Living history and natural values of Viñales
Along with Trinidad and Havana, it stands out among the hundred tourist destinations in the world that receive the most national and international visits each year...
If the COVID-19 pandemic weren't hitting a large part of the planet right now, surely right now the Viñales Valley , in the middle of the Sierra de los Órganos , in the Guaniguanico Mountain Range , would be overflowing with people who love nature tourism.
Many are the cultural, historical and patrimonial values treasured in this Valley that welcomes other valleys within it. Along with Trinidad and Havana, it stands out among the hundred tourist destinations in the world that receive the most national and international visits each year.
The word Viñales comes from the word vineyards, since its first settlers dedicated themselves to the cultivation of grapes. This municipality in Pinar del Río has a population of 25,000 inhabitants and has an area of 741 square kilometers. Its maritime limits are the Gulf of Mexico, the Strait of Florida, El Paso de los Vientos, El Paso de Yucatán, the Caribbean and the Atlantic.
A mandatory point on your tour from any corner of the national geography is the Mirador del Hotel Los Jazmines, which offers a spectacular view of the Viñales Valley and is ideal for taking panoramic family photos.
During the journey, the geographical characteristics and the benefits of the climate are enjoyed to the maximum, propitious for the cultivation of rice, corn and tobacco. In addition, it is a protected area where the Tocororo, our National Bird, lives.
Among the 17 botanical species endemic to the region, the Mycrocycas Calocoma or Cork Palm stands out, the only one of its kind declared a National Monument. This living fossil dates back 150 million years and is the oldest palm in all the Antilles.
To get to the National Park —declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in the Cultural Landscape category— it is necessary to travel along a road that, due to its sharp curves, is reminiscent of a roller coaster in an amusement park.
Once there, the traveler appreciates the natural beauties of a place where very unique geomorphological formations abound, with a great diversity of shapes and hundreds of meters high, which are called mogotes. They can appear isolated or in groups with vertical slopes and rounded tops.
Very hard rocks predominate in the mogotes, but easy to degrade by water, inclement weather and meteorological events. This influences its forest formations, known as mogote or small mountain vegetation that grows on limestone rock. That is why some of its trees are gray, unlike those present in the "evergreen" forests typical of the Cuban fields.
The greatest attraction of Valle de Dos Hermanas, in Viñales, is the Mural of Prehistory, a beautiful open-air fresco 120 meters high and 160 meters wide that can be climbed, without great difficulty, with the help of a specialized and responsible guide.
As documented, in 1959 the painter and scientist —now deceased— Leovigildo González Morillo, a disciple of the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, asked the Commander in Chief, Fidel Castro , for some resources to reflect on this mountain the biogeological evolution of the territory.
Accompanied by twenty volunteer peasants, the artist and former Director of Cartography of the Cuban Academy of Sciences ascended with the help of parachute straps to the top of the Pita mogote to draw large mammals such as the Megalocnus rodens (extinct giant bear), marine reptiles, mollusks, dinosaurs and Cuban aborigines of the Guanahatabeyes group.


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Living history and natural values of Viñales
Along with Trinidad and Havana, it stands out among the hundred tourist destinations in the world that receive the most national and international visits each year...
Maya Ivonne Quiroga Paneque Exclusively 08/29/2020
2 comments 157 votes
The biggest attraction of Valle de Dos Hermanas, in Viñales, is the Mural of Prehistory.
Si la pandemia de la COVID-19 ahora mismo no estuviera azotando a gran parte del planeta, seguramente en estos momentos el Valle de Viñales, en plena Sierra de los Órganos, en la Cordillera de Guaniguanico, estaría rebosante de personas amantes del turismo de naturaleza.
Muchos son los valores culturales, históricos y patrimoniales atesorados en este Valle que acoge en su seno a otros valles. Junto a Trinidad y La Habana se destaca entre los cien destinos turíticos del mundo que más visitas nacionales e internacionales reciben cada año.
La palabra Viñales viene del vocablo viñas, pues sus primeros pobladores se dedicaban al cultivo de la uva. Este municipio pinareño tiene una población de 25 000 habitantes y posee una superficie de 741 kilómetros cuadrados. Sus límites marítimos son el Golfo de México, el Estrecho de la Florida, El Paso de los vientos, El Paso de yucatán, el Caribe y el Atlántico.
Punto obligatorio en su recorrido desde cualquier rincón de la geografía nacional es el Mirador del Hotel Los Jazmines que ofrece una vista espectacular del Valle de Viñales y resulta ideal para tomarse fotografías panorámicas en familia.

Desde el Mirador de Los Jazmines se capta la magia natural de los mogotes en el paisaje cubano. (Abel Rojas Barallobre).
Durante el trayecto se disfrutan al máximo las características geográficas y las bondades del clima, propicio para el cultivo del arroz, el maíz y el tabaco. Además, es una zona protegida donde habita el Tocororo, nuestra Ave Nacional.
Entre las 17 especies botánicas endémicas de la región resalta la Mycrocycas Calocoma o Palma corcho, única de su tipo declarada Monumento Nacional. Este fósil viviente data de hace 150 millones de años y es la palma más antigua de todas las Antillas.
Para llegar al Parque Nacional —declarado por la UNESCO como Patrimonio de la Humanidad en la categoría de Paisaje Cultural— es necesario transitar por una carretera, que por sus curvas cerradas recuerda a una montaña rusa en un parque de diversiones.
Una vez allí, el viajero aprecia las bellezas naturales de un lugar donde abundan formaciones geomorfológicas muy singulares, con una gran diversidad de formas y centenares de metros de altura, que reciben el nombre de mogotes. Pueden aparecer aislados o en grupos con laderas verticales y cimas redondeadas.
En los mogotes predominan rocas muy duras, pero fáciles de degradar por el agua, las inclemencias del tiempo y los eventos meteorológicos. Eso influye en sus formaciones boscosas, conocidas como vegetación de mogote o de montaña pequeña que crece sobre la roca caliza. Por eso algunos de sus árboles son grises a diferencia de los presentes en los bosques “siempre verdes” típicos de los campos cubanos.
The greatest attraction of Valle de Dos Hermanas, in Viñales, is the Mural of Prehistory, a beautiful open-air fresco 120 meters high and 160 meters wide that can be climbed, without great difficulty, with the help of a specialized and responsible guide.
As documented, in 1959 the painter and scientist —now deceased— Leovigildo González Morillo, a disciple of the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, asked the Commander in Chief, Fidel Castro , for some resources to reflect on this mountain the biogeological evolution of the territory.
Accompanied by twenty volunteer peasants, the artist and former Director of Cartography of the Cuban Academy of Sciences ascended with the help of parachute straps to the top of the Pita mogote to draw large mammals such as the Megalocnus rodens (extinct giant bear), marine reptiles, mollusks, dinosaurs and Cuban aborigines of the Guanahatabeyes group.

At the entrance of the Cueva del Indio, a representation of pre-Columbian Cuban cultures. ( Abel Rojas Barallobre )
After descending from the Pita mogote, the journey ends in the San Vicente Valley where the Cueva del Indio is located, a cavern with an extension of around 300 meters and two underground rivers, whose boat tour is a true delight for the eyes. They highlight large figures formed by stalactites and stalagmites that resemble animals such as crocodiles, pigs, a seahorse, tobacco leaves and, with the help of the imagination, you can even make out the three caravels in which Christopher Columbus and his crew traveled to the Americas.
A HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL NOTE
Television directors Roly Peña and Miguel Sosa recently announced that they are already in the investigation process for the third season of the well-liked series Fight Against Bandits (LCB) The Other War, which this time will take place in the westernmost province of the archipelago.
It was precisely near the Gran Caverna de Santo Tomás, in the Viñales area, where in 1959 twelve peasants organized a militia named Los Malagones —after their leader Leandro Rodríguez Malagón— with the aim of confronting the bandits who sowed terror among the inhabitants, especially the murderer Luis Lara Crespo, known as “Cabo Lara”.
Years later, at the initiative of Army General Raúl Castro, a sculptural work was built in the vicinity of Santo Tomás in the El Moncada community. The monument can be visited at night and pays homage to the twelve brave men who, in less than 90 days —as Fidel requested— put an end to the crimes committed by a sinister character from the Batista dictatorship. With their example, Los Malagones sowed, from Pinar del Río, the seeds of the future National Revolutionary Militias.