Independent Travel in Cuba? LOST in the Mountains of Vinales

My butt hurts. I'm hungry.

Kara, how long is it going to be until you ride a bike again?

A million years.

Today is day four in Cuba. We are currently in the town of Vinales, which is where the famous Cuban tobacco has grown. We've rented some bikes today and we're heading out to explore the valley.

We had all intentions of getting a really early start on the day. Then our host made us this big beautiful breakfast with delicious strong coffee. So we just sat out on the front porch and watched the world go by and we felt like real Cubans. Felt like a very local thing to do.

30 seconds in chains off.

Well, so far we are about 30 minutes into the ride. We've driven up a bunch of hills and we are both a sweaty mess.

So most people who come to Vinales do a horse tour so they take you around on a horseback to see tobacco farms and coffee plantations. But we thought it would be more fun to do it on our own with bikes. Kind of get off the beaten tourist track and get lost in the mountains.

So the plan is to start following these little dirt roads like actually into the farms and just kind of of see where we end up.

We don't know if it's possible on a bike, but we're going to try it.

I have this vision for this loop that we're going to drive using maps me but there's just like a bunch of dotted lines. I have no clue if they're like roads or like little walking paths or.

Yeah, we'll see. We've had a guide the last two days so we thought this would be a fun adventure but it might end up being a big fail.

Yeah, we're just craving like doing something on our own and not having somebody tell us exactly how everything goes.

Well, we haven't succeeded in getting lost in the local farms, but we have ended up at a coffee plantation and rum distillery and we've been offered free samples of both.

So we're walking in the middle of this coffee farm right now, which basically means I'm in heaven.

Okay, guys, I'm here.

Are you ready?

I'm ready.

Hi.

But this is our problem.

I can't wait to try it.

Robusta. Ok. Arabica and robusta.

Okay.

Robusta contain a lot more of caffeine and it's a stronger taste.

Okay.

Here we mix both coff powders like a 60% Arabica, 40% robust.

Okay.

Mostly have an AC contain 40%.

I'm drinking around like a Cuban girl.

For this and then sh.

That.

Well, we are Currently realizing that we've made a big mistake. In all of our excitement to get on the bikes and go out and get lost today, we totally forgot to get any money, and we just used our last Cuban pesos to buy drinks, tip our tour guide, tip the guy who played the guitar for us. So now we're. We're leaving the fields and we're heading back into town to get some money before we continue the tour.

All that progress dreams we made to get to.

We had ridden up so many hills. Maybe we'll grab some lunch while we're back in town.

We deserve a big lunch.

Maybe some Cuban pizza.

Let's see.

Oh, I think we have really messed up. Today is Saturday. Apparently, the banks in Cuba closed at 11 on Saturday. Not only that, but because we only have US Debit cards, we can't get money out of the atm. So it looks like we might not be able to get money till tomorrow. I literally have $2 to my name in Cuban pesos right now, which means I have no clue where we're going to eat dinner or lunch or buy anything else that we need today. You're not hungry, are you?

Okay, crisis averted. I think we found a bank that's open. There's a bunch of people standing outside waiting, so I think that's a good sign. We will get to eat today.

Okay. We got some food in our bellies. We have money. Oh, here's a bump.

And we are heading back into the mountains. I can't remember what I was gonna say. I don't know how Nate drives a bike and films.

So many Bo.

We just biked all the way up this hill.

I have no idea where we are, but we stumbled upon a farm of pigs. There is a giant pig and a bunch of little piglets. I've never seen pigs this small. They're so cute. Wow. The mom is huge.

They're so cute.

Come here, little piglets.

Isn't that what people say for food? Okay, on the other side, there's another mommy pig feeding all of her baby pigs. And I think they were just born. Like, she's licking them and cleaning them off. I think these pigs were just born. It sounds like a little squeaky doll. Oh, my gosh.

This is amazing.

They're so tiny.

I think we're witnessing these baby pigs eating for the first time. This is why we wanted bikes.

Yes.

So in reality, there's a good chance we could have stumbled upon this anyways on a tour. But the fact that we just happened upon this on our own Makes it so much better. I wonder if any more are gonna come out.

I hope not.

Why?

This is all a bit too much for me. It's pretty graphic.

I think it's beautiful.

Oh, my gosh. This is the best.

We now have enough footage to make an entire documentary about baby pigs. And we will continue the hunt for a traditional tobacco farm.

We found it.

You need a massage. In Cuba, people said, if you are good with hands, you're going to be lucky.

In the Life.

In the Lonely, Planning book says.

You have three places where it's allowed for you to make the official visit and also to buy cigars. First one on the factories. Those are habanos. Second one on the store from where the cigar from the factory go. And the last one and the most important is trade for the farmer in the farm.

So when we got here, we got. What's a nice way to say it? Shoveled people on the farm, like, oh, welcome to my farm. Come over here. We'll show you how the cigars are made. And you get a free cigar. And we're like, okay, so we go sit at this table, and we're really excited about it. But then there were, like, 20 other people over there and ended up being a pretty touristy event.

From the very beginning, it was a hard sell. Like, as soon as you sit down, hard sell to buy a mojito. And then after it was over, it was like, no one is leaving until you buy a cigar. It was fine. It just wasn't the experience that I expected.

The other thing that I find very interesting is that if you come to Cuba wanting to buy cigars, it's really hard to figure out who's telling the truth. So when we were in Havana, they were like, okay, let me start over. The one thing that we know for sure is that the government takes 90% of the tobacco, and the farmers get to keep 10.

That's been consistent across everyone.

But when we were in Havana, everybody there was telling us the farmers only get to keep the worst 10%, because why would the government, like, let them keep the best stuff?

So you should buy it from store.

Exactly. And then when you're out here on the farm, the farmers get to keep the best 10%, so they have the best cigars.

So it's kind of like what we were talking about yesterday. Like, there's some little inconsistencies here and there, which is a little frustrating. But, I mean, you can't be too mad.

All right, we're gonna get back on the bikes and see what Else end up somewhere.

Traffic.

Okay. It is now 7pm when we left the tobacco farm, it was around 3. Let us fill you in on the last four hours of our life.

We'll start with the positive. The scenery today was absolutely beautiful.

We got really lost. We got lost somewhere over in here. Here is where we found. I think that was the tobacco farm turned down. This white road, which I thought was going to be paved, turned out to be the worst road we've been on yet.

We ran into mud that was way too deep to bike through.

Currently stuck in a giant mud pit, walking our bikes and getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. How's it going?

Open several farmers fences to continue following the map.

We're currently about to open this and hope that it's not trespassing. I think it's just to keep the cows in, but we need to go this way. I'm gonna open it and then close it and hope for the best.

Don't let the cows out.

Gracias. There's no stampede yet.

We crossed a really sketchy bridge here.

You can video me in case the bridge falls.

Yeah. You're going first. I love you.

Love you.

Good luck.

In case the bridge falls. Take the camera.

We asked for an adventure today.

Oh, it's shakier than I thought it was gonna be.

Maybe if I stand on the uphill side.

Oh, my gosh, Nate. Just go fast.

We got chased by dogs, but we didn't manage to capture that on the camera. But it did happen. Then we're riding down this huge hill, and I ran over barbed wire. And that's my gears. It's, like, wrapped around there three times.

Okay. Then we got rescued by two cowboys.

We've been trying to get the wire out of my gear for at least 10 minutes while sitting here being eaten alive by mosquitoes. I really, at this point, had no clue what we were gonna do because we were in the middle of nowhere. And then two cowboys drove by, and he just put both hands on it and pulled it out like it was absolutely nothing.

Barbed wire with his hands.

Yep. Made me feel really manly. Then when we were almost there. I don't think it's gonna work.

We might be at a dead end.

It was so big that we had to turn around.

We were so close.

5 and us. So then we tried to take a different trail home.

And that didn't work. Then we tried one more way. I really hope this road takes us back, Mr. Cow. Oh, finally, pavement.

Civilization. I feel really bad that I did this to Kara. This was all kind of my idea.

It was a lot more adventurous than we imagined it.

But at the same time, when we look back on this trip to Cuba in 10 years, I'm sure this will be the day that we remember a Lapa for sure.

Turns out there's a reason why all the tourists book a horse tour.

I think that's the good thing about things going wrong, is that if you're able to kind of, like, remove yourself from the now, then, like, you know, it's going to be a really fun memory when you look back on it.

We got some great exercise, and we deserve all the food that we eat tonight. And as they say in Cuba, Wayne for Benjamin. Bon appetit. It's time to eat.

I thought I could do it. I hit a rock like the mom looks like she just gave birth, if you know what I mean.

I can see some things, and it's all wet, I think.

I don't think you need this one.

I feel like if I touch it, then when we go back to the US and I fill out the form, I'll have to say I've touched wild animals.

Can I touch? I don't think so.

Dang it.

Don't do that.

No problem.

Hello, guys.