Charm of Cuba’s West: Havana & Viñales Valley Tour

Havana is a city that embraces artists and inspires music. Images and sounds combine along the Malecón, the main boulevard along the sea. Waves crash against the wall. Classic cars cruise down the streets in front of crumbling colonial buildings. Two Spanish fortresses frame the mouth of Havana Bay. You arrive at Jose Marti International Airport. Your private transfer meets you at baggage claim and escorts you into the city. At first, Cuba reminds you of any Caribbean island nation. Pastel painted buildings frame Carr. Central de Cuba. You begin to notice the little differences gradually. Murals shade the thick walls with the colors of the Cuban flag.

Pictures of Fidel Castro accompany slogans supporting the state and the ideals of socialism. On the edges of the old city, you find Plaza de Revolucion. The square covers five square miles adorned with a 59-foot statue of Jose Marti standing beneath a 358-foot tower. On the opposite end of the plaza stand two silhouettes depicting the Cuban Independence Hero Camilo Cienfuegos and Cuban Revolutionary Hero, Che Guevara. You can easily imagine thousands upon thousands of Cubans filling the square to hear Fidel Castro evoke one of his famous speeches. The American National Anthem played in the square during President Obama’s visit in March 2016. Your private transfer continues to escort you into the colonial heart of Old Havana where you can settle into your hotel.

In the morning, the streets around Old Havana are practically yours. The sunlight washes over the Capital Building dome before spreading across the rest of the old city. Locals take respite on their rooftops. Some build aviaries for pigeons. Children prefer to fly kites in the sea breeze. Your guide meets you at the hotel after breakfast, accompanied by an architect tasked with renovating the antique structures of Old Havana. The Spanish settled the city in the 16th century. The mansions around Plaza Vieja allowed local barons and their families to watch the military processions and ceremonies. In the 17th century, the neighborhood served as one of the main shipbuilding centers of the New World.

The architect explains that there are approximately 3,000 historic structures in Old Havana. The aroma of roasted chicken overtakes the salty sea air. Jade leaves of yerba buena radiate from glasses sparkling with mojitos. Castillo de la Real Fuerza is a 16th-century fortress built to protect the settlement from pirates. The structure was positioned too far away from the mouth of the bay and never saw battle. Instead, the Spanish used it as a storehouse for valuables. A deep moat surrounds the fortress. A drawbridge connects the courtyard to the cobblestone streets of the city. The walls reach a thickness of nearly 20 feet and a height of 32 feet. The interior exhibits treasures from sunken ships, mainly of Spanish fleets, discovered in the sea near Cuba.

Private enterprise and commerce are a relatively new concept to local Cubans. After breakfast, you meet with a professor at the University of Havana for a discussion on the new element of the Cuban economy. Your guide then leads you through the real Havana to see private industry at work. Step into a small structure where mounds of produce sit atop the tables at the heart of the room. Vendors display ripe mangos and gigantic avocados in pyramids. Chevy farm trucks and Ford tractors have helped haul the fruit from farms outside of Havana.

One farmer traveled from 250 miles away with large nets filled with garlic strapped to his roof. The aroma of coconut fills the room; its source is a vendor grating coconuts. In the back of the market, you find the rations board connoting the amount of stapled items, mainly rice and beans the store has left. You reach the neighborhood of Muraleando, an art center founded in 2001 by two inspired art teachers eager to teach the local children.

What was once an abandoned water tank has become a vibrant center for the community. Residents of the neighborhood teach low-income families the art of expressing themselves. A band strikes up before your arrival and carries on well into the afternoon. They keep the beat with spirited bongos. The guitarist moves his fingers effortlessly along the strings. Veteran dancers teach the kids the dances of their heritage. In a separate space, more kids learn how to draw. Murals and ceramic tiles decorate the walls, depicting the world in which this community thrives.

Today you leave Havana behind for the mountain region of Sierra del Rosario Biosphere Reserve. Travel west along the Malecón watching the fortresses of the bay fade behind the high-rises of the Vedado district. Fishermen step onto the platform of the thick sea wall and cast their lines into the water. Outside of Havana, the road narrows. You pass horses pulling trailers topped with produce. Antique tractors roll alongside the road near a chicken farm.

The road winds along the foothills leading higher into the mountains. You arrive at the eco-community of Las Terrazas. The community began in the 1960s tasked with reforesting the mountains after decades of deforestation. Visit with members of the community to learn about the daily life of the kids and the adults of the area. Homes fit beneath the forest canopy and almost blend into the landscape. An artist’s studio edges the lakeside providing a spectacular view of the serene water.

You search for orchids in the treetops waiting for the vibrant petals to stand out against the jade leaves. Outside of the community remains a preserved 19th-century coffee plantation. Cafetal Buenavista is Cuba’s oldest coffee plantation started by French refugees from Haiti in 1801. A large grindstone in the back of the estate once extracted coffee beans from their shells. Your guide leads you through the process of extraction to drying. A restaurant fills the former master’s quarters. A two and a half-mile hike leads from Las Terrazas to the plantation.

Vinales Valley crowns the region of Pinar del Rio. Red soil glows beneath the emerald hues of tobacco leaves. Magnificent karsts rise out of the plain, shaping independent limestone mounds. Soil erosion shaped the bizarre boulder-shaped knolls during the Jurassic Period approximately 160 million years ago. Farmers took the valley floor to til the fields. Thatched roofs on the huts angle downward until almost touching the ground. The mineral-rich soil provides perfect features for tobacco to grow flavorful and hardy. The Mural de la Prehistoria drapes the cliff-side on the southern edge of the valley.

The painting depicts early mollusks and sea organisms evolving into massive dinosaurs and, eventually, humans spanning almost 400 feet. Visit the cave systems beginning at Cueva del Indio. The network travels between galleries crisscrossing over nearly 28 miles. You board a boat and traverse the rivers system entering the cave mouth. The edges of the entrance resemble jagged teeth. The driver of the boat guides you along the water. Inside the cave, the trickle echoes off the limestone turning the soft sound into a rumble. Stalactites dangle down from the ceiling like chandeliers. The warm air of the valley turns to the cold air of the cave.

In the morning, private homes roast coffee beans over an open flame in their yards. The heat helps release the natural oils in the grain, and in turn, creating the flavor people look for when drinking coffee. The thin layer of dew evaporates with the rising sun. After an early breakfast, you depart for the Guanahacabibes Peninsula, located at the narrow western edge of Cuba. The forest canopy and lack of infrastructure make the region feel secluded from the rest of the country. The unspoiled coastline along Bahia de Corrientes incorporates the rainforest edging the white-sand shoreline.

The peninsula has more than 170 species of birds and dozens of reptile species. It is also the grounds of the second largest green turtle breeding site in Cuba. In 2013, more than 900 turtles nesting on the beach. Visit the Cuba Marine Research and Conservation Center for a better understanding of the local support and the region’s natural resources. Your guide goes over the data collected on the turtles, their nests, and their eggs before explaining the genetic diversity in the turtle population across the region, and its correlation to the Gulf of Mexico. During nesting season, between April and October, the green turtles return to the coast and dig their nests in the sand. In the evening, your guide takes you out onto the sand to watch the turtles dredge the shoreline.

The seclusion of the peninsula provides a quiet atmosphere throughout the day. In the morning, you can hear the water lapping at the sand. You continue to think about the turtles digging their fins in the sand to create a perfect nest. You relish the combination of the tranquil breeze and aroma of the sea. The region is one of the most popular for scuba divers in search of adventure, wishing to glance at the coral reefs and the sunken city lying 2,132 feet below the surface of the sea. After breakfast, you make the return journey to Havana, passing Vinales and Las Terrazas along the way.

Once in Havana, you have time to relax and freshen up before making your way to a private salsa lesson. Learn the classic dance moves in the comfort of a well-known dance studio before heading to the celebrated Cabaret. The club opened in the 1930s and covers 258,333 Square feet. A stage crowns the enormous showroom. Tables fill the gallery. Tall trees rise above and over the tables shaping the tropical and elegant atmosphere. A line of chorus girls fills the stage, walking among the trees. You want to move to the music as much as the next person with the sounds absorbing you. By the end of the show, you can’t help but applaud and smile after the flamboyant display of dance, costume, and culture.

There is something distinct about Cuba set in the colonial buildings and the classic American cars. The natural beauty of the landscape and the vibrant spirit of the people accentuate the undeniable allure of the country, encapsulated in the endlessly energetic streets of Havana. In the morning, you can walk along the Paseo del Prado, often considered the most beautiful street in the city. Bronze lions frame the head of the walkway cutting down the center of the boulevard. Old men rest in the shade, sitting on marble benches. Terraces line the colonial mansions on either side of the street, which once belonged to the city’s wealthiest families. When you are ready, your private transfer meets you at the hotel and escorts you to Jose Marti International Airport in time to check-in to your flight home.