I made sure I made the most of my last day in Cuba. In the morning I went to visit Gran Caverna de Santo Thomas, the biggest cave system in Cuba and the second biggest in the Americas. It was organised through Paradiso ($21 including transfer, 9am-12pm). The best bit was probably the drive which lasted 30 minutes each way. The cave excursion itself was quite underwhelming and disappointing. The helmets we were given reeked of stale cheesy sweat from the hundreds of tourists before us, it almost made me sick but soon I added my share of sweat to it when we spent a good 15 minutes (out of 90 allotted minutes) climbing up to the entrance of the cave and another 15 back down at the end. The time inside the cave was short and we never went that deep into it - even though we had head torches we could see sunlight coming from somewhere throughout most of it. Again like the hiking tours there was a lot of stopping, waiting around for everyone and explanations about nothing particularly enlightening. I've seen way better stalactites and stalagmites and been inside easy cooler caves before (Cheddar Gorge being one). All in all it was disappointing and I wouldn't recommend anyone waste $21 on it. The view outside the cave was great though.
Three things I felt I had to do in Cuba but still hadn't done yet by the final afternoon: buy rum, buy cigars and go salsa dancing. The first two were easy to tick off - there was an official shop that sells both in the centre of town. I found out from my French roommate (guy from the sunset tour the day before who wasn't sharing with anyone and I got kicked out of my casa) was going to a salsa lesson so I was going to tag along. When I enquired about it at Paradiso they said the beginners class was 6-8pm, so I decided to rent a bike to kill a few hours.
Riding out to see the villages and valleys by yourself was fantastic and really enjoyable but hard work. I loved it and even overran timing a little. By the time I got back it was already 5.50 and I decayed whether to go home to change into a new t shirt first before salsa so as to not stink my partner out. It was the right decision to get changed - only when I looked in the mirror I realised I had loads of dead flies drowned on my sweaty neck and forehead, presumably from the speed of the cycling. Turning up to salsa like that would have been far worse than just being smelly!
All good things have to come to an end and Viñales, and Cuba, were no exception. It felt strange making my way to the airport the next morning - I couldn't believe that I was going and probably won't come back again. There was still a lot to see and experience here that 2-3 weeks just cannot do it justice. But part of me was also happy and ready to move on; the constant pollution, being touted and not speaking the language was tiring. Well, the rest of my destinations are all Spanish speaking countries, so I have no option but to improve the language!
Cuba wouldn't be Cuba if there wasn't last minute drama. On arrival to Havana airport (also in an illegal taxi not dissimilar to the one I took from Santa Clara), I could not find my flight on the departure board. I looked and looked but it just wasn't there. Was it the Toronto flight, which had the same time, but it just didn't say it's flying via Curaçao or Caracas? No it wasn't. The only use the information desk had was to send me to the ticket office, where an older and wiser guy knew who to call and give me the right advice. My 14:15 flight was actually shown as 13:15, flown by Inselair not Hahn Airlines (it was already 12:40 and I still hadn't checked in). Think I'll have to send some feedback to my booking agent. It was a mad rush through security but I made it in the end. We didn't actually board until 13:45 and took off at 14:05 so who knows what was the right time.
I had planned to spend the last couple of days seeing flamingos at the Rio Maxímo wetland near Camagüey, but having learnt all my previous lessons I though it was wise to call ahead to the local tour company to find out more details. It turned out that the wetland park was closed. Well, that was that.
Instead I headed back west to Viñales, partly because I've heard lots of good things about it from other travellers, and partly because it was much closer to Havana for my onward departure to Venezuela.
You can only go from Santa Clara to Viñales via a connection in Havana. The Viazul bus to Havana would be too late to make the connection, so I got a collectivo (shared taxi) instead. I found a Dutch couple at the bus station who were up for it as well (I was effectively doing the tout's job for him, and was quite successful), so we were good to go.
Well, that was an interesting journey.
The 260km journey to Havana in an illegal taxi was made in a small Peugeot 106 that has no seat belts neither for the driver nor for the passengers. Neither the speedometer or the rev meter worked, and the rogue driver spent most of the journey texting on his phone, or turning his head to talk to me in the front or the couple in the back, or drifting from one lane to another, sometimes both hands off the wheel so he could plug or unplug his phone. Well, at least the air con and stereo worked (he decided to blast out his collection of Air Supply and Bryan Adams). We got to Havana in one piece.
We did see the locals taking even more "interesting" journeys.
With 15 minutes to go before my Havana-Viñales bus was due to depart, the taxi driver overshot the junction and had to loop back. It was close but I made it with a quick toilet break to spare (but lunch was restricted to my dry salted crackers)!
The view along the way was stunning and already very different from anything I'd seen in Cuba thus far. I had a good feeling Viñales was going to be good :)
I arrived in Viñales in the evening, just in time for the subset. Viñales is basically one long street where most of the tourism action is focussed, particularly around the tour operators opposite the main square. Annoyingly there were no detailed maps available so I had to go with local tour guides to see the surrounding valleys.
On my first full day I went on two tours:
1. The day hike through Cocosolo Palmarito, organised by Cubanican, $10, 9am-12pm.
This was quite average actually. We were strolling more than hiking, stopping fairly regularly to look at plants that I'll never remember the names of. The guide was also obsessed with making jokes out of his mother-in-law - they were mildly humorous the first time, but not every other comment throughout the morning. It was nice to get out of the centre though, and the valley was stunningly beautiful - tobacco fields surrounded by lush green round-top hills. We visited a tobacco farm and it was interesting to learn how the cigar making process is different at the farm than at factories. All in all it was $10 well spent.
2. The sunset tour to Valle de Silencio, organised through Yoan and Yarelis (206C Salvador Cisneros, yellow casa), $12, 3-6.30pm.
This was way better, probably the best excursion there is in Viñales. There was slightly more hiking than the morning (though still hard to break a sweat, metaphorically anyway), and some sections of the paths were heavily trodden by houses so very muddy and slippery. My fellow hikers, consisting of 4 Brits, a Frenchman and a German couple, were delighted by my impromptu salsa at one point.
We visited a coffee plantation along the way and learned how coffee is made, and was obviously offered to buy some. We ended up at a cigar farmer's hut for the sunset (and even got given front row seats). With a fairly strong mojito in one hand and a good local cigar in the other it was a pretty good life and the sunset was quite special. They sold us cigars afterwards which I did buy this time ($20 for 10).
The 7 of us decided to go for dinner and a drink together when we got back. It was my first proper night out in Cuba! (I've met and eaten with other travellers in the prior 2 weeks but never gone out drinking). I had also stayed off most alcohol until then as I had aimed for a detox trip (which failed miserable when I'd had a beer on several occasions), so it was actually quite nice to be going out.
Drinking in Cuba can be quite dangerous, particularly cocktails. Not only did they put a lot of sugar in the mix, which masked the alcohol content, they also gave us the remaining half bottle of rum to top up ourselves when they brought us out cocktails. Each one was only $3. My Piña Colada and Daiquiri were delicious, but they really hit me when I got back to my casa!
