The walking tour of the old Havana with a local guide introduces you to the history of Cuba from the Communist perspective. We were introduced to what it was like to grow up in Cuba how the local and tourist currencies work and a great deal of history that you can’t find on Google. Lunch on the drive to Soroa was taken at a local roadside café that was teaming with locals, it involved extremely tasty lamb, pork and fish dishes that put the perception that the food in Cuba would not be great to bed. The drive along the highway supplied plenty of opportunity to ask the guide questions about the people waiting under the bridges to partake in the Government regulated ‘hitchhiking’ (money changes hands) and the bridge that go nowhere (every few kilometres there was a bridge, some with no access ramps that were built with the highway planning for potential link roads).
Vinales is a pretty village with brightly coloured homes from end to end. The main street has a plethora of restaurants, cafes and bars to keep you busy morning, noon and night with live music in the evening in a club at the back of the main square. No trip to Cuba would be complete without a visit to a tobacco farm, seeing a cigar being hand rolled and, if it takes your fancy, having a puff you experience all of this in the hike around the valley views (take some water and reasonable shoes). After the walking tour of the valley there is heaps of free time to wander around the town.
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