Read on to see why…
I
t was a long day today, with ecotourism at the top. Vinales, around 200 kilometers west of Havana, was our destination. Part of it was designed to finish our look at the tobacco supply chain, the fourth most important revenue source for the Cuban government, and one of the first things that probably comes to mind when someone thinks of a “Cuban” (you were thinking of Mark?). That was a visit to a farm, where we saw the tobacco leaf seeded (really tiny seeds), transplanted, then dried and stored until aged properly. The guajiro (I think that’s what they call the farmers) demonstrated the proper curing and rolled one of his products for us. He sells 90% to the government and, with a wink, said he keeps 20% for himself. Not a bad math arrangement, and the tour buses parked in front of his farm house were a nice supplement to his income.
Vinales is the third biggest tourist destination, but only in part because it’s in the heart of tobacco country (the soil, hundred or so years of expertise, and climate, the guide intoned, made the area unique for cigar growing).
The city is renowned for being one of two tourist destinations for karst scenery (the other near Guilin, China), with trekking, climbing (and nearly 50 dive sites nearby in the province at the west end of the 700 mile island of Cuba).
We got to savor some of it, literally, at a restaurant that was farm to food, a handsome family style buffet, featuring an anti-stress drink (“we have the intellectual property rights”, said the owner), a mint-flavored pina colada, rum optional, fresh vegetables, pork (that several hours earlier had been walking on the grounds, I bet), beef, fish, and probably the best flan I’ve ever had. There’s a reason Pinon del Rio is the “garden” of Cuba (though on the way, we passed green read wet) sugar cane fields, etc. Though the rural population of Cuba, as elsewhere, is shrinking, it’s still 25% of the country. One of the reason the embargo hurts is that Cubans are not agriculturally self sufficient, importing rice, among other food supplies.
A word about sugar (can’t remember if I wrote about the importance of sugar and rum earlier, but a word here might be appropriate). One if the best business books in the last few years was about the empire of cotton, which the author described as the first global industry; sugar may be a close second. Though Columbus is credited with bringing sugar cane to the Caribbean, it certainly took root here. Much of the colonial wars in the Americas were fought either for the sugar islands or for the wealth the colonial power extracted; the French, in fact, traded a potential return of Canada in 1763 for Santo Domingo (also captured by the British), and Florida (again to the British) for Cuba, which had been captured in 1762 by the British (I’ll refer to that again later).
The other visit in Vinales took us to a cave (the porous limestone of the karst area–essentially eroded limestone) lends itself to caves; we visited a distant relative of the Blue Spring cavern in Indiana that troop 19 has spent many a night exploring. I say that because of the boat trip in both, though the Cave of the Indians was a lot shorter, with no blind crayfish…
We got back pretty late (it was a 12 hour day), but I had one site on my bucket list that could be done any evening. However, I knew there was a front coming in the next few days that could bring rain (this is the beginning of the rainy season, which is why our rooms cost a bargain $250 from the $700 rate in the high season.
That requirement was a visit to La Fortaleza. The importance of the harbor here (which is why in 1519 it was settled) made it a desirable port, and Spanish wealth tempted those swashbuckling pirates portrayed by Errol Flynn in my youth to attack the Spanish possessions. As a consequence, Spain built enormous fortifications, and this was the fourth I’ve seen (St. Augustine, San Juan, Cartagena, and now Havana). La Fortaleza is the largest, and every night at 9, an in regalia contingent marches in the fort to fire the 9 o’clock cannon that symbolized the closing of the city gates. There are no gates, and the city (at least big parts of Old Havana) opens, rather than closes at 9 today, the pageantry, happily, continues. I joined about 500 others to watch the guard march in, flags flying, drums drumming, theatrically crying allegiance to Carlos (Charles III, king of Spain), before igniting the cannon.
You might say I had a blast yesterday. I would. Oh, yes, I did!