La Playa y la Vida

Looking out of the window of a car can be like a movie unfolding before ones eyes and taking a drive from Viñales to the nearby ocean Cayo Jutías is nothing short of that. There is the breathtaking scenery that almost seems unreal, too beautiful to be true or so rich that the mind can hardly comprehend it, and to add to all this there are the charms that only Cuba offers. People waving (old men and children alike) to that unknown car passing by as if they had sighted a good friend, the eclectic mix between poverty (mules pulling trailers on the highway and people living in wooden huts), revolutionary propaganda (Che Guevara proclaiming: Hasta la victoria siempre), the frequent police checkpoints and everyday life displaying itself in front of your eyes. After a little more that one hour we finally covered the 40 km to the beach and the destination was well worth it (the journey itself was worth the trip). A beautiful virgin beach lies in front of us and after parking the car and walking through a little forest along the beach we have completely left behind the few remaining tourists: Turquoise-blue water (bathwater temperature), a few sprinkled clouds in the sky and trees gently swinging in the wind. The afternoon on the beach is perfect and only interrupted by an occasional fisher boat on the horizon. There are some days where life presents one with the gift of opening itself fully and giving the observer the chance to see its abundant beauty, like a flower opening its blossom to the world displaying the mystery hidden inside.