Today it was time again to change the Casa as somehow, someone else was booked into this Casa for today.
When I paid, it turned out that I also had to pay for each coffee I drank and the water I took from the fridge (at Alex's in Havana that was free - but I wouldn't argue, these guys also have to make a living).
This accounted for another 8 CUC + 25 CUC for the room. I packed up my things and said goodbye... It was a real warm and nice goodbye... just like leaving after a family visit.
The next Casa was just across the road, so I walked over, dropped my bag in the room and then met my horse guide, who was already waiting.
He (I think he was called Bolo) was all setup to be a proper cowboy, jeans, shirt and hat, all promised a good wild west adventure ahead.
We went down the street a few hundred meters and turned into a little path that led us to the field where my white horse was waiting.
I got on it like John Wayne, well at least I like to think that how it looked like, and we rode out of Vinales heading north into the Unesco-listed Mogotes Mountains. It wasn't far off from riding through the Monument Valley, we even had red sand under our horse's hooves.
Left and right we had crops fields, simple thatched roofed huts with plenty of chickens running around in them and dogs were accompanying us along the path while the warm morning sun was shining down on us.
Riding the horse was not an issue at all. It was only the 3rd or 4th time I was on a horse but it was pretty much semi-automatic. The horse knew which way to go anyway, as all tourists probably get the same program, but acceleration and braking could easily be achieved with my heals being rammed into the horses side... for the first couple of kicks I felt sorry, but soon realized the horse doesn't mind.
Soon the crops fields turned into tobacco fields, further out of town and the huts became barns to store said tobacco, once harvested. Bolo, gave me a little lesson: Between November and February the tobacco grows on the fields and after 3 or 4 months is being harvested and then dried in one of the all-present barns for the further months.
90 % of the dried tobacco, then goes to the government factories and 10 % the farmer can keep for his familiy and to sell privatly (to tourists) - or so he says).
Anyway, he and his familiy, then take the dried tobacco and flavour it with 100 % natural ingredients, like, fruit, chocolate and rum - where as in the factories they add chemicals. It takes then another year for the cigars to age. All this made a locally made cigar very attractive and - no surprise - soon after we arrived at the hut of "a friend" who grows tobacco on the fields we hut passed.
He gave me a free Cigar (accompanied with a little glass of rum) to try and I sat back in the old, wooden rocking chair and enjoyed life. The horse was tied up outside, the dog and the chickens were running around on the veranda. Now, I really felt like John Wayne... with a little bit of Che Guevara added to the mix.
I couldn't let his successful efforts to make me feel great pass unrewarded and bought 5 cigars and an old water bottle filled with apparently local coffee beans.
It really isn't about, whether the cigars or the coffee is particularly good or not, it is to give back some of my money to the guys who gave me a memory I will remember. 10 USD is two pints in Dublin, but worth much more to these two fellows and their families.
We all engaged in some Spanish conversation and they seemed to show real interest on how life is in Ireland. It was good time, and despite ( or maybe because of) their basic life they seemed to have good life and not too many worries.
Soon, some other tourists arrived with another guide and his attention was on them then.
It soon was time to ride back into town. The horse knew the way and I enjoyed the scenery. After a total of three hours or so, we arrived back in Vinales and I went back to my casa.
Along the way I met Millo, the owner of the Casa I should originally have stayed. He invited me in and gave me some food, as an apology he couldn't host me. We had fish with rice and yucca. It was really nice and had a great aroma and came with fish sauce (from Tuna) and Vinegar... quite strong tastes but I did enjoy it. It is really nice to see that they didn't think of me as just a source of income, but also wanted to make sure I have a good time and treated me a little as a friend. As if this wouldn't be enough I also was invited to come by later for some Ron! This made me suspicious again, why are they so nice.
At my new Casa, I met the owner now and she showed me the room. She explained in deep detail to me how everything works:, the light, the toilet, the lock, everything was explained to me (not that it was any different from any other lock, light switch or toilet).
Now I had to redry the Coffee beans the guys sold me, as he put them into a 500ml plastic water bottle, which was not entirely dried.
So I spilled my beans on my towel and let them and the bottle dry while I took a little walk through the town.
I wanted to ensure I will get a seat on the bus to Trinidad and went to the tourist office and booked a ticket for the next morning.
After all the chores done it was time to relax a little, drink a coffee on the terrace and write on my blog for while.
When I was fed up with all the resting I decided to across to Millo and drink some Ron with them.
They had an American mother with her child visiting. The child was more interested in playing with it's ipad while we were playing rounds of Domino, drinking Rum and chatting away.
Dominoes are played differently in Cuba (http://3guysfrommiami.com/domino.html) but drinking rum worked all the same.
This evening confirmed once again, most of the time the intentions are good when people invite you to their house or do things that look to be too nice to be true. There as no secret agenda and even my attempt to compensate them for all the rum I drank was refused. They really just wanted to show me how to spend an evening Cuban Family style.
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