Valentines Day and Sunrises

Early risers, dog protection, sleeping bulls, mesmerising colours on the sky, stunning sunrise, land diversity and Cuban hospitality all in one.

I'm not one that likes to get up very early in the mornings, let alone 4.30am. Except if I need to catch a flight of course! Or in this case, wanting to experience a beautiful sunrise on February 14th 2020.

My sister & I with Luis Miguel

We booked an experience over Airbnb with Luis Miguel* to learn more about Viñales, its land and people, while watching a sunrise over the hills and lands.

As we walked to the pick up point it turned out that not everyone was asleep. There were some stray dogs running around and to be honest, not all of them looked that friendly. However, one of them took a liking to us and decided to be our protector. He was quite dominating and basically barked at all the other dogs to back off from us. Definitely feels great to know someone's watching over you when walking through the town in the middle of the night. 😉

Okay so some random guy picked us up and drove us to Luis' place where the latter was already waiting for us. From there we started our hike up the mogotes - the mountain range in Viñales. Mind you, it was still dark and all we saw was the path in front of us, illuminated through the headlamps we got from our guide.

Now they look peaceful...

It's also totally normal that a sleeping bull is blocking our path from time to time. 🤷🏼‍♀️ But please, please, please! ⚠️ Never wake up a sleeping bull, you might want to run for your life if you do. Yes, no kidding! We were just glad that he was bound to a pole in the ground. He was probably dreaming about mounting the next cow... 😄

The hike took us about 1 hour and by the time we reached the small hut up there we were out of breath and drenched. Humidity was pretty high there and it didn't help that the valley down below was covered in fog. But all of that was well worth it for what we experienced next.

We must have spent almost 2 hours up there, watching the colours on the sky change from bluish, white to purple, pink, red, orange and yellow. We got to see the fog lift bit by bit and as nature and the animals awoke, we were just very grateful to experience such a beautiful view! 🥰

On our descend, Luis shared more of his knowledge with us, in very good English I might add. I quickly found out that I had no idea how diverse Cuba, let alone Viñales, is!

While driving into the Viñales Valley, the first thing you will notice are the mogotes and tabaco. Tabaco fields are everywhere! It's the most known and popular crop here. But once you're there you will notice that there is so much more!

Pineapples #withaview 🍍

Rice, garlic, onions, corn, beans, sweet potato, sugar cane, yucca, cinnamon and don't get me started on the fruits! Mango, guava, banana, papaya, kiwi, avocado, pineapple, avocado,...

They have their own coffee which was actually pretty good (says a non-coffee-lover!) and they produce their own honey, very sweet but so delicious! 😋

The list goes on... Viñales is truly a place where the saying "from the field to the plate" is lived. It's so beautiful to see and observe that. I imagine the gratefulness for the food here must be endless.

And don't even get me started on the hospitality of Cuban people! While passing a tabaco field down in the valley the elderly man showed us his finca and explained the process of cigar making. I mean, can it get more authentic than that? It's so normal that people are always surrounded by a coat of smoke from the cigars they are smoking.

Speaking about hospitality, by the time we reached Luis' place again, his family was also up and welcomed us for breakfast. Naturally this consisted of fresh fruits from their own backyard and freshly brewed coffee (this one was so good!). ☕️

Turned out that Luis himself is also a big fan of travelling and has plans to visit Europe. Compared to myself coming from Switzerland it's hard for Cubans to travel visa-free. And of course, most visas are combined with high fees. Considering that Cuban people also don't earn that much, international travel can seem impossible to a lot.

Nothing is impossible though and Luis is a great example for that! There's always a way for the things you truly wish for.

And maybe the chocolate from our parting gift convinced him to come to Switzerland one day! 🍫

Sabbu ❤️