The end point is in Cuba, and I have been familiar with this country since I was a child, and I used to talk about a few socialist brothers on the radio, and few old friends who fought side by side with China.

Across the sea from the old American state of Florida, like a crocodile lying at the south gate, as the only socialist country in the Americas, it has confronted the world's number one power for half a century like a tough guy.

Like a mirror through time and space, it can reflect the former China. Food stamps, rationing, the planned economy, these former past tenses, are still in the present tense of Cuba.

Coming to Havana, during the nearly 60 years of economic blockade by the United States, it is like pressing the pause button. It's like a gift sealed for half a century, allowing people to see the station in the space-time tunnel from a long time ago.

There are more than 900 buildings in the old town, all of which are more than 200 years old, full of vicissitudes but colorful, especially the old classic cars on the streets.

Later, I realized that the car embargo imposed by the United States on Cuba in the sixties of the last century made it difficult for locals to buy new cars, but it also gave birth to a huge and omnipotent modified car market. The old Ford and Chevrolet in the 50s of the 20th century were repaired by the locals and used today, and even 80-year-old models can be found here.

Walking through the streets and alleys, attracted by the variety of brightly colored houses, it is like admiring an architectural museum. The adjacent walls are painted in different colors, and from a distance, it looks like a rainbow town.

On the asphalt road, which is not wide, the seats on both sides are full of passengers. Cuba is definitely not a big tourist country, and there are not so many tourists, so you can better feel the local people.

There is a long queue in the bakery, and you can eat 2 different types of local cakes for 1 cuc, the creaminess is pure but not greasy, and the puff pastry is just right. There are also local department stores, hospitals, banks, and stalls selling all kinds of groceries, so you can spend the morning wandering around and maybe pick up a commemorative stamp for the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the Middle Ages.

There will be a lot of elderly passers-by in the streets and alleys, especially those of the uncles and grandparents, when they see the crowd, their expressions become kind, their eyes are shining, they raise their arms, shouting China China like cheers, you can deeply feel their friendliness and enthusiasm.

Only the kind of cordial feelings for Chinese tourists are different, and it is impossible to describe the scene and feelings at that time in words......

At that time, just three days after the founding of the People's Republic of China, we asked to become brothers, and although the Cubans who had experienced that era were old, they still have those passionate years in their memories, and they have always had a deep friendship with our revolutionary friends.

Prices here are incredibly low, and for Cubans, they can only earn about $20 a month to find a regular job, which is probably only five days to live in the capital.

Therefore, people are forced to come out to do side jobs, those who have houses do homestays, those who have cars do rentals, and those who have a little capital open restaurants and bars. Even these civil servants who work in banks and post offices live after work by making money through tourism, and the government will not stop them.

For young people, there is only survival, no life. For the same 100 euros, the quality you enjoy when you spend in Europe and Cuba is completely different. The saddest thing is that many countries have a visa rejection attitude towards Cuba, and even if they earn enough money, it is difficult for them to enjoy life in the outside world.

Find a tavern, the bartender puts a spoonful of white sugar in a tall glass, adds half a lemon of fresh lime juice, covers with sugar, puts the whole mint leaf in the tall glass and gently pounds it to bring out the mint leaf flavor, then adds 3~5 whole ice cubes, and 45ml of Havana Club 3 Year Old Rum.

Finally, pour in an appropriate amount of sparkling water, stir together after dissolving, and garnish with mint leaves. Take a sip and it will be cool, especially the mint you grow, the more you pick these herbaceous herb plants, the more lush the plant will become, and peppermint is one of them.

The next day, from Havana, I took a long-distance bus made by Yutong and headed northwest to visit the cigar plantations, the country is poor, but the cigars are awesome.

After the Spanish colonizers ruled and occupied by the Canary Islands at the end of the 16th century, a large number of Filipinos began to vigorously develop tobacco cultivation, which also made this part of western Cuba famous for its high-quality tobacco.

It wasn't until the middle of the 19th century that tobacco became popular in Europe, and sea routes were opened to transport it, which led to the prosperity of the region and the development of tourism. To this day, the Viñales Valley and the province of Pinar del Río are the third most visited tourist destinations in Cuba.

Coming to Vi?? The valley village of Ales, a place of tranquility, beauty and untouched nature. It is surrounded by rolling limestone hills dotted with clusters of bamboo forests, banana groves, and tall king palm trees.

The green valley has the maroon red land ploughed by the ox, the emerald green tobacco fields, dotted with thatched huts, the tobacco drying room, and the old ox cart with cigar in mouth and peasant-hat peasants slowly driving through the fields......

The people here live a quiet and leisurely rural life. For those who have just arrived here from the hustle and bustle of Havana, it is as if they have entered the WTO, this village, a little primitive, a little shabby, and very colorful, and the mood is very peaceful.

The last option is to ride a horse into the tobacco fields of the Valle del Silencio valley. Tucked away among towering tropical trees and round limestone cliffs are tobacco plantations, where most of the tobacco leaves of all the cigars you can buy in Cuban cities originate.

Tobacco fields are cultivated on the edge of the fields, corn and other crops are planted, and the cattle work slowly in the fields, riding horses and walking here, and the whole person is in a natural ecological farm.

There are many cigar estates here, and with the exception of some large ones that belong to the state, many cigar estates belong to individuals. It is said to be a cigar manor, but in fact it is a cigar tobacco plantation, which is called a manor as it used to be.

It is even more disappointing to see it with my own eyes, compared with the dozens of hectares of red wine estates in France, the planting area here is very small, about two or three hectares, and it can be reached in a few minutes.

In addition to the tobacco farmland, there is a simple barn for drying tobacco leaves and a small room that can roll cigars and live in people, which is very low.

Although the sparrow is small, it has all kinds of organs, including farmland, barns, factories, and so on. Interestingly, there are very few cigar rolls in the manor, but they still arrange reading and music time, and they are idle.

According to the guide, the tobacco fields can now produce 2.5 tons of tobacco leaves on almost one hectare, and although the plantations look shabby, they are very important in the cigar industry. Because the various brands of cigar tobacco are purchased from these estates, for example, Cohiba's tobacco leaves are mainly from nearly ten estates in San Juan and San Louis.

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