Baracoa Sun-Mon 15-16 July Day 10 & 11

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Baracoa Sun-Mon 15-16 July Day 10 & 11



We had 2 full days to explore Baracoa and it’s surrounds. On the way we had 2 stops. The first was after we drove through Guantanamo town, about 15 kms we went to a lookout and saw the American Guantanamo Bay prison and township through binoculars!!!!







Next was a beautiful Alto de Codillo Lookout that had a 360 degree view of the Baracoa district. It was lush green in places, but we could see many sections of stripped trees resulting from the hurricane of 12 month ago. It was a steep climb but worth it. A very poor village of about 100 people live next to the lookout and try to sell fruit, sweets and souvenirs. There was a bar there also and the locals were well on the way to being drunk due to the very cheap rum that they can get. The government provides them with food and drinks which they can’t grow themselves, at a very low price, including alcohol and cigarettes.







Arriving at around 1.30pm we soon saw that Baracoa was a small town continuing to rebuild after a hurricane hit the town in 2017. Being a Socialist country, the Cuban Government rushed people and resources to help the local community. The township was only out of power for 1 week and only a few houses needed radical repair. We smelt a lot of paint as Camilo took us on our usual city walking tour.







Half way through the walking tour we stopped at a lovely restaurant for a light (cheap) meal and cold drink. We then continued the tour for another 15 minutes. The 4 of us left Camilo and continued to explore the town and the waterfront until we were almost melting with the heat. It was back to the air conditioning until dinner time.







Meeting Camilo at 8.00pm, he took us to the La Colina Restaurant for a magnificent dinner where I had a BBQ lobster with a spicy coconut sauce. It was magnificent and only 10 CUC. Included was pumpkin soup and chocolate flan. Tom was not well again so he went back to the guest house. That turned out to be the right decision because he woke up feeling really good the next morning.







Baracoa is located on the spot where Christopher Columbus landed in Cuba on his first voyage. It is thought that the name stems from the indigenous Arauaca language word meaning "the presence of the sea".



Baracoa lies on the Bay of Honey (Bahía de Miel) and is surrounded by a wide mountain range (including the Sierra del Purial), which causes it to be quite isolated, apart from a single mountain road built in the 1960s.



Christopher Columbus 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. 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 tradition, Columbus put a cross called Cruz de la Parra in the sands of what would later become Baracoa harbour.



Around 15 August 1511 (the official foundation day) the first governor of Cuba was appointed and built a villa here and named the place 'Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Baracoa', thus making Baracoa the first capital of Cuba. In 1518 it received the title of city and the first Cuban bishop was appointed. As a result, several remains of the Spanish occupation can still be seen here, such as the fortifications El Castillo, Matachín and La Punta and the cemetery.



In the 16th and 17th centuries the isolated location made it a haven for illegal trade with the French and English. At the beginning of the 19th century many French fled here from the revolution of independence in Haiti, who started growing coffee and cocoa.



From the middle of the 19th century many expeditions of independence fighters landed here which greatly helped the independence from Spain in 1902.



Before the Cuban Revolution the only access was by sea, but in the 1960s a 120-kilometre-long road from Guantanamo named La Farola was built through the mountains, which was one of the showcases of the revolution. The road had already been planned by the Batista government, but never got built. The highest point of the road is at over 600 m and it passes over 11 bridges.







Monday 16 July







Our guest house served us breakfast on the 3^rd floor of their house, on the terrace overlooking the town of Baracoa with a view to the sea. There was a gentle breeze blowing so it was beautiful. We could also see the table-top mountain which is called el Yunke. It is apparently a strenuous climb to reach the top of the anvil mountain, but we weren’t going to have the time to do it.







We met a British couple the day before who was doing the same tour as us but in reverse. We found that they were staying in the same guest house when they joined us for dinner. They were both teachers and had travelled to many countries on an international teaching appointment. They were very interesting to talk to.







We met the rest of our group and Camilo at 9.00pm and hopped in our transport for the day; a Rambler. Tom thinks it was several cars bolted together. The paint work was hand painted, the seats were benched, the inside lining was corflute material and right at the end of the day, it ran out of petrol. Never fear, he hailed down his mate, got out an old plastic coke bottle, his friend got underneath his car’s petrol tank and drained some petrol into the plastic bottle several times. No problems! On our way we went!!!







We combined the Dauha Finca tour with the Yamuri River tour (25 CUC total). Dauhu Finca was a cacao plantation with many other fruit trees. The owner spoke in Spanish whilst Camilo translated. He was an absolute character. We laughed all around the property has he told jokes about mother-in-laws and other family challenges in Cuba. It was all very respectful though. Fruit we saw or tasted was mango, banana, cacao, bananas, native pear, bread fruit, several herbs and other citrus. We ended our tour in a restaurant and had hot chocolate drink which was very tasty. We saw how they make chocolate and learned all other uses of the cacao plant and manufacturing process. There was only one chocolate factory in Cuba which was on the outskirts of Baracoa.







At one stage the owner dressed us up with his hat, a piece of royal palm frond around our neck, holding a wad of royal palm fruit which looked like a witch’s broom, holding his machete, sitting on a dried palm branch. He was certainly a character.







From there it was back in the old car (no a/c of course) and drove to Yumuri River. We hopped in a row boat with a makeshift roof and the local rowed for about 15 minutes before we stopped and walked along the gravelly river bed where we had a swim. The water was beautiful, warm and clear with a slight ting of saltiness as the mouth of the river had been our starting point. The tide was in when we walked to our swimming spot so we stepped from rock to rock so we didn’t get our shoes wet. By the time we left after an hour the tide was going out and the path was dry.







After a 10 minute ride we arrived at the restaurant by the beach where we had a meal of local mini fish with spicy coconut sauce, rice and salad. The sea was also warm with a few waves, but David was the only one who went for a swim. The bottom was rocky, and the sand was very black, but the water was clear. David even had a massage from this very handsome 24 yo local man who had a massage table on the beach.







From there we returned to Baracoa to get cleaned up and cool before dinner time. We chose another roof-top restaurant and the breeze was beautiful. It did however, rain a little so we had to move inside and listen to the local music trio. So many restaurants in Cuba have live music playing and we have found out that the restaurant owners don’t pay them much, if anything so the musicians rely on selling their CDs and VDVs or tips from tourist (mainly).







It rains a lot here and that only makes sense when we saw the stunning verdant forests that dominated the landscape in the Baracoa region including the native forest of Alexander Humbolt Biosphere Reserve. Jessica and I chose to do the 7km trek through the forest with a Spanish speaking, and very knowledgeable guide.







We were joined by 4 Germans and 2 Belgium travellers. Everyone except me could speak at least 2 languages. Several spoke 3 languages!! Jess translated for me and when she didn’t quite get the conversation then either the Belgium couple or one of the German guys translator. The guide could even speak German so that is what he did also. This extended the time for the walk due to the duel explanations about plants and their medicinal use. It was an interesting trek made more interesting by the language dynamics.







The heat was steamy, and we were constantly dripping. After driving over an hour in a Jeep over an incredibly rough, unsealed road, we stopped at a little stall to be invited to try some juices, buy chocolate, cacao balls and cocoanut candy, before starting our trek.







The first part of the trek was all up hill. The next part was up and down over very rough path and the largest section was under tree canopy which was more pleasant. We came across the river after about 4 hours and was very relieved to jump in the stream and swim to the Yunque waterfall. I decided to jump into the water fully clothed because I thought I would never get my below knee length tights back on. All worked very well.







What a relief it was to get into the refreshing water. It took us all about 30 minutes to stat feeling a little cooler. After about 45 minutes we went back to our guide and I had a bight of lunch which I had bought with me. By this time, it was after 2.00pm.







From time to time we came across little stalls being maned by the locals, but they were all selling the same produce. One stall was selling cocoanut milk in whole cocoanuts and another was giving away cocoanut flesh which was really nice. Our guide picked mangos for us along the way as well as native pears which was refreshing.





We also saw the smallest frog in the world. The Mount Iberia frog (Eleutherodactylus iberia) from Cuba currently holds the Guinness World Record for smallest frog even though some say there is a frog in New Guinea that is the smallest.



After the 7 km circuit we returned to our starting point and hopped back into the car for our return, very rough journey. We stopped at a beach on the way were there was a large pile of conch shells. Our guide gave us all a small one each. Back in the car for another 30 minutes before stopping at another beach where our order for drinks was taken. By this time, it was 5.30pm. we were supposed to be back by 5.00pm! So we all went down on the beach and sat chatting while the locals bought us our orders (I had a cold Cristal beer). We watched a number of children playing on the sand and a large group of locals and tourists playing beach volley ball and soccer. Eventually we drove the last 30 minutes back to Baracoa.







By the time we spotted Tom & David sitting outside the Hotel Habana it was almost 7.00pm. I met a very worried husband who thought something had happened to us. All was well, so we sat down, full of stories of the day and enjoyed another beer with the guys before going back to our guest house for a much needed shower before dinner.







We loved Baracoa and had enjoyed our time there. It was a beautiful area and we were pleased to be able to support the local community who continued to rebuild their little town of about 90,000 people.

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Photos

Alto de Codillo Lookout (8)
Lots of steps but worth it. It was even 'cool' up there

Duaba Finca tour
The local guide dressed me up - a bit embarrasing!!!

Baracoa City Walk
The entry to the Mall