No description foundPINAR DEL RIO: The province is Cuba's westernmost province and contains one of Cuba's three mountain ranges.PINAR DEL RIO: Agriculture fuels the economy of this province. The production includes coffee, rice, orange, sugarcane and tobacco.PINAR DEL RIO: According to Radio Habana Cuba's report on the agricultural ministry of the province, 34 percent of the 56,000 acres where agriculture takes place in the province will be dedicated to growing beans.PINAR DEL RIO: The national group of urban and suburban agriculture makes assessments regularly to manage what grows where around the country.PINAR DEL RIO: Cattle risers make commitments to the government that they will produce a certain number of liters of milk. The Cuban small-farming national association keeps track of the production.PINAR DEL RIO: Cattle risers make commitments to the government that they will produce a certain number of liters of milk. The Cuban small-farming national association keeps track of the production.PINAR DEL RIO: There is farming at Vinales Valley near to areas that have been protected from agriculture and development since the late 1970s.PINAR DEL RIO: The open valley of Viales in Pinar del Rio is a popular tourist attraction. Tobacco growers from the Canary Islands colonized the territory in the 1800s. The Pinar del Rio province is known for producing the islands best tobacco -- some of the best in the world.PINAR DEL RIO: Tourism is an important part of the province's economy, so the government's enterprise for the conservation of flora and fauna works with the University of Pinar del Rio to protect certain species.PINAR DEL RIO: The Vinales Valley is located in the Sierra de los Organos, a subrange of the Guaniguanico mountain range.PINAR DEL RIO: The dome-like cliffs that rise like islands from the bottom of the Vinales Valley are called "mogotes."PINAR DEL RIO: The Vinales Valley attracts people who like hiking and rock climbing. There are many new routes.PINAR DEL RIO: The Vinales Valley national park has guides, an information center and a competitive scene on "casas," family homes that rent out a room or two to tourists for a few nights.PINAR DEL RIO: The Parque de Vinales has fertile soil and the agricultural methods have remained unchanged for several centuries, according to UNESCO, which listed the park on the World Heritage Convention.PINAR DEL RIO: In the words of UNESCO, the Vinales Valley is a "living landscape with a degree of authenticity in terms of location and setting, forms and design, materials and substances, uses and functions, traditions and techniques and spirit and feeling."PINAR DEL RIO: The "Mural de la Prehistoria" is painted over a rocky mountain in Viales, Pinar del Rio, Cuba. Fidel Castro commissioned the mural in 1961.PINAR DEL RIO: Horseback riding at the Vinales Valley is a good way to appreciate the flora and fauna of the area, as well as the farmer's way of living. The tours can last from 3 to 4 hours.PINAR DEL RIO: The horses for tourists are trained. Most of them are named after Cuban cocktails. For more information, e-mail Luis Ernesto at Knowing_Vinales@Hotmail.comPINAR DEL RIO: The Vinales Valley is rich in flora. Aside from the tobacco plants, the most common are the Bombax emarginatum, the endemic ceibon tree sometimes mistakenly identified as the red silk cotton tree.PINAR DEL RIO: The barrel Palm trees known as Palma de Sierra move with the wind at a farm.PINAR DEL RIO: The barrel Palm trees known as Palma de Sierra move with the wind at a farm.PINAR DEL RIO: A Cuban farmer rides on a carriage in Pinar del Rio. In Cuban fashion, he is wearing a woven cowboy sombrero and holding a cigar.PINAR DEL RIO: A Cuban farmer, rides on a carriage in Pinar del Rio. In Cuban fashion, he is wearing a woven cowboy "sombrero" and holding a cigar.PINAR DEL RIO: Cuban farmer rides on a carriage in Pinar del Rio. In Cuban fashion, he is wearing a woven cowboy "sombrero" and holding a cigar.PINAR DEL RIO: Cuban farmer rides on a carriage in Pinar del Rio. In Cuban fashion, he is wearing a woven cowboy "sombrero" and holding a cigar.Juan EchevarriaPINAR DEL RIO: This park is named after Jose Marti, a Cuban hero.PINAR DEL RIO: A historic property is restored in the town of Vinales, which was first settled in 1871. The Taino population of the area swelled with runaway slaves before the Europeans settled, according to Cuban historians.PINAR DEL RIO: In the town of Vinales, the nightclub Centro Cultural Polo Montanez on the Plaza de Jose Marti presents dance shows and plays salsa, reggaeton and bachata.PINAR DEL RIO: The Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was built between 1880 and 1883. It was renovated in 1989 and recently had a paint job. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural organization granted Cuba about $75,000 to contribute to the preservation of the village.PINAR DEL RIO: The Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was built between 1880 and 1883. It was renovated in 1989 and recently had a paint job. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural organization granted Cuba about $75,000 to contribute to the preservation of the village.PINAR DEL RIO: The Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was built between 1880 and 1883. It was renovated in 1989 and recently had a paint job. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural organization granted Cuba about $75,000 to contribute to the preservation of the village.A Cuban girl living in Sweden returns to Viales in Pinar del Rio for a celebration that dates back to the European practice of cotillions and debutant balls at the Royal Court.No description foundA hairstylist fixes a teen's hair during an outdoor photographic session in Viales, Cuba. The crown and the fancy dress are both signs that the girl is marking her 15th birthday. The traditional "quinces" are a Caribbean and Latin American tradition.Although the dress of the "quincianera" was traditionally white or pink, the tradition has evolved to bright colors and more shimmery fabrics.Although anthropologists have linked the "quinces" tradition with a combination of Spanish-Catholic customs and indigenous rites of passage, the ceremony is rooted in presenting the teenage girl with elements of her dowry or bridal wealth.This Cuban teen living in Sweden flew back to Viales to celebrate her 15th birthday with make-up and fancy jewelry.A Cuban teenage girl sits on the roots of a tree in Viales, Cuba, as the photographer's assistant helps to fix her dress. The debutante balls meant to debut their marriage-aged girls to society has a strict dress code that required a full skirt.A Cuban teen wears an extravagant infanta-like dress for the photos that will mark her rite of passage in Viales, Cuba.A Cuban photographer uses a Canon camera to take pictures of the birthday girl in Viales, Cuba.A Cuban girl who lives in Sweden said she returned to her hometown of Viales to celebrate her 15th birthday as a "quinceera." A photographer is taking the traditional images for her "quinces" album.PINAR DEL RIO: Cubansuse a three-wheel motorcycle to carry a refrigerator in the town of Vinales.PINAR DEL RIO: Cyclists ride in the bustling town of Viales, in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, where tourists arrive by the busload daily.PINAR DEL RIO: Street performers catch the eye of a tourist in Pinar del Rio, Cuba. Despite the popularity of the Afro-Cuban culture, the mulattoes and Afro-Cubans have experienced centuries of political and economic marginalization. Two years after Afro-Cubans founded the Independent Party of Color in 1908 to fight for political representation, the establishment banned the party.PINAR DEL RIO: A blind Afro-Cuban man plays the drums, as to women in costume dance at a tourist site in Pinar del Rio, Cuba.PINAR DEL RIO: Afro-Cuban women keep the African tradition of using bright colors to perform their folkloric music in Pinales del Rio, Cuba.PINAR DEL RIO: An Afro-Cuban woman dances to the beat of a drum, as street performer hoping to earn money from tourists in Pinar del Rio. African slaves left their cultural mark in the Valle de Vinales, Trinidad and the Valle of the Ingenios and the coffee plantations in Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo.PINAR DEL RIO: Colonialists brought African slaves to the island, who during their free time danced to strong rhythmic African beats. The Cuban "tresillo" has roots that go back to sub-Saharan Africa. The cross-rhythmic fragment has 8 pulses divided into three sections and two cross-beats.PINAR DEL RIO: Afro-Cubans retained the traditional head scarf and turban, and the use of bright colors during ceremonial dances. In 1898, Cubans found a sense of identity in "Afrocubanismo." And it is now associated with a nationalist sentiment.PINAR DEL RIO: Afro-Caribbean women dance to the beat of a drum in Vinares, Cuba.PINAR DEL RIO: Two women and man playing the drums dance in a public area that tourists frequent in hope of making some money in Vinares, Cuba.PINAR DEL RIO: In Kikongo, a language that some slaves from Central Africa spoke, "mambo" means a conversation with the gods. After working on the island's field, prayer was done through dancing. That is the root of the modern Cuban mambo.PINAR DEL RIO: An Afro-Cuban woman dances to the beat of a drum, as street performer hoping to earn money from tourists in Pinar del Rio. African slaves left their cultural mark in the Valle de Vinales, Trinidad and the Valle of the Ingenios and the coffee plantations in Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo.PINAR DEL RIO: Women follow ancient artisan procedures to work on dried tobacco leaves at a farm near Vinales. The end result are handmade cigars. Some of the brands produced are the Trinidad, Cohiba, Romeo y Julieta, Vegas Robaina, Partagas and Hoyo de Monterrey.PINAR DEL RIO: A woman follows ancient artisan procedures to work on dried tobacco leaves at a farm near Viales.PINAR DEL RIO: As a Roman Catholic priest in Cuba, Bartolome de las Casas, a Spanish historian, described the use of tobacco: "men with half-burned wood in their hands and certain herbs to take their smokes, which are some dry herbs put in a certain leaf, also dry, like those the boys make on the day of the Passover of the Holy Ghost; and having lighted one part of it, by the other they suck, absorb, or receive that smoke inside with the breath, by which they become benumbed and almost drunk, and so it is said they do not feel fatigue. These, muskets as we will call them, they calltabacos."PINAR DEL RIO: Women follow ancient artisan procedures to work on dried tobacco leaves at a farm near Vinales. Cuba is increasingly incorporating irrigation systems to their plantations, according to the Guerrillero News.PINAR DEL RIO: Women follow ancient artisan procedures to work on dried tobacco leaves at a farm near Vinales. The end result are handmade cigars. Some of the brands produced are the Trinidad, Cohiba, Romeo y Julieta, Vegas Robaina, Partagas and Hoyo de Monterrey.PINAR DEL RIO: Women follow ancient artisan procedures to work on dried tobacco leaves at a farm near Vinales. The end result are handmade cigars. Some of the brands produced are the Trinidad, Cohiba, Romeo y Julieta, Vegas Robaina, Partagas and Hoyo de Monterrey.PINAR DEL RIO: The European cultivation of tobacco in Cuba began in 1580. Spain's King Philip III decreed that tobacco could only be grown in Cuba, Santo Domingo, Venezuela and Puerto Rico and ruled that the sale of tobacco to foreigners be punishable by death.PINAR DEL RIO: Before the Spaniards colonized Cuba, the Taino tribes used tobacco for religious, medicinal and ceremonial purposes. Now cigar rollers maintain Cuba's reputation as the world's top selling producer of premium hand-rolled cigars.PINAR DEL RIO: Women follow ancient artisan procedures to work on dried tobacco leaves at a farm near Vinales. The end result are handmade cigars. Some of the brands produced are the Trinidad, Cohiba, Romeo y Julieta, Vegas Robaina, Partagas and Hoyo de Monterrey.PINAR DEL RIO: Men and women follow ancient artisan procedures to work on dried tobacco leaves at a farm near Vinales. The end result are handmade cigars. Some of the brands produced are the Trinidad, Cohiba, Romeo y Julieta, Vegas Robaina, Partagas and Hoyo de Monterrey.PINAR DEL RIO: A woman follows ancient artisan procedures to work on dried tobacco leaves at a farm near Vinales. The end result are handmade cigars. Some of the brands produced are the Trinidad, Cohiba, Romeo y Julieta, Vegas Robaina, Partagas and Hoyo de Monterrey.
