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Thursday, June 26, 2014

Today was our last day in Cienfuegos and also our last day of Internet for a while, but we enjoyed a nice breakfast and then were on our way to Vinales! Our bus ride from Cienfuegos to Vinales was our longest yet. It took a total of five hours to get there, but along the way we got a chance to see some of the nicest scenery you can find. The Bay was to our left and it had the purest blue water that I've seen. After about an hour into our road trip, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant and lagoon that sat along the Bay and attracted a large number of other tourists as well. Some of us got in to swim while others didn't have their swimming gear readily available. It was a perfect afternoon and as we waited for our lunch to arrive, they fortunately had the USA vs. Gernmany game on TV for us to enjoy. It. was all enjoyable until Germany scored the first goal and then came to realize that we were going to lose the game. We proceeded down the highway and our next stop was the museum dedicated to the attack of the mercenaries and the Bay of Pigs. The museum was certainly orated from a Cuban perspective, but it was still very interesting and educational to learn about the endts that took place, see their viewpoint, and see all of the artifacts associated with that part of Cuban history such as weapons, personal belongings, clothing, and the pictures on display.

We finally neared the end of our journey and just before reading Vinales, we were taken up a winding road to the highest point in the area and we were all blown away by the view of the valley and all of the greenery and mountains in view. What was supposed to be a 5-minute stop turned in 15-20 minutes. We also ran into a guy offering rides on his (tamed) bull, which got a lot of attention from us.

Finally we arrived! Vinales was very different than our stay in Cienfuegos since we were now getting a chance to really immerse ourselves into the Cuban culture. Instead of a hotel resort, we resided at homestays with Cuban families. It is very much like the American bed & breakfast. For many of the Cuban families, this is their primary source of income, so they open up one or two rooms in their homes for rental. They are very hospitable and the only bit of difficulty at times has been communication if your Spanish isn't up to par, but the message always seems to get across to one another. The home-cooked meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner has certainly been a welcome feature of these homstays! Tomorrow we hike the tobacco fields bright and early.