After realizing that I would be tight on money for the rest of the trip, I decided to try my luck at one of the ATM's. Same message every time: "insufficient funds" (of the ATM and not my credit card, I think). Even for small amounts like 1500CUP⁽¹⁾, it did not work. An old man seeing my defeated face encourages me to try the bank next door. At the time I didn't know if it was some sort of scam and decided to get away. However, I turned back and saw that he tried using it as well. This man was not a local but an Australian tourist, that has been trying to use those ATM's for TWO WEEKS (without success)! After seeing that he tried, I also tried my luck... without success either, which is weird because a Cuban lady went between us and was able to get some cash, maybe there is a priority for Cubans, I don't know.

He proceeded to give me a few tips that would come in handy during my trip in Viñales. He showed me the store with the cheapest water, the restaurants that were good and affordable, churros street vendors, and a bakery that supposedly made good cakes. All these tips were provided to me during a walk through the city. I don't remember what lead to it, but we started a trip to a nearby cave: La Cueva de la Vaca. It wasn't the most accessible, but this man was walking fast and I had a bit of trouble to keep his pace. After maybe 30 minutes, we reach the entrance of the cave, guarded by a set of run-down stairs. We were however rewarded with a magnificent view of the valley.

I thought we would turn and walk back to the city, but Antonio (the Australian Grandpa) had other plans. We continued deeper into the cave to reach another opening at the opposite side of the mountain. I wasn't the most reassured because Antonio told me that we might encounter bats, which, along with the dogs, ring the RABBIES bell for me. We, however, reach the opposite side and are again greeted with a marvelous view of the other side of the valley.

We begin to make our way down and follow a little path where we meet a pair of children. We ask them if the path continues to Viñales, and they say that no, it doesn't. At this point, I was ready to turn the other way and start heading back from where we had arrived. My intrepid Australian Grandpa is not a quitter though, and we proceed on this path, that doesn't lead back to the city. Without retracing the whole journey, I am sure that not a lot of tourists visiting Viñales have stepped where Antonio and I stepped. We had to crawl under a few sets of barbed wires, jump over a river, and continue in a field, with absolutely no path to guide us.

We end up finding a road, the road that heads back to the city, we were still probably 3 or 4 km away. We finally reach the city after probably 2 hours in the suffocating heat. The rest of my time with him was spent in the bakery he told me about, where I took a green cake. I don't know if it had any taste, I could only taste the sugar, contrasted by a huge piece of salt in the meringue.

We end up chatting about my stressful first day in La Havana, to which he ways that I shouldn't stress about such little things. He then explains that he survived a plane crash in the middle of the jungle when he was 22, my age. He continues by explaining how he was able to leave Afghanistan at around the same time, on a camel to Iran. I don't know if any of these stories are true, and I don't really care to be honest. I get anxious when I have to make any appointment and this man was traveling by himself, going off-road, and didn't mind getting completely lost, in the most serene way, while being 60 or 70 years old. Thank you Antonio, I'll try to stress less about my trip.

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Notes

1. 1500CUP ≈ 15CAD