So we went to Cuba in January 2009 for our honeymoon. We spent two weeks there with the first 11 days being a tour of the island and then we had 4 relaxing days in Varadero resort. There was about 15 of us in the group and we toured around in a coach with guide Manuel.
We flew into Havana and stayed the first night at the Melia Cohiba hotel, it looked pretty awful from the outside but was lovely and grand inside. We only spent one night in Havana so didn’t see that much of the city until we returned nearer the end of our holiday. The hotel provided an extensive buffet and there was plenty of choice even for us vegetarians.
The next day we travelled on to Viñales Valley, in Pinar del Rio province. It was really good to get out into the countryside and see the beautiful scenery.
The ploughing is still done by oxen and each ox has it’s own little egret friend presumably to peck off ticks and flies.
Viñales Valley is crossed by two spectacular mountain ranges and is characterised by its impressive round-topped hills, or mogotes. There are many limestone caves and caverns and plenty of palm trees. It’s really beautiful there.
In 1961 Fidel Castro visited this valley in Viñales. He commissioned this rock mural of snails, dinosaurs, and a family of cavepersons, in garish colors! It looks out of place with the rest of the beautiful scenery.
We had lunch at El Palenque de los Cimarrones which is reconstruction of a runaway slave (cimarron) settlement that provides insight into the living conditions of the African slaves who, having escaped from the plantations, sought refuge in a hideout (palenque). We were entertained by an Afro-Cuban folklore show at the entrance.
As we ate lunch we were treated to further entertainment.
Lunch for us two vegetarians was rice and beans, “salad” (tomatoes and cucumber) and some lumps of cheese. If you ate meat you got rice and beans and several kinds of meat. Rice and beans was a recurring feature of our meals, unfortunately later on raw cabbage also featured heavily. Still, Cuba is a poor country and they aren’t famous for their cuisine.
For pudding we had more cheese and guava jelly. It was an odd mix but not altogether unpleasant (sort of).
Then it was onwards to our next hotel, Hotel Rancho San Vicente. I took my first swim of the holiday and it was amazing swimming in that pool because you are surrounded by forest and you can hear all sorts of birds and animals chirping and tweeting away.
We were treated to further traditional African folklore dancing by the pool. Then we had dinner which was spaghetti with a tomato sauce (there were three dishes on the menu to choose from) and more odd cheese pudding, this time with papaya jelly.
So a day full of cheese and traditional dancing!
