Cuba: Baracoa

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After a 4am call time in Miami, we were ready to fly to Holguin. On the plane, somehow it worked out that everyone on the right side of the plane was part of our tour group, and I ended up on the left side of the plane, with all of the locals heading back to their families. I had the pleasure of sitting next to William, who has lived in Miami for 12 years and asked "William speak English with you? William has not spoke English in mmm 6 months, need to practice - thank you, thank you" I learned that he supports his entire extended family, with parents who are incredibly appreciative, and siblings who question how he could leave the family, yet gladly receive his money every month. He said his life exists for his family. He legally immigrated to the United States on a visa lottery and maintains a Cuban passport which must be renewed every two years for $200. Compare this to US passport, which costs $110 to renew and last for 10 years, and you see how incredibly cost prohibitive it is to be a Cuban resident trying to travel outside Cuba, or a Cuban national in the US (or anywhere) trying to visit family and friends still in Cuba.

We landed in Holguin and immediately headed for Baracoa, the first town established in Cuba. Having arrived late and being behind on our schedule, Jarrett our tour organizer asked whether the group would like to continue on the 3 hour drive to Baracoa to get back on schedule, or if we needed to stop right away. Everyone on the 22 person bus voted (how un-Cuba like) to carry on and started offering their packed snacks as community property. I knew it was going to be a great trip with a great group!

Originally occupied by the indigenous Taino people, and the only place where Taino people still live as most were eradicated by the Spanish. The most famous Taino being Hatuey, "Cuba's first national hero" who organized an army to fight the Spanish. As legend goes, before being burned at the stake, a priest asked him if he accepted Jesus in his life, to which Hatuey asked if Spaniards went to heaven. After the priest said yes, Hatuey then said he would rather go to hell than ever have to see such cruel people again.

With a church built in the, soon followed a monument to Hatuey facing the church. To construct a monument to a national hero who so despised the church was such a "slap in the face" to the church, they temporarily closed their doors for a number of year. Thankfully they have since reopened so we were able to see La Cruz de la Parra, one of the only remaining of the original 29 crosses brought by Christopher Columbus. You'll notice the dimensions of the cross to appear as though the top is cut off. Because it was! As people visited, they saw the cross, and Columbus's journey as such a miracle, they would all take a piece of the cross. Obviously, eventually this had to stop, and now the cross is enclosed. Though it was offered to Pope John Paul III in 1998. Who kindly refused, stating he could not take such a precious relic away from the Cuban people.

The following day we were treated to a performance and traditional meal by some of the remaining indigenous peoples. Eating out of a gourd and watching the pig roast.

While Cubans eat far more pork that I was prepared for, I will say how refreshing/delicious it is that everything on the island seems to be unintentionally organic and grass fed, because that's the only option! With the trade embargo, Cuba hasn't been able to receive seeds and pesiticdes from Monsanto. While Cuba used to be the world's largest exporter of sugar, without the economic support of Russia and the US trade embargo in place, they had to start producing more of their own food. They haven't yet been able to find a sustainable way to feed themselves it is a small island which still relies on imports to feed it's population... but what they are feeding their population, is real food!

The next day we stopped at the Museo Arqueologico La Cueva del Paraiso an cave an old Taino burial ground with artifacts and petroglyphs dating back some 3000 years. Plus if you climbed up through the cave and up some not so secure ladders, you could catch a beautiful view of the Bahia de Miel or Bay of Honey.

Before the Cuban Revolution, Baracoa was only accessible by sea, a project planned by Bautista but completed as a showcase of the revolution, a road was to built a road connecting Baracoa to Guantanamo. Crossing through the mountains.

Traversing the mountains was no problem for our tour bus, but approaching the hill to climb a tower, for which you can pay 1CUC to climbs stairs and with a stellar pair of binoculars MAAAAYBE see a hint of a jet at the US Guantanamo Bay naval station. As we went up the hill and our driver missed first gear and the bus stalled out, our endearing guide Hector came on the microphone "well, ok, looks like we are going to walk, mmhmm, yup"

Though the Americans who live and work at GTMO are in no way integrated into the culture, somehow artifacts like this appear.

We learned that "guajira" means country person, and "Guanatamera/o" means person (in this case a woman) from Gauntanamo. There was not a day that went by on the trip that we didn't hear this song. Most of the Cuban music was AMAZING but once they started performing solely for the tourists, it felt a little cheesy.

For a more complete view of my Cuban experience: http://kelleylcox.com/blog/2015/1/cuba

Keywords: Adventure, Life

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Cuba: Baracoa

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Cuba: Baracoa

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