Went into town and looked at some of the walks on offer…..decided to go with the guide our casa had offered for manyana. Our casa put us onto the hop on / hop off bus that you could ride all day for 5 CUC per person. We saw the Hotel Jasmines and Hotel Ermita which were pretty flash 5 star establishments, resplendent with mountain vistas, fat Europeans and the typical “I’m here because communism = full employment” Cuban workers. The views were amazing and we decided to come back to one of the hotels another day to laze by the pool and intake a few cocktails.We did 2 full laps on the bus before we decided where we would get off and explore further. Drove past the Mureal d Prehistoria. In my opinion this is someone’s idea of art that did way too many drugs pre-revolution, basically it’s environmental rape on a grand scale………took some photo’s but didn’t get out of the bus.
Now Vinales is famous for its valley and its caves. It is jam packed full of those geological wonders called Mogotes, which are formed by upsurges of Magma in the Mesozoic and Cambrian geological periods of the earths history, sounds like I know what I am talking about – I just made that up will research and correct once I am home. Water has trickled through the Mogotes and formed numerous caves, which were probably once amazing, alive and full of rock formations. Unfortunately Eco-tourism never took off in Cuba, instead most of these caves contain….bars, nightclubs and a menagerie of concrete animals, which when you first encounter them they will invariably frighten seven colours of shit out of you, there is nothing quite like the experience of walking along a cave path stooped over low, only to look up and be confronted by what appears to be a large green serpent, that you only realise is fake after cracking your scone rather hard on the limestone above. We soon left this cave and walked the 3 clicks down the road to the Cueva del Indio. These caves were pretty cool, in that they were at least alive and featured an Indiana Jones style boat ride on the underground river. The best part about the river is that no one can get a hand to the cave formations so they are in pretty good nick, unfortunately they are using 2 stroke petrol motors…….which is slowly damaging the cave’s interior. Upon exiting the cave the tourist circus continues unabated with bull rides, bongo drums for sale and Che T-Shirts……..you cant win em all.
As it was nice weather we decided to walk the 3 clicks back to the other cave and wait for the bus. Once the bus arrived we caught it back into town and retired to our rocking chairs and veranda for a few Cuba Libres and to sit back and watch life in Vinales.
