Good News

To all of you who crossed your fingers for me, thanks!

I GOT THE FULBRIGHT TO CHILE… PATAGONIA HERE I COME :)

Zapata

The Zapata Peninsula is a huge swamp next to the Bay of Pigs on the south coast of the Island. It is a National Park and the least densely populated area in Cuba. As soon as I read that I started planning a trip there and the more I started reading, the more excited I became… endemic birds, orchids, guajiros, crocodiles, zunzuncitos, SCUBA diving, beaches, caves, the biggest swamp in the Caribbean, and anti-American propaganda. What’s not to love?

My alarm went off at 6:30 AM on Friday morning and we were off. When we arrived at the bus station we were informed that the road was closed south of Playa Giron (our second destination) so the bus was re-routed and no longer stops at Playa Larga (our first destination). We got on anyway and after a few hours hopped off at Jaguey Grande, the closest we could get to where we wanted to be. The bus dropped us (no one else got off) on the side of the highway next to a Cuban equivalent to a rest area along the PA turnpike. After an hour and some intense negotiations we found a nice man named Pepe who drove us to Playa Larga.

Playa Larga is not a busy place. The dusty streets are full of bicycles, horse-carts, old American cars, and beat up trucks. There are pick-up baseball games, stray dogs, and people relaxing on their front porches. Once we had a place to stay (we settled on all six of us in a single, cheap, hotel room) and had stashed our stuff, we went on a hunt for food. We walked to “downtown” Playa Larga and stuffed our faces with delicious egg sandwiches for 2MN ($0.08USD) each. Hoping to do a last minute afternoon trip into the swamp, we found the Park Office and inquired about options. We talked a while with Mario a Park Guide about the different trips available. He called around to find us transportation, hung up one of the calls, and informed us “a yellow bus will pick you up at 8AM tomorrow.” Good thing we didn’t have any plans for the morning.

Now it was time to find something else to do for the afternoon. Roughly 28km away from Playa Larga is Cueva de las Pecas. The Cueva is a 70 meter deep cenote (fault line) next to the beach filled in with water. As we walked past the guard house at the entrance to the hotel I asked if the cueva was to the right or to the left. We turned right, started walking down the road, and stuck out our thumbs. After a while a caminone pulled over. Yay! We rode a few kilometers standing in the bed of the truck which huge ceramic rain barrels and a Cuban who just kept laughing at us extranjeros. It was wonderful. After a little more walking and a lot of rejections, we flagged an antique teal Chevy. It took some convincing and a few sad puppy faces, but he dropped us off at the cueva. We swam in the ocean, jumped in the cueva, chilled in the hammocks, and then asked around to see how to get back to the hotel. We waited for a broken bus for two hours in some rain and a swarm of mosquitoes, got dropped off a few kilometers away, and walked back from there.

8 AM the next morning we were ready to go and eagerly waiting for the mysterious yellow bus to pick us up. Mario strolled up and said the bus would be coming at 9 AM. Around 9:30 AM an old French yellow school bus pulled in the driveway and off we went. This was all very typically Cuban. We drove 20 kilometers along a dirt road into the swamp to Las Salinas. We saw lots and lots of birds: ibis, pelicans, cormorants, herons, flamingos (my favorite), the Batista hawk, and some more I can’t remember. Mario was a great guide. There were mangroves, lowland forest, lagoons, and swamp… not much vibrant color (except for the flamingos), but it is beautiful nonetheless.

Our trip ended, but we decided that we loved the random school bus and Chichi (the driver) so much that we re-hired him to take us to Playa Giron. Squeezing six people into a small hotel room with two single beds worked out so why not do it again? We ran into a bit of a problem when two of us went to check in. The only hotel in Playa Giron is all-inclusive, requiring guests to wear a florescent yellow wrist band. Some more quick thinking and fast talking and we managed to pay for four people but get six wristbands. Success.

An hour after our crafty check-in I was in the gear room of the International SCUBA Center getting fitted for a BC and a wetsuit andloading tanks into the truck. SCUBA DIVING WAS SO MUCH FUN. The Caribbean is a much better place to dive than a zero viability catfish infested coal fire power plant coolant lake in West Virginia. All during the 45 minuet dive I was having trouble keeping my regulator in because I kept smiling too much. I was on sensory overload. Everywhere I looked… colorful fish, coral, crabs, a ray, more tropical fish, more coral, four squid swimming in a line, sponges…

There was a little anxiety about the whole wrist band situation so after a brief retreat into town and regrouping in the local baseball dugout, we had a relaxed night of lounging by the pool, beach volleyball with a group a Germans, and dinner.
I did two more dives in the morning. Both were equally amazing as the first. I plan on doing at least three more dives during the rest of my time in Cuba. I’m 100% hooked on yet another wallet draining hobby. Oh well… SO FUN! The rest of the group came along this time and snorkeled. Minus the hordes of jelly fish which freaked some people out (they didn’t sting) we had a great day in the sun. I could go on and on and on and on about SCUBA, but for now enjoy the pictures and prepare yourself to hear hours upon hours of diving stories when I am home.

After lunch, check-out, and coffee we lucked out and snagged seats on a bus that left right from the hotel in Playa Giron to Havana. It dropped us only a few blocks from home. We even made it home in time for dinner. Zapata was yet another very successful trip out of the city. I love it. Every time I travel I realize how lucky I am. This world is absolutely amazing.

Pinar del Rio

If I were to stay in Cuba forever I would live in Pinar del Rio in the Valley of Vinales. It’s no big secret that I like to play outside, and Vinales is the perfect place to do just that. This particular trip was a planned excursion through the Pitt in Cuba program. I hate tour buses with a passion so the hop on - drive - hop off - take pictures - hop back on itinerary got old before it even started, but the location and much needed break from the city made up for it.

The first stop was the eco-village Las Terrazas. Back in the day the hardwood resources of the area were exploited leaving nothing but barren mountains until after the revolution when Castro initiated a reforestation program. The model was extremely successful and lead to the creation of the self sustainable community of Las Terrazas. After a phenomenal ranchon style lunch of local food and of course ice cream, we stopped for coffee at the house of a darling lady named Maria. She was all of 4 feet 6 inches tall (naturally we snapped a picture together) and served the best coffee I have had in Cuba thus far.

The next stop on the tour (literally) was Soroa, a quite “mountain town.” A short hike and we were at the top of the Mirador, a lookout. The perpetual frentes frios made the weather perfect for hiking. The views were a bit obstructed by clouds but beautiful nonetheless.

The next day we finished off the town attractions. We went to an orchid garden and walked to a nice waterfall. Despite the fact that there were roughly three species of orchids the property and other flowers were gorgeous. Before getting on the bus again we walked down the road and along a short trail to see a waterfall. This is the closest thing to a river with whitewater that I am going to find in Cuba.

On the way to Vinales we stopped at a tobacco plantation. Pinar del Rio is where the best tobacco in Cuba is grown, and since the best cigars in the world are from Cuba, a plantation like this one is on the itinerary of every trip to the province so people can buy, smoke, and learn about the famous cigars. There were rows of shoulder high plants, big drying houses, harvested rows of hanging leaves, smiling sombrero wearing guajiros, and of course cigars… I wish we could have stayed longer.

Our final stop was the town of Vinales. The town itself is comprised of houses with rocking chair laden porches, tree lined streets, and more friendly guajiros. Surrounding the town is the Valley of Vinales home to beautiful magotes and world class climbing (something obviously not on the tour schedule). Magotes are rounded limestone mountains that were formed when the roofs of underground rivers collapsed. Almost all of them are a mix of sheer cliffs and vegetation. We stopped at the Mural de la Prehistoria, a humongous psychedelic portrayal of the origin of life painted on one of the cliffs. We also took a tour by foot and by boat of one of the many cave systems in the area.

After lunch I was in much need of some time away from the bus, so I took a solo walk along a very rural road outside of town. Everything was so tranquil. No car horns, no cat calls, no hurry. Along the way I saw the national Cuban bird, the Tocoro. As a budding birder, I was excited. It is the national Cuban bird because its coloring matches the Cuban flag, it does not survive in captivity, and it regularly shakes its tail feathers.

I love the countryside. I plan on going back... probably hitchhiking in camiones to Vinales for some more hiking, birding, and rock climbing. There are no maps published of the area so I snapped some pictures of the maps hanging on the walls at the park visitor center to go off of. Sorry mom and dad… I guess these are the types of adventures you like me to tell you after they occur. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine :)