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We said goodbye to Cary, Nilo and Havana this morning as we took the bus 3 hours west to Vinales in the Pina del Rio district. Cary has a friend with a "casa" in Vinales and had already made a reservation for us in advance - there's a network of "amigas" throughout Cuba looking after each others interests. After stopping briefly in Pina del Rio itself, the bus followed a winding road up into the limestone hills and beautiful countryside around Vinales. On our arrival we were picked up and escourted to our casa and warmly welcomed by Olga and Carlos.
After resting we set out to explore the small country town with a very relaxed atmosphere - almost all of the houses have front porches where most of the inhabitants seem to sit on rocking chairs watching the world go by. Everyone is very friendly , waving as you walk by, or greeting you with a "Buenas dias / tardes". Our exploration takes us to a nearby tourist hotel where we can use the pool for $1 to cool of and relax. Back at the casa Carlos prepared a couple of Mojitos for us and we sat down to a wonderful meal of fish, chikcen, frijoles (black beans), fried banana, salad washed down with a bottle of the local brew. Before hitting the sack we took a walk around the block to help our dinner go down and watch the younger elements of the town out and about.
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