Situated in Cuba’s beautiful Sierra de los Organos, a range of low mountains in the western province of Pinar del Rio, the valley of Vinales is a four-hour drive from Havana. Beginning with the flatlands to the west of the city, the road rises gradually into hills of palm tree, pine and banana. Twisting lanes slowly lead into the mountains of Vinales, where you can peer down onto fields of tobacco, the plant’s rabbit-eared leaves maturing in the sun.
Photos by Stephen Mansfield
A small town of roughly 4,000 people, Vinales consists of little more than one tree-lined street, two or three back lanes, a small square with a church painted in fading blue pastel and white, a gallery displaying the work of local artists, and a quiet fruit and vegetable market. Some prosperity is evident, however. Houses are spacious and well cared for, people dress well. Much of this is due to the region’s successful mix of agriculture and tourism. Visitors need to eat, and the demand from hotels and restaurants for fresh fruit and vegetables has risen accordingly.
There may be a limited number of colors in the Cuban palette, but the effect of houses painted in pastels—green, yellow and blue—is very pleasing. And the colors, though random, seem perfectly coordinated. These cheerful one-story homes, with their broad supporting columns, tiled roofs and front verandas, are very Caribbean in style. The owners take great pride in their gardens, planting cycads, cacti, hibiscus, small fruit trees and flowering shrubs—plants that do well in this tropical climate.
Vinales has two main axes, vertical and horizontal, with very little between. The flatness of the region is its fertile plain, where tobacco, mango, star fruit and pineapple grow between trees of avocado and tamarind. At almost 90 degrees to this flat plain, dramatic limestone hills rise hundreds of meters. Nearly vertical, many of these steeply impressive magotes, as these pincushion hills are called, are pitted with caves and rock galleries.
At one time the magotes were even higher, but since the Cretaceous era, 100 million years ago, water has been wearing away the landscape. Subterranean rivers eroded the limestone bases, creating fantastically shaped caverns, which caused the hills to sink. The mysterious domes, rising almost sheer from the valley floor, are covered in vegetation and trees. The contrast between the blue sky, limestone rocks, the ochre-colored earth, and the green crops is striking.
At the foot of the Sierra de Vinales, the highest part of the Sierra de los Organos, is a 120m-high mural painted on the cliff side of the Mogote Dos Hermanas, one of the most spectacular hills west of the town. The 180m-long painting is known as the Mural de la Prehistoria. Symbolizing the theory of evolution, the work depicts sea monsters, dinosaurs, a bear, Cuba’s first family (an indigenous man, his wife and a child), and a giant snail, among other things.
The farmhouses in this region, many of them close to the sides of the hills, are surprisingly small. Tiny wooden, thatched-roof, one-story homes, they are painted in lemons and coral-island blue tones that contrast with the orange-red earth. Before the Spanish arrived in Cuba, locals used this red soil as a cosmetic pigment.
Looking at this fertile valley and its agricultural wealth, it is easy to forget that Cuba is still a developing nation. Yet one reminder is the lack of technology, and the number of animals used to farm the land. The buffalo and oxen used to plough fields and to transport crops and workers are a reminder of older farming methods. And sometimes better ones. In the case of tobacco, for example, oxen are used in preference to tractors, which would compact the earth and result in a poorer quality plant.
Tobacco was first grown in Cuba in 1580, and by 1700 it had become the island’s biggest export. The tobacco fields of Vinales are highly visible, easily recognized from the triangular shaped secaderos (curing sheds) that stand nearby. Much care and attention is needed for the cultivation of this crop. The plants reach maturity from the end of January to March. After they are picked, the plants are hung on frames in the fields before being transferred to the wooden sheds.
I was shown around one of Vinales’ many curing sheds to see a part of the process by its manager, a young women named Pilar. After the bright sunshine, orange earth and emerald greens of the fields, the curing sheds where the plants are left to ferment felt cool, the shafts of light from the roof a sepia color. Once the leaves are further sorted and subjected to a second fermentation, they are graded and sent off to factories in Havana, where they are rolled and boxed.
“The leaves are sprayed with water to stop them from drying out,” Pilar explained. “The temperature is also regularly checked before the leaves are sent off.”
“Do you smoke?” Pilar asked me.
“No. Never,” I replied.
“Me neither,” she said, then added, rather surprisingly, “I understand tobacco is bad for the health.”
Back out in the sunshine, I was met by more scenes of Cuban rural life: a horseman drinking from a bottle of strong, white sugarcane rum called aguardiente rides past, wearing the typical cowboy hat of Cuba; children in crisp uniforms walking to small, well-equipped schools in the hills; elderly people sitting on their verandas sipping small cups of Cuba’s sweet black coffee.
Vinales is at that happy point in its development where it is prospering from tourism, but managing at the same time to maintain a lifestyle that has changed little over the years.
There are daily morning and afternoon buses from Havana to Vinales. The trip takes about four hours. The Hotel Los Jazmines (93-6205) is a good deal at roughly $45 a night, including breakfast. Although there are three or four other hotels located outside the town in nice landscaped settings, staying at a casa particular is also recommended. These are private homes that offer a room, plus optional breakfast and dinner, for around $30. Meals on the veranda of the Restaurante La Casa de Don Tomas, an old colonial mansion, are atmospheric. Vinales’ Mercado Agropecuario, the local agricultural market, has a bakery and rum bar. Telephone the Cuban Embassy in Tokyo (03-5570-3182) for information on visas or other travel documents. Stephen Smith’s The Land of Miracles, is a fascinating account of modern Cuba; Cuba in Mind, an anthology of writings, is also a good travel companion.
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