical experiences we (my friend Mike was there for this adventure) went for had left us a bit disappointed. But nonetheless we definitely had some wild adventures. On our first day in Viñales, we bummed around town and ate lots of good food. There is a great little open restaurant there right off the main strip that sells big $3 meals that was some of the best food I had in Cuba.
The next day we headed out early on horseback, a tour that we booked through our casa particular. Horseback riding is something that most people visiting Viñales experience. We quickly found this out when our seemingly private group of three plus a guide fell into line behind a group of probably ten other foreigners. The trip was to include stops at tobacco plantations and a coffee stop. On good advice, we insisted against doing these; nature on the horses only. Our guide grumbled about this, as he surely made a cut of any cigars or coffee we would have bought, but nonetheless agreed to our terms. We were soon back to our group of four, trotting through very beautiful scenery. We eventually convinced our guide to let us get up to a gallop too, which was pretty wild. While the riding was fun, Mike and I being inexperienced on horseback did not recover quickly. Instead, the rest of the day until sunset (when we just went on a short walk) was spent eating and lying around nursing some very tense areas that I won’t get into here.
The next day we decided to check out Cayo Jutías, said to be an incredibly pristine beach on the northern coast. While contemplating at our favorite juice stand how we would get there, one of the female employees, intensely eyeing our Dutch friend, said that she was interested in joining us and had a friend that would take us for cheap. Although the Dutch guy did not ending up coming, Mike and I decided to go for it to save some money and knowing it would be more of an adventure this way anyways. And boy did it turn out to be an adventure. Half an hour out-of-town, the guy driving us pulled out a big bottle of Cuban rum and passed it back to us. After a few pulls we passed it to the girl who passed it back to the driver. And you guessed it, he started drinking straight out of the bottle with one hand on the wheel. We looked at each other and knew we were in for it. We quickly got the idea that the girl had only used us to pay the guy for gas so that the two of them could get friendly on the beach. Those suspicions were confirmed after the long ride finally came to an end. Pouring down rain, we awkwardly waded in the water while our driver and his wild-eyed Cubana got their sea legs, all the while pounding down the now nearly empty Havana Club. We distanced ourselves from them and tried to find a mask and snorkel to do some exploring. “Rotos” replied the guy in charge of the beach rental gear. “Broken.” “Is there anywhere else we can get stuff?” I inquired politely. “No todo roto” (everything is broken). “Y los kayaks?” I asked. “Todo roto.”
So what was plan C? We headed back into the water as the mosquitoes were unbearable at this “paradise beach” and saw our two best friends back at it again. This time I heard the driver laugh, “I shouldn’t be drinking so much since I have to drive us back,” as he finished off the bottle of rum and chucked it out to sea. Then Mike voiced what we were both thinking, “should we really ride back with this guy?” After discussing the horrible road conditions, the unsettling monsoon and our wasted driver, we snuck to the car to find it unlocked and did the only natural thing: grabbed our stuff and ran. Luckily they did not see us as they were quite busy and we had not paid. I don’t feel bad about not leaving the guy any money as he didn’t deserve a single Cuban peso pulling that crap, but I did know that we’d be in big trouble if we ran into him in the small town of Viñales before we left. We grabbed some decent seafood around the corner then I explained to a colectivo camioneta (a pickup truck turned into a taxi, similar to those in Asia) our situation and got us a good deal on a one way trip back. Back in town, we ate at our favorite $3 joint then headed back to our casa with some rum and a cigar and laid low.
The next morning we got up early and did the best thing that you can do in Viñales. No horses, no beaches, no taxi just a good old hike. We hiked through Raul Reyes’ plantation, into Cueva de la Vaca (Cave of the Cow) and out the other side into more tobacco fields. The scenery was stunning, the air fresh and the path was lined with the occasional massive bull and many entertaining baby goats. We passed a sacred tree and didn’t feel a single sliver of jealousy going by the groups of horseback riders. This was one of the best days I spent in Cuban nature. This is how you should experience Viñales. We walked back the same way and spent some time talking to Umberto, a Cuban guy our age working on the plantation that was enjoying the newly popular climbing that is developing throughout the area. Umberto lamented how difficult it is for Cubans to leave the country and how he wants to see the US. I gave him my contact info and promised to take him to Red River Gorge for some of the greatest sport climbing in the world some day. We headed back into town discretely, depressed that a final juice stop would not be in the cards, had some more rum and crashed onto our uncomfortable mattresses.
The next morning on our colectivo truck out of town, we saw our favorite cab driver plowing through town, angrily surveying the rows of pedestrians lining the streets for the two Americans that hopefully taught him a hard lesson. My heart pounded but we made it out without being spotted. That was our wild experience in Viñales.