I seem to be missing a bunch of days. I’ve been here longer than 7 days. Who gives a fuck.
Yesterday was the bus trip to Viñales. We took a large bus since the other group (Mitch’s father in law’s language class) was coming with. They were pretty annoying. They’re a weird bunch. Some old Californian with sparkly t-shirts, an older woman with short wispy hair and way too much Botox, a strange slow-talker from Cowichan Bay who complained about everything, a tiny little flaky hippy woman. They were all pushing 60 or 70… our whole group is much more fun than these weirdos. So we kept trying to ditch them. And we took a long time cause we were photographing everything.
We went to an orchid garden, which was very pretty. I bought a CD for $5 from the local musicians who were playing there. Then we went to this cave where we took a little boat trip around inside the cave. It was pretty cool. Then lunch at this outdoor place. I ordered a pina colada, and the waiter brought a little juice box with that written on the side. I laughed when he brought and changed my order to a beer. I’ve been eating a lot of rice. Rice and vegetables, rice and beans, and just rice. I caught the drummer staring at me while we were lining up for our table, so I smiled at him. He kissed at me. That is their way of flirting. I burst out laughing.
At a cool vista, the bus stopped for a while. There were the standard outdoor tables with locals selling crafts and cigars etc. And a Brama bull with a saddle on! I thought “I’m gonna get me a ride on that there bull.” So I went over to the owner and asked him how much… he said whatever I wanted. I think “donations” are their way of getting around not having a license from the government. So I hopped on the bull and the owner chased him around the parking lot. Everyone was taking photos of me. He was a very sweet well behaved animal. At the end of my little ride, the owner ran over to the bar to get some water for the bull. He came back with a cup and poured it over the bull’s nose and the bull happily slurped it up. The owner made me sniff the cup, and only then did I realize it was not water… it was rum! I rode a drunken bull.
Then we were supposed to go to the tobacco plantation but we just came straight back to the hotel instead. No explanation. lol.
I had a pizza again because I couldn’t face another buffet dinner. Let’s play “hide the ham”! That is their menu theme.