Cuba - Lonely Planet [249]
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TOCORORO
In the forested mountains of rural Cuba, there are few birds as striking or emblematic as the tocororo.
Endemic to the island, the tocororo – or Cuban trogon, to give it its scientific name – is a medium-sized black-and-white bird with a bright red belly and a blueish-green patch between the wings. Other distinctive features include a sharp serrated bill and a sweeping concave tail.
Easy to spot if you know where to look, the bird is widely distributed throughout Cuba in heavily forested areas, especially near rivers and streams. The unusual name is derived from its distinctive call which sounds out: to-co-ro-ro.
Long venerated for its striking plumage, the tocororo was chosen as Cuba’s national bird due to its coloring (which replicates the red, white and blue of the Cuban flag) and its apparent resistance to captivity. Nationalistically minded Cubans will tell you that tocororos are instinctively libertarian, and if you cage one, it will quickly die.
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Topes de Collantes has three hotels open to foreigners, plus excellent guided and unguided hiking. Its jungle-like forests harboring vines, lichens, mosses, ferns and eye-catching epiphytes are akin to a giant outdoor biological classroom.
The Carpeta Central information office ( 54-02-31; 8am-5pm), near the sundial at the entrance to Topes de Collantes, is the best place to procure maps, guides and trail info.
Sights
Believe it or not, Topes de Collantes’ monstrous sanitarium once harbored a treasure trove of Cuban art boasting works by Cuban masters such as Tomás Sánchez and Rubén Torres Llorca. Raiding the old collection in 2008, inspired provincial officials opened Museo de Arte Cubano Contemporáneo ( 54-02-31; admission CUC$3), an infinitely more attractive museum that displays over 70 works in six salas (rooms) spread over three floors.
Coffee has been grown in these mountains for over two centuries and in the small rustic Casa Museo del Café ( 54-02-31) you can fill in the gaps on its boom-bust history while sipping the aromatic local brew (called Cristal Mountain). Just up the road there is the Jardín de Variedades de Café, a short hike around 25 different varieties of coffee plant.
Activities
HIKING
The Blue Riband hike, and the one most easily accessed on foot from the hotels, is to the 62m Salto del Caburní (entry CUC$6.50), cascading over rocks into cool swimming holes before plunging into a chasm where macho locals dare each other to jump. At the height of the dry season (March to May) you may be disappointed by these falls. The entry fee is collected at the toll gate to Villa Caburní, just down the hill from the Kurhotel near the Carpeta Central (it’s a long approach on foot). Allow an hour down and an hour and a half back up for this 2.5km hike. Some slopes are steep and can be slippery after rain.
The 1km Sendero Los Helechos (entry free), billed rather ambitiously as an eco-walk, is basically just a shortcut between the Kurhotel and the Hotel Los Helechos. Look out for snow-white mariposas and multiple species of fern along the route.
Parque La Represa on the Río Vega Grande, just downhill from La Batata trail entry, contains 300 species of trees and ferns, including the largest caoba (mahogany) tree in Cuba. You can take it all in on the 1km Sendero Jardín del Gigante (entry CUC$7). The small restaurant at the entrance to the Jardín is in a villa built by Fulgencio Batista’s wife, whose love for the area inspired her husband to build the Topes resort.
The 6km out and back trail to La Batata (entry CUC$3), a large cave containing an underground river, starts at a parking sign just downhill from Casa Museo del Café. When you reach another highway, go around the right side of the concrete embankment and down the hill. Keep straight or right after this