San Diego de los Baños to Viñales
March 27th, 2008
The first group shot at the entrance to Parque Nacional La Guira! From l-r Rob, Dilys, Marlene, Rick, Lynsey, Hillary, Andrew, Kate, me, Judith, Alan,Trish,Jan, Geoff
Roberto picking up some pineapple etc for our picnic lunch.
And of course a bit of rum! (Oh well maybe he was picking up soft drink...). And just so you know, this is a local shop, and yes, that's $3 for a bottle of rum.
Riding around Viñales was great.
Some of the roads were a bit potholed, and also we rode along a bit of gravel road, but for we Aussies in the group, it was just like home....
The scenery was great...
And we rode past local farms...
Ever heard the expression "Happy as a Pig in Mud"?
On the way to Viñales, we stopped at Cueva de los Portales
This is the place Che Guevara set up his operational base in 1962. Who knows if this was the real phone....
From there, we rode past tobacco drying
The tobacco is dried in these huts.
As we got closer to Viñales, the scenery got better and better.
And the hill we were warned about got closer.
And only a few made it to the top still pedalling....
But after the hill, and a few more k's we were rewarded with afternoon tea with another local family. It's nice to see that Stefan looks a little hot and sweaty in the photo, as I didn't notice him ever looking over exerted on the trip.
The family put on the most amazing spread, and made the BEST coffee. This coffee was grown on their farm, roasted and brewed. It was good coffee. They also made an excellent soup.
Their house had what I would call the "standard" layout, with Jan and Rob in the lounge room, with the main bedroom behind.
Viñales was definitely the highlight of the trip. Upon arriving at the hotel we all opened our balcony doors and "oohed and ahhhed". Even Pooky.
We spent a lot of time just looking at the view of the Viñales Valley.
Today's Route
