January 24, 2019
Cycling through The National Geographic
Jan 24 10 km
Cycling through National Geographic
Today was pretty special. After enjoying yet another lovely Casa breakfast we headed off to explore the valley and find the mural that attracts both admiration and abomination, depending on your point of view. It is called Mural Prehistorico and it is definitely something to see! On our way out (it is only 5 km from town) we enjoyed the absolutely stunning views of the mogotes, which are limestone mountains. Apparently the mountains were there and as parts of the the limestone collapsed, the valley was created around them. Cycling through the valley was just magical and we stopped repeatedly to take pictures as we moved along.
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
When we finally did reach the mural, it was, well, interesting. We paid our $6.00 to enter and walk up closer, finding it quite fascinating to see that the entire thing was painted in stripes. Whether or not you like the artistic aspect of this monster sized painting, you certainly have to appreciate the effort that goes into keeping it up. Every year parts of it are repainted as it fades from the large amount of rain here. I can’t even imagine having the job of hanging off of the cliff, painting these lines back in – ugh!
After enjoying our visit, we meandered back into town, thinking that we would cycle or walk out later at the other end of town to see a different view of the mogotes. We dropped the bikes off and headed for lunch at the café where we had been able to log on for free yesterday – no such luck today. We enjoyed our lunch but no wifi – boo! We decided to get a couple of wifi cards and hit the park and were on our way to the hotel when we again rain into Jim and Laura. Honestly, we could talk to these two for days on end and not run out of things to say! We decided to meet up for dinner tomorrow night and said our goodbyes, heading off in the opposite directions. We went to sit in the hotel to use their wifi, which required having a drink (Oh darn!). Partway through our hour the skies parted and the rain just pummelled down. We were thankful to be inside and dragged out our time there as long as possible but in the end, we still had to walk back to our Casa in the rain (neither of us had thought to bring a jacket, of course!).
We waited out the rain by taking a nap, and awoke to semi clear skies. Taking advantage, we walked out through the other end of town to see what was there (not a lot) before heading back to our own end. We checked out a few more places and stopped to try the piña coladas at a restaurant some girls we met out at the mural had told us about. Well, these were pretty darned yummy, I have got to say! They must make them with pineapple ice cream or whipped cream, they are so thick and sweet. And the best part? They serve them virgin and then put a bottle of rum on your table so you get to add as much or as little as you like to your drink! Hey, Steve and Dodie – here’s a place for you!!! After sitting and enjoying watching the world walk and drive by, we wandered around for a bit more before deciding on a place for dinner. We wanted to check on a place on Airbnb in Havana, so decided to go back to our original restaurant for dinner and some free wifi which turned out just fine. As we enjoyed our dinner, the rain began again, so we were happy to be not too far from our home.
Tomorrow we are hoping the rain will hold off long enough to go on a walking tour to a tobacco farm here. Cigars, of course, are a huge part of the economy of this area and we are curious to see the process they go through to make the very famous Cuban cigars, even though neither of us smokes. Fingers crossed!
Today's ride: 10 km (6 miles)
Total: 1,303 km (809 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 6 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |