Glimpsing Humboldt, Cuba: a first foray into the UN-designated biosphere, a photo-essay

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Our Baracoa friends, Alber and Delmer, arrive just as we sip the last of our breakfast coffee in Yegsi’s blue-and-white tiled kitchen. Soon we are off on the coastal road, but before reaching Baracoa, we stop for a quick drive into Alejandro Humboldt National Park.

Humboldt Park rises up from the provinces of Holguin and Guantánamo, Cuba. It was designated an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001. It is one of 259 nationally recognized protected areas (both land and water based); Humboldt covers 711.38 km². Cuba protects about 20%!o(MISSING)f its land and water, as compared with Canada, which protects about 11%!o(MISSING)f its territory and the United States protects about 12%!)(MISSING) Humboldt is renowned for its biodiversity and endemic species. It also contains the highest waterfall in the Caribbean (20-tallest in the world), Salto Fino, which is on “our must do” list. We also plan a nature hike, but these excursions are for other days.

We drive through green-green landscape with glimpses of the blue Atlantic. We stop on bridges so I can attempt to capture the scene, and Alber and I walk down to the ocean where we find an old conch shell worn bone-white by the roll of waves. Later we met a man selling polished conch, and James bought a glistening purple-hued one which we’ll display on Magic Badger.

I hope you enjoy some of the photographs taken on our short sojourn into Humboldt.

(This is what I would have posted on December 28, 2014, had I been able to access the Internet.)

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Photos

One of 29 rivers originating in Alejándro Humboldt National Park that flow into bays and then the Atlantic Ocean. Photo: Kathryn MacDonald©

Bahia de Jiguani, Humbolt National Park. Photo: Kathryn MacDonald©

A treasure tumbled by the sea’s constant roll. Photo: Kathryn MacDonald©

The three amigos: Delmer, James, and Alber. Photo: Kathryn MacDonald©

Jeilis Estèuez (pronounced Haleys), our hitchhiker. Photo: Kathryn MacDonald©

Woman selling turron de almendra along the highway: almonds pressed into a sugary cookie (similar to peanut brittle) and wrapped in a thin wooden ring. Photo: Kathryn MacDonald©

One of the men we met during our first visit to Humboldt. Photo: Kathryn MacDonald©

People live within the park; it is an historic occupation of those seeking refuge from the Spanish conquistadors, from slavery on plantations, and perhaps later those wanting a rural life. Photo: Kathryn MacDonald©

Postcard-perfect scenes pop up around every corner. Photo: Kathryn MacDonald©