We really want to take a closer look at Viñales, so one day we go there with a guide and a cab. This is a strange and almost alien landscape of great beauty, and it also has a lot of caves. We enter one and end up in a boat slowly travelling an underground river (!), then we proceed to a tobacco farmer that rolls his own cigars. Raul Castro, Fidels brother made it possible for tobacco growers to earn extra money on tourism by allowing them to sell a portion of their harvest as hand-rolled cigars.
The farmer is an expert cigar maker and anyone willing can try them. I do, and they are absolutely delicious. He tells us of a secret ingredient that is sprayed over the drying tobacco leaves. He won’t give us the details, only that it’s rum and herbs.