After visiting by foot the valley for most of the afternoon with Antonio, I want to have a typical siesta, it was really nice to catch up on some sleep a bit. Antonio had told me about a great viewpoint close by, so I decided that it would be my goal of the evening. He advised me to come before 7pm, so I left my casa at around 6pm, with only a rough idea where to go. The instructions were that I should follow a road for a little bit, do a little zig-zag and I would arrive to a nice hotel overseeing the valley — a great spot to watch the sunset. Maybe 10 minutes after I started my journey, I ask a man on a wooden cart pulled by two cows where my destination is: Hostel Ermita. He tells me to just hop on, and that it is a kilometer away. Having had the "tourist" experience in La Havana (people are going to ask you for money for everything), and being currently pretty broke, I hesitated for a few seconds. In the end, I decided to hop on, I don't know when I'll be able to go on a cart driven by cows in the future. We chatted a bit on the way up, I told him where I was from, what I had visited today and he explained what he did in life: touristic horse rides in the morning ⁽¹⁾ , and delivery service in the afternoon. At this moment, I realized that the cart was not empty as I originally thought, but it was carrying wood, to build a house. We exchanged names before I got off. His name is Adrian and I was very grateful for him that he carried me unconditionally. I thanked him, we said goodbye and he was off.

After a few more minutes of walking. I reach this luxurious (relative to what I saw before) hotel — an all-inclusive with a pool. Act like you belong. I walked in and started looking for a good spot. I found a great one, a few rocking benches and a table, everything overseeing the valley. A few of these entries were written on this table.

I will probably come tomorrow, it is a very nice place. I will stop here because I want to fully enjoy the sunset.

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Notes

1. Viñales is known for its horse-back riding farm visits.