Article published on 16/08/2025
The next stop is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. To get there, we follow a stretch of road along the sea near Playa Girón, which together with Playa Larga forms the famous Bay of Pigs, the place where Yankee imperialism suffered its first defeat in Latin America. Trinidad is superb. Low houses in every imaginable pastel shade: light yellow, pink, pale green, baby blue, soft orange… a whole palette of color. Iron gates everywhere, typical of colonial architecture, and streets reminiscent of the paths in The Betrothed. We climb the great staircase to the Casa de la Música, the place where, in the evening, hundreds of people let loose dancing salsa. The afternoon sun, reflecting off the buildings, creates a fairytale atmosphere. For dinner, our first lobster of the trip awaits, with Cuban white wine. It's all beyond words. Leaving Trinidad, we enter the Escambray Mountains to reach a coffee plantation. The guide begins to explain the whole process: from the plant to the roasting, to the moment it's drunk—and indeed, we taste it in a small hut. On the wall, an image of Martí and some of his words about coffee, since apparently there is nothing he didn't write about. The first lines read: "Coffee has a mysterious commerce with the soul…" The Sendero del Caburní leads to a small waterfall. There were other falls and other routes, but we chose this one because it's the most difficult hike in the area. The path is long and steep, and then we'll have to go all the way back uphill. But once we reach the destination, we understand it was worth it. We strip down and jump into the coldest water on the planet, but we can't miss a chance like this. The next day, we walk about fifteen kilometers to reach Playa Ancón, where we finally meet the sea. White sand and crystal-clear water, the essential ingredients of the Caribbean. Long walks along the shoreline from west to east, a delicious sandwich in the shade of a tree, and lots and lots of sun. The conquest of Santa Clara by Ernesto Che Guevara and a small group of men marked the victory of the barbudos, who entered Havana triumphantly just a few days later. The square dedicated to him is imposing, as is the statue erected in 1987, twenty years after his assassination in Bolivia, portraying him standing with a rifle in one hand on a towering marble pedestal. Inscriptions, bas-reliefs, and quotes from Guevara's many writings surround the statue. At its base, a crown of perpetually fresh flowers and the red, blue, and white flag fluttering in the wind. The square, entirely paved, is enormous, and on the other side, two large signs commemorate important moments. One reads "…queremos que sean como el Che!", the beautiful words Fidel shouted to the people upon the death of the great hero: "We want (our children… the children of Cuba) to be like Che!" Then, the camera must be put away, as it is not allowed to photograph the underground space that solemnly guards the remains of the Commander and his thirty-eight unfortunate companions.
In the El Nicho National Park, a river with rapids forms a series of small waterfalls and clear water pools that represent the triumph of nature and spectacular beauty. The national tree, the royal palm, along with a variety of other trees and plants dating directly from prehistoric times, create a landscape worthy of Jurassic Park. We bathe among rocks, vegetation, waterfalls, and small caves. The water is crystal clear and warmed by the sun's rays. We don't spend little time in a place that's hard to leave.
A farm managed by the Ministry of Fisheries Industries houses crocodiles of all ages and sizes. We take one in our hands (naturally its jaws are tied with a rope), play with the big ones by teasing them with a stick, and even watch a confrontation between a crocodile and a dog, where the dog barks but carefully avoids getting near the fearsome teeth.
