Viñales - A Trip to the Jardín Botánico

In my opinion a trip to Cuba is not complete without a visit to Viñales; this gorgeous sleepy little town is about as far from the frenzy of La Habana as it's possible to get. Once you've enjoyed a morning's horseriding, a little birdwatching, soaked up all the afternoon sunshine from the terrace of your casa particular and settled down to watch the shooting stars and glow bugs light up the night your mind will turn to the next day...and what you plan on doing.

As travellers it can be hard sometimes to resist the urge to spend our time rushing from guidebook suggested site to tripadvisor recommended restaurant but Viñales is one of those places where this kind of attitude doesn't really work. The pace of life, the size of the town and the incredible natural beauty wherever you point your nose really just encourages you to go for a wander and see what you find... What we found was the gorgeous Jardín Botánico, or Botanical Garden, a perfect place to spend an hour or so (and a haven for photographers with its vast range of plant life).

You make your way through a rickety gate up towards a low house and knock on the door to be greeted by your guide. During our trip we were shown around by the young man of the house accompanied by two tiny and very naughty dogs that yapped and scuffled in the undergrowth for the entire time we were there.

The garden was started by the grandmother of the house around which it sits and is absolutely full to bursting with plants of every shape and size and from all around the world. There are also a few novelties such as the doll's head tree...

There are huge chocolate pods and delicate chocolate orchids that smell so delicious it's a wrench not to bite them off their stems:

Knobbly Durian or Jack fruit with their repulsive scent of dead flesh, bright forest flowers and sharp thorns...

Suddenly we heard an awful strangled scream from above our heads and looked up to see a large green lizard with a tree frog clamped in its jaws:

I've since found out that the lizard was a Cuban Knight Anole which is the largest of this type of lizard in the world. Not a pleasant sight to be honest but an incredibly interesting one! (More posts on the fantastic cuban wildlife we saw coming soon).

I'm so glad we stumbled across this gem of a place; it is actually in our lonely planet guidebook but we must have missed it the night before. Entry is free but you're encouraged to make a small donation at the end of your visit and after all the in-depth info given to us by our guide we really couldn't grumble. (2-3 CUCs should be about right)

Afterwards we headed back to the town for lunch and what better way to round off our morning than with fried plantain stuffed with ham and melted cheese accompanied by an incredibly flamboyant piña colada and a scrummy strawberry daiquiri!