Baracoa
Trip Start
Unknown
1
7
Trip End
Ongoing
Baracoa, Cuba
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
I
had to go to the next office of immigration to extend my visa for
another month. That would be in Holguin, the next big city… The main
square, "Calixto
Garcia" named after this general fighting in three Cuban wars for
independence was the spot to really appreciate the smooth Cuban rhythm
of life. Young people flirting and dancing, music everywhere around and
some lost tourists making a break on their journey trough the island... I
met there two Slovak (oups!! sorry, I mean Slovenian) girls who
were complaining about the high prices of traveling trough Cuba by bus…
I suggested that they should hitch a ride or try the slow trains... I
was so pleased to meet them a few weeks later when they told me: “Ennio,
we took a local train as you recommended and we paid only 10 pesos ( 0,40 eurocent) for
the whole journey among friendly locals, we were so happy!”
In the
late afternoon, I went to the "La Loma de la Cruz", a hill a bit out of
town from where the view on the city was amazing...
Leaving Holguin, I
rode to Gibara. It is in this coastal city where the International
Festival of Poor Cinema takes place since the year 2003 and where films
are presented in different categories.
A
polemic exists about if it was the Bay of Gibara or the Bay of Baracoa
that gave coast to the Admiral Christopher Columbus' ships in its first
trip to Cuba when he said: “It is the most beautiful land that human
eyes saw.”
And believe me, it is beautiful !
The
next morning, I wanted to reach Banes following the coast. Pity enough,
I stuck before the night fall in Guardalavaca, a fully built tourists
resorts looking like Varadero... I went a few km out of the tourist area
and put my tent on a
scenic white beach... On the way to Banes, I helped a farmer to fix his
bicycle. He offered me the bracelet made of shells which I still wear
every day.. I also met Ayelen, a trainer for young cyclists… Nice
picture, isn't it?
After a short visit and a lunch in Banes, (on the
picture the church where Fidel married his first wife Mirta
Diaz-Balart). This is the city where dictator Fulgencio Batista was born
in 1901.
On the 8th of September 2003 hurricane Ike , the most destructive hurricane in Cuban history, made landfall here.
From
Banes to Mayari along Bahia De Nipe where the famous Virgen de la
Caridad, patroness of Cuba was found in about 1608 by the brothers De
Hoyo and their slave Juan Moreno by harvesting
salt.
Passing Mayari, on the way to Salto del Guayabo, the highest waterfall
in Cuba, I wanted to join Biran which is the place where Fidel Castro
was born. Due to the bad roads and the tropical rain, I had to go back
down to the city and spend the night in a camping next to Levisa. As the
camping was closed, I was hosted by a young family next to it. The
weather was not that good, I could hardly join Baracoa in one day, so I
decided to spend the night in Moa but as Cuba has the second largest
nickel reserves in the world after Russia and Moa lays in the middle of
it, I preferred to ride a few km more. If it's not for business reasons,
don't stay there! bwahh… It was night when I reached Punta Gorda and
the rain started again, I had to find a place quickly. I asked the Chef
of the village where to put my tent when the Family Ramirez offered me
to stay in their place… They
served me a generous meal, warm tea, a refreshing shower and so much
and so much!! The generosity of the Cuban and the way they host people
is THE perfect example of how a society have to be… nothing about money,
nothing about profits but just philanthropy on the purest sense...
The
next morning when I left, I went to say goodbye to half of the village
reassembled in the church, I could stay there for 20 more days if I had
accepted all the invitations to stay longer.
65 km to reach Baracoa, the road was so bad, the rain so heavy and the wind so strong but who cares ? Even in those conditions, the
coastline was amazing beautiful and it was not yet 3 pm when I arrived
to the destination.
And here I was, Baracoa, the first capital of
Cuba found in 1511 by Velazquez. Baracoa lies on the Bahia de Miel (Bay
of Honey) and it is surrounded by a wide mountain range.
On the 27 of October 1492, Colombus landed in Cuba in a place he named Porto Santo. It is
generally assumed from his description that this was Baracoa, although there are also claims it was Gibara as I wrote before.
But Columbus also described a nearby table mountain, which is almost certainly nearby "El Yunque". He wrote in his logbook: “The most beautiful place in the world, I heard the birds sing that they will never ever leave this place”... According to legend, Columbus put a cross called Cruz de la Palla in the sands of what would later become Baracoa harbor.
On
the main square there is the statue of Hatuey, a Taino Indian who
fled from the Spanish and raised an army to fight against them in
Cuba. Captured and sentenced to burn at the stake, it is said that just
before he died, a Catholic priest tried to convert him so he would
attain salvation. Hatuey asked the priest if heaven was the place where
the dead Spanish go. When he received an affirmative answer, he told the
priest that he'd rather go to hell.
From Baracoa, it's an easy ride
to join Punta Maisi, the most eastern point of Cuba but as some locals
told me, it's a military area and access is denied for foreigners. Other
say there were no restrictions to go. I really had to try!
Anyway,
I’ll remember Baracoa for its quietness and easy atmosphere ( a bit like Vinales)...
It is the right place to make a few trekking around and take some rest
before the climb of "La Farola", the famous 55km long mountain road
crossing the Sierra Del Plurial. The highest point of the road is at
over 600 m and it passes 11 bridges.
A showcase of the Revolution !
Comments
Come on Ennio, Slovenian girls...not Slovak ;)
Hi ennio How are you
WoW! beautiful beach