Last Friday, a few other kids from the study abroad group and myself hopped on a bus after class and headed to one of the western-most parts of Cuba: Vinales.
Vinales is a small town in Western Cuba, also home to a UNESCO World Heritage site. The town is nestled within the Valle de Vinales, made up of mountains, tobacco plantations and some of the most natural beauty to be seen in Cuba. To say the least, we had a great time.
Upon arriving, we all split up in pairs to spend two nights in casas particulares (homes where rooms are rented on a nightly basis). I think the best part of that experience was the food: WOW! Not to say that the food at the Residence is lacking, because it’s not, but the food at these casas particulares was so flavorful, you might just start salivating before you even lay eyes on what’s about to be served. Moros, chicken, pork, platanos, tomatoes, juice, you name it. It’s all there and enough to feed a small army!
But despite my love for food, the food wasn’t even the beginning of our experience. That Friday night, Allison (one of the other girls from the group) and I found a man to take us on a hike through the valley the next day and it was quite a hike! We started at 9am and got back to town around 5pm. But the hike itself was breathtaking. Just being in the valley and looking up to see the surrounding mountain range is something incredible. But throughout the valley were animals, farms and various tobacco plantations. We even stopped at one and were given freshly-squeezed sugar cane juice to drink.
However, the best part of our hike, without question, was when our guide and one of the campesinos (term used for a farmer/peasant) took us to a cave on one of the mountain faces. Haha, I think it would be honest to say that we were all a little nervous about climbing inside. We had to use a rope to climb down into the cave and once to the bottom, with a few steps further in, it was pitch black. We wouldn’t have made it more than a few steps without a flashlight, which luckily, we had.
By miracle of the flashlight, some cautious steps and an adventurous spirit, we made it to the very bottom where we found pools of some of the clearest water I’ve ever seen. It was though, without a flashlight, completely dark. Nonetheless, Allison and I jumped in and swam around. Swimming in a pool at the bottom of a deep, dark cave in Cuba is easily one of the coolest things I have ever done.
The next day, with tired legs, Alec, Allison, Drew and I rented a few bikes and went riding through the valley before catching the bus home to Havana. It was the perfect ending to a fantastic weekend.
As for the past few weeks, I’ve been keeping pretty busy with classes and training. Our classes have been requiring more and more reading as of late and while the readings are interesting, it’s sometimes hard to keep up with it all and still find time to explore the country. Still, I’m managing just fine.
My training, all things considered, is actually going pretty well. I get up early every morning to run along the Malecon and about now, I’m averaging 30 miles per week. Tuesdays and Thursdays I swim at the only pool in the city, la Ciudad Deportiva. Coincidentally, it’s also the same place where the Cuban national swim teams practice as well! Overall though, I’m just glad to be able to swim. I made friends with one of the swim coaches there and she lets me come in to train whenever she is there, which is generally late in the afternoon. She also had a few extra athletic shirts with the Cuban flag printed on and sold one to me. At the time I bought it, I didn’t know it was anything terribly special, but when I wore it later that evening, some of our friends from the university kept asking me where I got it. Apparently, only official Cuban athletes have these shirts. How cool is that?
This weekend plans sound like we´re going a little further west on the island (I think it´s the western’most point) to have a beach weekend and get some scuba diving-snorkeling in. It´s supposed to be some of the best diving on the island...I can´t wait!
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