Day 5, February 16, 2020: From Here to There And Back Again (Baracoa)

Far eastern Cuba

Mirador El Yunque is on our street.  Fuerte de La Punta at the northern tip. El Malecón faces the open ocean.

Reconvention at the north end of our street, in front of Fuerte de la Punta. The fort is one of several built by the Spanish in the 1700’s to protect Baracoa against piracy, and to repel English and French incursion. The remnants house a restaurant. Two historical markers adorn the outer wall:

Fuerte de la Punta

Where once the Spanish fought off pirates, Frenchmen, and Englishmen, now there is fine dining.

The plaque is on the fort's outer wall. "In this place was erected the first radio transmission tower, the 23rd of September of 1923. In homage to all those who completed this titanic work."

Eddie Gonzalez Martinez and Manuel Fuentes Borges were anti-Batista activists in eastern Cuba in the 1950's. They were taken into Fuerte de la Punta and assassinated by order of Batista, Oct 1958. Ceremonies honor them in Baracoa annually.

From where the fort sits overlooking the entrance one can see the bay in its entirety.

Looking across from Fuerte de la Punta, to the beach where Christopher Columbus landed.

This old wreck sits just inside the opening to the bay, by the fort.

The bay is said to be an ideal surfing spot. On this day calm prevailed. One surfer blog characterized this wreck as "tetanus-ridden" and recommended staying well clear.

Video of Bahía de Baracoa: https://youtu.be/IEvohfVAoTw

The morning itinerary would take us along the coast toward Punta de Maisí, the easternmost point of Cuba, which points directly at Haití. We would not go that far, but only to the mouth of the Río Yumurí for a canoe trip up the river gorge. The best laid plans, etc.......

Barricades and traffic cops limited road access to make room for an official bicycle race, Premio Internacional de Ciclismo de Montaña de Farola, the final stage of which was “ida y regreso” Baracoa-Maisí-Baracoa. For sure it is a big deal, an event in the year-long Cuban national cycling competition.

With 80,000 inhabitants, Baracoa is roughly four times the population as Dave’s hometown in Texas. That said, during the day, at least tenfold the number of people are out and about on the streets and sidewalks than in Brownwood, TX. Without doubt a surfeit of reasons can explain why this is so. The simplest reason, in our opinion, is a manner of daily living predicated on a culture of social interaction, rather than on privacy and isolation.

Cuba’s wettest and greenest landscape is the tropical mountain forest which surrounds and encloses Baracoa. The satellite maps which accompany this post show this. Until the 1960’s, Baracoa was largely inaccessible except by boat, plane, or horseback. Although now a modern highway connects Baracoa to Guantánamo, and although the “iffy” highway described on Day 3 connects Baracoa with Moa, still the countryside must look much like it did 100 years ago. South toward Cabacú small homes dot the roadside. Yards and fields are prolific with banana and palm trees, vegetable plots, flowers, and small animal paddocks.










Our on-board local guide, Norge Quintero, fluent speaker of English and very funny, ladled out tales from local mythology and history. Most intriguing is the tantalizing if overblown story behind the myth of the Río de Miel (River of Honey). In the narrative a love-struck young, unmarried French woman, living with her family in Baracoa during French occupation in the early 1800’s, must leave with her family the next morning for the United States. She and her Taíno lover spend her final night entwined in and alongside the Miél. The next day dawns, and she refuses to leave. Ever since, anyone who comes to Baracoa and swims in the Río de Miel either returns one day to Baracoa, or never leaves.

Where we turned east off the main carretera to head toward Yumurí, the guardia were blocking the road. We were on the exact route of the aforementioned bicycle race. No through traffic allowed until the guardia so say. We strolled around for a while, scoping out the houses, vehicles, and a nearby double peak named Las Tetas de Santa Teresa.

Las Tetas de Santa Teresa. Photo credit Roberto and Manuel, Villa Paradiso Baracoa. Please see the note at the end of today's installment.

Photo taken from Pinterest

'Les muestro estas emblemáticas montañas en la geografía de Baracoa; tal parece que la naturaleza las creó en honor a la anatomía humana. Su nombre proviene de una historia sobre una señora que vivió en la zona llamada Teresa. Se dice que esta Baracoense tenía las glándulas mamarias muy desarrolladasy se tomó por referencia en toda la comarca. El pueblo la bautizó en honor a la ilustre señora como “Las tetas de Santa Teresa”.' From http://naturalezabaracoa.blogspot.com/2018/05/teta-de-santa-teresa.html.

My translation: 'I'm showing you these archetypal mountains in the landscape of Baracoa; it would seem that nature created them in honor of human anatomy. Their name comes from the story about a woman who lived in the province of La Teresa. It's said that this Baracoense had very developed mammary glands, referred to throughout the entire region. The town "baptized" the mountain to honor this distinguished woman as "The Tits of Santa Teresa."'

We had time to lurk around this old Russian truck on the road when we were halted. It's a real relic.

The guardia said that it would be several hours before the road would be open to traffic. Discussion ensued as to selection among the alternate tour options. Rejecting plans B, C and D, Norge advised that his own Plan S was the most logical and appealing. Juan Ramón executed a 9-point U-turn with the bus, and back to the city we went. Into town, out the other side, then out the highway to the northwest. At a spot named Rancho de Toa, among large shade trees and ramadas, we strolled up to the south bank of the Río Toa. Rowboats and canoes can dock there, so most of us decamped on boat rides upstream. MJ and Dave, Viviana, and David K stayed on shore in the shade. MJ and Dave decided to test the river with a swim. The water is cool and clear. The Toa has a current, which we had to fight somewhat. The power of the current results from the steepness of the surrounding terrain, the length of the river (130 kilometers), and the volume of influx the river receives from its many mountainous tributaries (72). Indeed, for volume of water the Toa is the biggest river in Cuba (although not the longest). We were only a few miles inland, and yet the water is fresh, not at all saline.

The Toa, and the location of Rancho de Toa

The Toa, looking downstream

Río Toa, looking upstream. You can see the bridge that's upstream on the map, above.

Our presence caught the attention of the locals. The boaters returned laughing at the canines who chased them upstream, dog-paddling behind or running in the shallows. A cohort of local craftspeople arrived and set up a sales table in a ramada. Moreover, someone runs the bar. Two CUC’s, in convertible pesos approximating USD $2, bought a nice pour of ron Ritual Cubano.

Around noon, back and through town again, reprising the original route. The cyclists were done, the road at Cabacú was open. It’s a breathtaking stretch headed toward Maisí. The road lies sandwiched between green tropical mountains and the blue ocean. In the pueblo of Jamál, a man standing in front of a store waved frantically. He, it seemed, was waving at us. Stuart and Peggy were watching for him, so we stopped and up he climbed. He stayed with us until we dropped him off, same spot, on return. Lunch was planned, further down the road at Restaurante La Playita in Bariguá, a tiny beach settlement. Rumbling along toward lunch, we blew by a nondescript dirt road on the left, which curled up the hill into the forest. On the way back, we’d turn in there.

Baracoa to Bariguá. Restaurante La Playita is about the arrow tip, Playa Bariguá.

Right on the ocean (photo credit, Villa Paradiso Baracoa)

Stuart Ashman does a little pig-turning'.

I'm afraid this poor fella might be next.

Working on the side(s)?

Almuerzo al fresco

Everyone does business with Cuba except the U.S.

Playa Bariguá is beautiful and almost pristine.

El Yunque faintly visible in the far distance to the northwest.

Gorgeous, but too rough for swimming.

Ancient coral, intricately patterned. Shell scavenging here is unbelievable. Beautiful black sand.

Stuff grows anywhere.

After lunch massages are 5 CUC ($5)

Wending back toward home, Juan Ramón negotiated the sharp, partially obscured turnoff which we’d bombed past earlier. Up this thin, tree-lined dirt road is the village of El Güirito. A mostly open air ramada hunkers back under the trees; that's where we're going. El Güirito has about 500 inhabitants scattered in a loose farming community. It stands apart culturally because most or almost all residents are descendants of the aboriginal Taíno. The genetics are apparent in the faces of many; like native Hawaiians, however, pure Taíno no longer exist. The people are committed to sustain certain traditional Taíno practices, especially music and dance. The styles of each, simple but difficult to mimic, probably show us the indigenous roots of the earliest Cuban “son” musical style. Indeed, a sign in the community identifies the group we've come to see, Kiribá y Nengón, to be the defenders of that tradition. It's an interactive scheme. Spectators are going to be snagged. The video linked below proves that sitting on the back row, trying to hide behind a camera, or avoiding eye contact will provide zero immunity. Family-prepared Taíno food, traditional hand-made crafts, and fruit juice were served. Several of us bought drinks fashioned by unroofing a coconut and filling the inside with orange juice, sugar, and rum.

El Güirito is right where the mark touches the road. Jamál is just west.

El Güirito from Google Earth

El Güirito community (photo credit Villa Paradiso Baracoa)

El Güirito dance and music venue (photo credit Villa Paradiso Baracoa)

La banda

Video - audience participation, typical musical style: https://youtu.be/pE3D-F-OWS8

After the dancing and eating, Dave chatted with one of the hombres. He was open and friendly, quite forthcoming about his village, its history, the people who live there. He confessed that the village is shrinking, slowly dying really, for lack of work, for loss of the school, and for the big lights of the cities. Tourism can keep some of the people home. The age range of the performers looks to be from early 20’s to 80’s. He told Dave that too many people over the years have married first cousins, “not a good thing.” Dave is unsure whether this fellow was taking the piss: is it really true that almost everyone is named Romero, Palmero, Romero-Palmero, or Palmero-Romero?

Some of the dancers and the man we'd taken on earlier in Jamál hitched a ride back. Dinner was in town, at El Buen Sabor, a fabulous place. There was a musical duo, terrific really, well-regarded in Baracoa. They looked around constantly to identify which customers were actually listening. When they spotted you, they smiled and sought you out for a request. To our credit, not one person in the group asked for “Guántanamera.” MJ asked whether they knew “Los Angelitos Negros.” They did.

We capped a very fine day on our deck, with glasses of neat Havana Club 7 Años. Again, no planes in the air, no car headlights in the streets, no sirens, soft breeze and surf.




ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: We are so grateful to Manuel and Roberto, proprietors in Baracoa of Villa Paradiso Baracoa, a guesthouse/casa particular, who have allowed us to use three photos, so very much better than ours. They're mentioned in the captions, so readers can see which photos are theirs. On their website their place looks lovely. Muchísimas gracias, nuestros nuevos amigos. Ojalá tendramos la oportunidad de conocerlos en el futuro. 

This is the contact information for Manuel and Roberto:

Villa Paradiso Baracoa
Diáfana Cuba • Pristine Cuba • Cuba Immaculée

Moncada 92-B, e/ Paraíso Abajo y Calle 2
Baracoa, Guantánamo, Cuba
53-21-64-56-18
53-53-01-90-85

Enjoy more beautiful photos and videos of Baracoa and environs here:

Web: https://villaparadisobaracoa.com/en/
Instagram: VillaParadisoBaracoa
Facebook: VillaParadisoBaracoa
Twitter: VParadisoBCA
YouTube: Villa Paradiso Baracoa
TripAdvisor: Villa Paradiso Baracoa