Viñales

Viñales

Those rounded hills in Viñales are called mogotes. They are limestone, and they rise straight out of a valley planted with tobacco and food crops. 🌄 Between them are farms, houses and the roads people use every day.

The valley lies in the Sierra de los Órganos, in western Cuba. Farming families have passed down methods that include using animals to work the land. Tobacco is a big part of that history. UNESCO listed Viñales as a cultural landscape in 1999.

The houses belong in the picture, too: many are wooden, single-storey buildings with a shaded front porch, the portal, facing the street. 🚪 A place to sit in the shade, see who passes and talk for a while. People live in that famous view.