Viñales Valley – Cuba Part V

After a week living in 50s among cool cars and cold cocktails, we decided to spend our last days in Cuba in the most popular natural site of the island: Viñales Valley.

Honestly, I didn’t have an exact idea of what to expect from that place.

Although Viñales is literally invaded by an indefinite number of tourists everyday, we’d bumped into so many Cubans who recommended us to visit it that, when it came the time to decide the last stop of our trip, the decision seemed to be inevitable.

Well, all my doubt were crushed as soon as I started to see all the wonderful rocky outcrops of the area. It’s always hard for me to describe landscapes like that because, sometimes, outstanding beauty leaves me speechless.

We found out that, in that spectacular karst valley, the traditional techniques for agricultural production of tobacco are still in use, so it seemed the right place to try – and buy – the famous cigars.

People from the tobacco plantation were incredibly nice: they spent more than one hour explaining us how they make cigars and why some are better than others.

Predictably, the result was that I came back from the plantation with a box of Cohiba in my arms.

When we finally arrived to Viñales, we booked a horse back riding hike for the very same afternoon and, even if the weather wasn’t exactly what we hoped for, we enjoyed it a lot.

I couldn’t even remember the last time I’ve ridden a horse, but – after a first moment of genuine fear – I miraculously managed to stay on the saddle for the entire time. The excursion was fun and soothing at the same time: being surrounded by such a magnificent nature it’s the best way to spend my day.

But it’s not over, because we’ve saved the very best of Viñales for last: the Mural de la Prehistoria .  

In 1961, on 617m-high cliff, the artist Leovigildo González Morillo – a follower of Mexican artist Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo’s husband – designed this impressive120m-long painting. Just to give you the idea of how incredible it is, it took 18 people and more than four year to complete it.

Standing in front of this incredible piece of art was , I think, the very best way to say goodbye to Cuba.