Baracoa
28 April 2016
Susan
There is one bus to and from Baracoa each day. It leaves Santiago at 8am getting into Baracoa around 1pm; at 2pm it leaves Baracoa for the return trip. Between Santiago and the routes’ one scheduled stop in the city of Guantanamo, the scenery is similar to what we’ve seen so far. After Guantanamo the road hugs the coast through arid, sparsely populated land before starting the climb up and over the mountains that separate Baracoa from the rest of Cuba. The mountain section of journey is the most picturesque with palm farms giving way to lush green pine forests. It’s also the most dangerous as the road narrows to barely 2-lanes, no shoulder, very steep with hair-pin turns, many of them back to back and blind. The bus takes up the entire road most of the time.
Backing up a bit, I have to tell you about these bus drivers. Consistent with the previous bus rides, the seat number on the boarding pass means nothing, and the drivers reserve the first row (4 seats) for their own use as well as for friends and family they pick up and drop off along the way. These friends do not have Viazul tickets; if they pay, they pay the driver directly. Today’s drivers are silver-haired men in their 60’s with generous bellies. As we leave Santiago, the bus takes detours to drop off one of their love interests in her town, then to pick up a party official friend. After Guantanamo, the bus stops at a roadside open-air stand where the drivers both purchase several large stocks of plantains, which they put in the cargo hold, then later another stop to purchase an entire 5-gallon bucket of mangos. A bit after this, the bus stops for a bio-break for one of the drivers. When they switch, the initial driver doesn’t make any attempt to hide the fact that he’s taking sips of rum from a small bottle before falling asleep in a first row seat. Meantime, we, paying passengers, have not been allowed off of the bus since Guantanamo, a couple of hours previous. One gentleman is getting more & more anxious with each stop, probably because he needs a bio-break too. Our chance to get off the bus for a break comes at a house in the mountains whose residents are standing by to sell us cucuruchos, small cups of coffee, sweet bananas and for a fee, use of their outhouse (no seat, no toilet paper, no running water, curtain for a door). Guessing the drivers get a portion of the proceeds… The return trip is as noteworthy but for a different reason, which I’ll get to on the next blog posting.
Baracoa means “land of water”; it is the wettest region in Cuba with an annual rainfall of 2 m in the coastal zone to 3.6 m in the Toa Valley. There are 29 rivers in the area, many beautiful waterfalls, 120 types of tree. 80% of Cuba’s coconut production comes from this region which is evident in its regional cuisine. Cucuruchos is ground coconut, fruit & honey wrapped in dried palm leaves in a clever cone shape with a carrying handle. Yummy by itself; even better with butter on toast with coffee. Hot chocolate with breakfast and the daily catch cooked in a coconut milk sauce for lunch and/or dinner is traditional.
Our casa particulare here is Casa Particular Rafael Navarro Gallardo. Clean spacious room on the 2nd level (more steep narrow steps), comfortable bed, slightly more water pressure than usual in the shower. Shared covered outdoor terrace with chairs and tables on the 3rd level provides views of the town rooftops, mountains and sea. 25 CUC per room / night. Meals are served on this 3rd level; the perfect place for breakfast with the morning ocean breezes. Better than standard breakfast mostly due to the hot chocolate and the fruit plate of banana, pineapple, mango, and passion fruit. 5 CUC pp / day.
Hiking, rafting, waterfall and archaeological tours are popular with visitors yet we do none of those. We spend our one full day here walking the town and relaxing in the central plaza or casa rooftop terrace. Sites of note: two small stone forts sit on opposite ends of the malecon, and the church in the central plaza contains a cross known as the Cruz de la Parra said to have been planted here by Columbus.