We spent 7 days in Cuba and every day was packed with amazing activities and unforgettable experiences.

By far my favorite part of Cuba was the trip to the Tobacco farm in Vinales, Cuba. There were no more fancy vintage taxis. The remainder of our trip was by yellow cab with our awesome driver Louis. The trip was off to a rough start when we broke down on the side of the highway. But like everyone in Cuba, Louis if very self-sufficient and carries around spare parts. He pulled out a plastic bag of oily parts, peeled off his white shirt and went to work (carefully avoiding all the horse dung). We were back on the road in 45 minutes. The outlook changed – most vehicles we passed were now horse drawn carts.

As we drove out into the countryside, Lily explained how the farmers were really the ones who were hit hardest by the revolution. Farmers were now required to give 90% of their crops and proceeds to the government. Another guide in the valley shared the story of how his friend was a tomato farmer. He was shipping his produce to Havana and was stopped by the police. His produce was taken from him (his yearly crop) and he was told he must use the govt vehicles next year. So the following year, he picked his crop and as requested, called the govt transport to come and pick up his produce. The govt trucks arrived a week later and most of his tomatoes were too soft to sell. The govt paid him hardly anything for his crop given its condition. So the man stopped producing tomatoes and now grows only onions and garlic. Because the govt can’t spoil those! It also explains why fresh produce such and lettuce and tomatoes are rare. Onions, garlic, and cabbage are what you find in the road side stands.  From that point on, I felt sad every time I ate a tomato in a restaurant!

Almost all of the farms use oxen and plow for their fields. We only saw a few (very old) tractors during our trip. It is humbling to see the farmers walking beside their team as they plow the fields.

They use primitive sleds to drag their produce from the fields to the store houses.

Tobacco sheds are built from palm leaves (below). Occasionally, we saw a shed with a metal corrugated roof and we said, “that looks like a pretty nice shed?” Turns out, that is not the case. Our guide explained that metal roofed structures are way to hot and dry tobacco way too fast. That particular farmer had a storm blow off his roof and he is waiting until the season when he can gather enough palm leaves to rebuild.

The process for tobacco was a little too complicated for me to recite exactly, but the gist was hanging the leaves to dry, spraying them with a mixture (this fermented mixture adds flavor and is the secret), then the leaves are packed in layers in a crate to continue drying and developing flavor.

Cade smells the secret sauce that was sprayed onto the tobacco leaves.

Tobacco is easy to propagate. One leave contains millions of seeds (below).

Interesting thing about Tobacco leaves, the fiberous stems and backbone membranes of the leaves are considered highly toxic. The nicotine levels are so high they could seriously damage or sicken/kill someone. They remove the membranes from the leaves and soak in water to use as a pesticide for all their crops!

Now the fun part – the cigars!

The family patriarch sat down and showed us how to roll a cigar. It was amazing to watch (we video taped it, so maybe at some point I’ll figure out how to post that).  All the time he was puffing away on his own cigar… the farmhands came in to watch too!

Then time came for us to give smoking a cigar a try. The kids all looked around nervously. “Um, are you going to let us smoke?” they asked. “Absolutely!” I replied. I knew this was a once in a lifetime experience. (Secretly, in the back of my mind, I was praying they would think it tasted awful. But as all parents know, sometimes those things backfire on you.)

Rob went first. You can see our local guide in the background translating instructions for how to smoke. 🙂  Umm… Rob was not very good at it. Granted he did get the hardest job of having to go first and get it started! Turns out it is pretty tricky to learn how to inhale only inside your mouth, swirl the smoke, and then blow it out. The farmhands got a pretty good laugh out of it. Below is our taxi diver Louis who didn’t need any lessons, of course.

Rob was followed by each of the kids. They each got a lesson and gave it a go. Breton thought it tasted like dirt. Cade thought it was gross and tasted like wet cardboard. Lane didn’t like the taste per say, but said he felt like it was burning the inside of his mouth.  Turns out Mom was a natural (for those of you who truly know me, I know that will not surprise you.) The kids were amazed at how well I could smoke. Thankfully, we quickly moved on to another activity without much discussion.

Our time at the farm also included an amazing lunch prepared by the wives, feeding the farm animals, a tour of other crops, etc. It was hard to leave these beautiful people. Here’s just a few more pics.

The food in cuba was amazing and the farm was no exception. These little bowls contained pumpkin puree and you can see some yuca fries.

The farm family.

We went horseback riding through the valley. Stepping aside for the people who were actually trying to get work done!

Every afternoon the farmers pull up a few yuca roots and then chopped them into bits to feed the goats.  so we took a long walk out to the fields and Lane was handed the machete and taught how to properly trim, unroot and remove the yuca bulbs.

We also took a boat ride through some pretty amazing caverns and drank some fresh squeezed cane juice (some of us may have had it with rum!)