There are no sources of water over the limestone sierra. This forces both plants and animals to adapt themselves to those special environmental circumstances where the former ones have to pile up the precious liquid to get by and the latter ones must know where they can find water.

Vegetation up in these mountains is divided in three major groups, depending on the kind of relieve, soil, rocks, weather conditions and other factors.

Vegetation covering the round-top hills is also comprised in three major groups: mesofile tropical forests, mesofile evergreen woods and shrubby formations on the walls and domed tops. All of them featuring blooming species that embrace as many as 960 different species, 305 of them endemic and 544 labeled as phitoresources. The most charismatic species are the ceibon or drago (Bombax cosis cubensis), featuring a yellowish-green trunk shaped as a pot clung to the edges of the cliff; the palma de sierra (Gaussia princeps), tall and defying that populates both the hillsides and the tops; the guano de sierra (Thrinax morrisii), as well as the bonita de la sierra (Spathelia brittonii), an aboriginal plant contemporary to the rubber palm, that shows off its beauty and elegance on the hilltops. Its trunk is weak and slender, even though it supports huge leaves. This endemic species blooms only once in its lifetime and then dies peacefully. And last but not least, the rubber palm (Microcycas calocomas), declared National Monument for being an endangered species and one of the island nation's oldest plants.

Another set of green lungs surrounding the local population is the forest that provides an economic and ecological lifeline for the environment for it protects the scarce soils found in these heights. Its trees provide a safe haven and a source of nutrients for abundant wildlife species. The slate heights are composed of a less permeable and rather dry bedrock where pinewood and oak groves are the name of the game. The origin of many of these species stems more or less from the Jurassic and Cetacean eras, featuring high levels of endemism and dominated by the pino macho (Pinus caribaea) and pino hembra (Pinus tropicalis). This is also the habitat of the guayabita del Pinar and the Cuban oak (Quercus oleoides). Their hard wood is widely used for rural housing, while its berries are great feed grain for pigs, giving their meat a peculiar and good-tasting flavor. On both sides of the road to Viñales, the use of the prairie coco plum (Chrysobalanus pellocarpus, Mey.) as natural firewalls is widespread. This shrub yielding dark blue or blackish berries –somewhat smaller then the coastal coco plum, is used by the local population in homemade pastries. Up in the brooks and creeks, the pomarrosa is the queen of the water, a plant brought from tropical Asia by the French back in the 19th century and that has pushed other endemic species from their highly damp soils. It's equally easy to watch tree-climbing ferns and the famous bejuco colorado (Serjania diversifolia, Jacq.)

The third formation is commonplace in the valleys, where crops of root vegetables, grains, garden produces, as well as the tobacco and coffee that have put Vueltabajo on the map, are nearly everywhere. Among tobacco plantations, visitor may easily make out the ceiba (Ceiba pentandra), the tree of all the Orishas, a condition of respect that has helped it live out deforestation. Two other trees whose wood is widely used for fencing properties and barns are the mastic tree and the piñon florido (Eritrina berteroana). The latter is also used to project shadows over the coffee plants. Finally, the tall and handsome royal palm tree rounds up the collection.

In the wildlife realm, there are birds, crawlers, mammals and mollusks galore. In the first group, there are tocororos, nightingales, common woodpeckers (Colaptes fernandinae), cartacubas or pedorreas, all endemic species. Among the reptiles, the iguana, the mountain bayoya (Leiocephalus macropus), lizard of Sierra de los Organos (Anolis luteogularis), the Santamaria snake, Cuba's largest serpent, are the major standouts. In the mammal category, 34 bat species –including the butterfly bat (Natalus lepidus) and jutias (conga and carabali) are the commonest in the region. The mollusks are represented by an army of endemic species, some of them found exclusively in Pinar del Rio, like the Sachrysia guanensis, or the motley yellow Viana regina. Others like the tiny Chondropomete (it barely reaches two millimeters long) the Liguus sp., and many other that could get as big as eight centimeters long, plus the dark Emoda sagrariana.

The fascinating world of Sierra de los Organos is a permanent invitation to explore and learn. Touring its woodlands, herding pigs, collecting the aromatic coffee grain, harvesting tobacco leaves, planting trees; they are all hard and toilsome works that men and women from these mountains dignify. Sharing their tables is a one-and-only experience; strumming the strings of a guitar at night and sing a ten-stanza verse under the moonlight and the stars above is simply divine.