Relativity

Posted by chantzis on May 2, 2010 Leave a comment (0) Go to comments

The food at our Casa in Viñales has been (relatively) good. It does however go through you like a freight train. Casa food in Viñales is supposed to be the best in Cuba. After dinner, it’s nice to take a stroll in the (relative) coolness and exchange holas with everyone else on their porches, rocking chairs and on the street. It’s a lovely atmosphere of safety and friendliness. This is in stark contrast to our arrival here when we were literally swamped trying to get off the bus. We were two of 6 people on the bus, and there were about 25 people jostling to get our custom for their Casas. There’s obviously good money to be made by having a permit to rent two rooms of one’s house, and it seems everone is doing this. We literally had to force our way off the bus, and could not move amongst the throng. Escaping to the safety of the tour office, we called Junior to let him know we had arrived and needed rescuing.

Did I mention I’m now having regular and strong cravings for Greek food? Fresh salads, gyro pita, tzatziki, slow-cooked goat, pomegranates, sardines… The sore throat I have is not just from the cigar we smoked today, but from a lack of vitamins I’m sure. At least we’re now having some good fresh fruit at our Casa Particular every morning.

The temperature is very high during the day and you cannot carry enough water to walk for more than a couple of hours at the most. High humidity and lots of sweating. This was one reason for a visit to the local barber, where the reception was relatively cool and the shearing was quite good. It’s mayday today and techno is thumping from the main square, but apart from a few young kids salsa-ing to it mostly people are just standing around. Later tonight is when there’s supposed to be more action which I think we’ll miss since we’re aiming for a dawn rise, and are pooped from a long walk in the sun today.

(Lots of) relatively good food: