Tobacco, Rum, and Sugarcane // Viñales, Cuba

No trip to Cuba would really be complete without a visit to cigar country, so we booked a day-tour of Viñales, a rural town three hours west from Havana. It was here that we discovered rolling hills of green, vast farms of tobacco, and the home of Cuba's main exports.

The drive over was beautiful, and we rode, of course, in a bright red car from the 60's, our first experience of the kind.

When we got there, I struck up a conversation with the chef of the local restaurant, who also happens to teach at the school. He was a sweetheart, and told us that we should stay longer in Viñales if we could, and that he loved this rural town.

We rode out to the farm on horseback, and learned about the cigar-making process inside a farmer's drying barn.

Cigars are made with three different types of leaves, all of which grow in Western Cuba. These leaves, after harvest, are taken into the drying barn, where they can dry from the heat of the sun without direct sun contact.

The farm's owner graciously rolled us a cigar, teaching us how the different leaves compose the different parts of the cigar.

After the demonstration and a sale, he ground some sugarcane juice, brought out grapefruits and rum, and we had organic cocktails on tree stumps for an amazingly Cuban experience.

Refreshed, we headed back to the main town for lunch, then a stop at another main attraction in Viñales, Indian Cave.

The cave was surprisingly vast, and a great stop. But even better than the cave was the water buffalo, Tomas, on the other side. Tomas was such a sweetheart, and I even got a drawing of us together after.

After a quick photo shoot in our taxi, we headed back to Havana.

It was an incredibly successful day, and I would definitely recommend a visit to this beautiful, cultural town to everyone who visits Cuba.