Today we made it to Vinales. The hustle and bustle of this city snuck up on me. I hadn't seen any other foreigners until now, but rolling into this city I see tour buses and rental signs on most of the houses. It feels a little intimidating after the intimacy of the countryside. That being said, it's gorgeous here.
Vinales is a mountainous region filled with tobacco farms, coffee, and honey. We ended up getting into some mountain biking in hopes of hopping off the main roads and into some mischief. We set our internal compasses towards caves and cigars. It's amazing what a day of biking over sticks, mud, sand, and questionable lumps does for your confidence. I am suddenly feeling way more comfortable on my bike.
After several hours goofing around on the muddy horse trails we ran into an older woman who was also biking, I was surprised by her ability to navigate the trails and her calm nature but then again, this terrain is her home. We stopped to ask her for directions to a cave and soon we were all chatting. She was on her way back to a tobacco farm and had some cigars in her backpack. They were beautifully rolled and smelled like my Grampa. We all shared one together and while I know nothing about cigars, this moment and this particular cigar was delicious. I bought 7 off of her to bring home to my friends in Minnesota.
She showed us the way to the cave and we turned our headlamps to illuminate the pitch black path. We discovered a huge lagoon inside the cave. We took off our clothes, turned off our lights and dove in :) I led the way through the blackness, we couldn’t see what was ahead of us, behind us, or each other. We sang at the top of our lungs harmonizing, our voices bouncing off the caves walls filling the entire space, we then spent extended moments in silence as we slowly crept our way deeper and deeper into the cave. I loved it, just the right amount of cold and creepy.
We made it back to our homestay in Vinales only to learn it was our host’s birthday. We piled her up with gifts from our sacks. The gifts included batteries, new toothbrushes, a rain jacket, Annie's mac and cheese, sunglasses, and maple syrup. She was thrilled and kept telling the boys how handsome the were and thanked us more times than I could count.
There was a new addition to the crew yesterday, a friend nicknamed CIA Tom from the states. He brought his rollerblades and will be blading through the hilly, bumpy, potholed roads with us for the next week. Watching CIA Tom on his blades is equal parts terrifying and hilarious. People switch off towing him behind their bikes. The roads are terrible, even on the bikes it feels like you're on top of a horse as the bumps are constant. How Tom doesn’t face-plant every 5 minutes is beyond me. Not to mention his stopping technique is pirouetting, I bike ahead so at least if he falls I won't run him over.
The crew split in two, those who want to cruise a bit faster and those who are takin' a few more breaks, so naturally, we lost one another. I was a part of the faster crew, we pushed ahead to the beach excited for our first time taking in the ocean. The ocean side ride was tiring, with the wind directly in front us each pedal was harder than then last, but that fresh ocean breeze made it worth it. We were soon dipping our toes in the warm ocean water and pounding back coconuts like they were PBRs.
After a gorgeous sunset we realised we wouldn't be reunited with our crew. We decided to make camp in an old abandoned lighthouse. We made a dinner of rice and beans, it took two full pots but for the first time we felt full. I guess that’s what happens when you’re not splitting the food 7 ways. We climbed to the top of the light house to brush our teeth, take in the sky, and search for ships passing in the night.
Thanks for stopping by!
Until next time,
