One drives you to the other!
Two days in the mountains. Great I thought, some trekking, cooler temperatures, at one with nature.... Blah, blah, blah! There was a tropical storm in the morning so it was like trekking through a steam bath and all day and all night long we were plagued by aggressive ninja-like mosquitos. We must have looked like a special needs group for the Tourrettes Society, with all of the jerky, twitching movements and then constant swearing as you realise the 17 layers of DEET have had no effect! In the end the only option is to resort to rum!
We had arrived in the Escambray Mountains. Not a very high mountain range but verdent forest that smells like the tropical greenhouse at Kew Gardens, all jasmine and butterfly lillies (the national flower) interspersed with the vibrant orange of the flame trees. There are far too many vultures for my liking, but the hummingbirds are just gorgeous. Iridescent loveliness. Red dragonflies, and the biggest butterflies I have ever seen.
We stayed in two different haciendas, each with its own selection of free range chickens, pigs, dogs, cats and horses. We were given the option of sleeping out under the stars on the floor or in very small tents. Given the sight of dead scorpions, snake skins and mossies the tent was the only real option. At least in the Grand Canyon the flies stopped biting when the sun went down and all of our wet clothes dried overnight. I have now declared that I will only ever camp in deserts (or Sark!).
We hiked up to waterfalls, pools to swim in, to find caves and look out from view points. When not hiking we were driven around in old open topped Russian army trucks the only mode if transport that can cope with the terrain. They referred to the rides as a "Cuban massage", as you were jolted and thrown around. And in fact it wasn't dissimilar to the rollercoaster ride, excluding the loop the loop! I love it though.
On the last afternoon we went for a short ramble to find some caves. I didn't want to be the odd one out and refuse to go in, but quite frankly I am not a mole, and have no need to live in a hole! But I man-ed up and duly followed, until introduced to the 22 leg spider.... Then I passed my camera to someone else and hot footed out of there! Even looking at the photo gives me the creeps!
Further along the walk we came across an overhang and found a man turning a hog roast - our dinner for the evening. Yum, yum!
That night it got exceeding damp in the tent, and I was attacked by tiny ants with ferocious bites, needless to say I didn't sleep and was exceeding grumpy in the morning. Sense of humour failure extraordinaire!
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