Dealing with Cuba in Vinales

As we got off the coach we were greated by our new family (the last one had rung ahead for us) and taken to a lovely home. Within seconds of arriving Mike hit his head on a low beam and was bemused to find the mother of the family rubbing his head (and not his new wife). We were introduced to the family with the highlights being the cute dog, the stray cat and the mother (who was a dead ringer for Anne from Little Britain). After a walk to a nearby hotel to use the pool we headed back for ojitos and a red snapper each for dinner.

On our second day in Vinales we went to sort out our cash situation. For those who dont know (including us at the time) the US trade embargo means that any transaction from Cuba to go through an American bank is automatically declined. As we found out this meant all but one of our cards would provide funds for the next few days, we were now working on a very strict budget! Not letting that stop us we had the biggest and sweetest lobster ever nd went out to hear some more live music which was bliss apart from Lisa's dodgy tummy.

The next day we booked some trips and went to visit some caves. The cave system near Vinales is around 46km long set over 7 levels, only two levels are open to the public but with a guide, helmet, head torch and grippy shoes you can explore for a good 2 hours. Our guide was very knowledgable with some basic English, although his major talent was playing music on stalactites. We saw little frogs, massive spiders and some incredible caves. The whole thing was a bit like a video game with the path swirling around and dipping in and out of ditches in the pitch black. One of our favourite caving experiences of all time.

Later we headed out on a tourist bus to check out some other caves which we full of tourists and guides and had static lighting and flat floors, not nearly as exciting. However they did have raw cane suger to drink (quite refreshing and unsurprisingly sweet) and as a treat at the end a buffalo to have a ride on, which Mike promptly did "yee haa".