Cuba

New York is not The City. England is not London. France is not Paris. Cuba is not Habana.

Leave the city and discover natural beauty, a slower pace and people willing to sit and talk.

Less than an hour’s drive west of Havana you are in the middle of a jungle of rolling hills and distant mountains.

There are few cars in and Habana and almost none on the highways. Cars are expensive and gas is cost prohibitive for most. People stand in the shade under overpasses holding out money or bananas or mangoes in exchange for a lift. Now and then you see a horse drawn cart.

We spent most of the day in the Sierra del Rosario Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO site of 12,355 acres of preserved natural beauty. Designated in 1984, it is one of six UNESCO sites on the island.

Beginning in the 1800s, coffee plantations stripped much of Cuba of its natural beauty. By 1959, only 19% of Cuba was forested. After the revolucion, the government decided to reforest the land. More than 3000 people were engaged in planting 8 million trees.

The village of Las Terrazas was established by Castro’s government as a model of socialist community and sits in the middle of this reforested paradise. Omar, our guide for this part of our day, was born and has lived in this village is entire life. As a result he can see and hear birds, animals and insects that none of us could without his careful prompting.

The village was planned by an architect and as a result the buildings have uniform white stucco walls with red tile roofs. Paths wander from building to building, the village school, houses, apartments, playgrounds, the zip line course primarily for tourists and down to the lake.

Cuban artist, Lester Campo, has his studio on the shores of the Lake. Omar was so proud to discuss this internationally successful artist and how, “though he has traveled all over the world, he always comes home to Las Terrazas.”

The artist was out of the country, but his girlfriend was in the studio and happy to sell us lithographs of his work. His originals were too expensive for our group.

The community was very quiet and a few people were seen.

My husband asked Omar if there were other such communities throughout Cuba.

“No. It’s too expensive.”

Too bad.

Lunch was the same as all meals: tomato, cucumber, cabbage, beans, rice, and your choice of pollo, cane or pork. It was a lovely lunch, however, because we ate in the shade outside beside a creek with small waterfall slides. Most of us went swimming after our meal.

We drove to Vinales late in the afternoon. Vinales is one of the most picturesque parts of Cuba. It is among the limestone pin cushion hills called mogotes. It is small community  filled with casa particulares, the equivalent of B & B’s.

I am so glad we were not there during tourist season because it is obvious this is an area that exists to serve tourists who want to see this exquisitely beautiful countryside.

We arrived at our casa just in time to sit on the veranda, sheltered from the hour-long torrential rain that marked the prelude to the hurricane season. Our hostess had fresh juice for us and we grabbed our light jackets to stay warm as temperatures quickly dropped, a welcome relief from the heat and humidity.

Dinner was the most magical dining experience I have ever had.

It was at the organic farm owned by Wilfredo Garcia Correa and his family. The farm house sat high on a hill over looking the Vinales Valley with craggy mountains seen off in the distance. Dinner was on the porch over looking the fields and valley with the sun setting off in the distance. It didn’t matter that it was the same food as all other meals.

Chickens, as always were everywhere and now we had the addition of farm kittens walking around our feet.

Not wanting the evening to end, our group declined our bus ride and, with Dady, our lead guide, we walked the two miles back to the center of the community and to our casas.

I want to stay here.