Cuba - Lonely Planet [253]
Provincial Highlight Pay a visit to the Museo Provincial Simón Reyes, one of Cuba’s best small museums
Hemingway-esque Attempt to emulate Papa with a bit of deep-sea fishing off Cayo Guillermo
TELEPHONE CODE: 033
POPULATION: 416,370
AREA: 6910 SQ KM
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History
The area now known as Ciego de Ávila province was first prospected by Spanish adventurer Pánfilo de Narváez in 1513, who set out to explore the expansive forests and plains of the north coast, then presided over by a local Indian chief called Ornofay. Integrating itself into the new Spanish colony of Cuba in the early 1500s, the province got its present name from a local merchant, Jacomé de Ávila, who was granted an encomienda (indigenous workforce) in San Antonio de la Palma in 1538. A small ciego (clearing) on Ávila’s estate was put aside as a resting place for tired travelers heading east–west and it quickly became a nexus for a burgeoning settlement.
Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries the northern keys provided a valuable refuge for buccaneering pirates fresh from their lucrative raids on cities such as Havana and Puerto Príncipe. Two hundred years later a buccaneer of a different kind arrived, in the shape of American writer Ernest Hemingway, who played his own game of cat-and-mouse tracking German submarines in the waters off Cayo Guillermo.
During the Wars of Independence in the latter half of the 19th century, the area was infamous for its 67km-long Morón–Júcaro defensive line, better known to historians as La Trocha. Characterized by its sturdy military installations and manned by a voluminous force of up to 20,000 men, the defense system was built up by the ruling Spanish administrators in the 1870s and designed to stop the marauding Mambís (19th-century rebels) from forging a passage west.
Parks & Reserves
Though there are no major parks in Ciego de Ávila province, Cayo Coco has a patchwork of flora and fauna reserves including Parque Natural El Bagá, a highly successful environmental reclamation project. Jardines de la Reina in the south constitutes another huge natural park.
Getting There & Around
Long a nexus on the cross-island transport routes, Ciego de Ávila is well served by Víazul buses. Trains also stop here on their way through to Havana and Santiago. Morón has relatively good train connections, but no Víazul service. If you haven’t arrived here on a package, getting to Cayo Coco is more challenging. There are no regular scheduled buses, meaning a hire car or taxi is probably the best option.
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CIEGO DE ÁVILA
pop 104,850
A small city of shady colonnaded shop-fronts, Ciego de Ávila is the most modern of Cuba’s provincial capitals, founded in 1840. Growing up originally in the 1860s and ’70s as a military town behind the defensive Morón–Júcaro (Trocha) line, it later became an important processing center for the region’s lucrative sugarcane and pine-apple crop (the pineapple is the city mascot). Although a minor-league attraction compared to Trinidad and Camagüey, Ciego’s inhabitants are innately proud of their modest city (which they refer to affectionately as ‘the city of porches’) and their understated enthusiasm is infectious.
Famous Avileñas include Cuban pop-art exponent Raúl Martínez and local socialite Ángela Hernández Viuda de Jímenenz, a rich widow who helped finance many of the city’s early-20th-century neoclassical buildings, including the 500-seat Teatro Principal.
Orientation
The streets of Ciego de Ávila are divided between Norte (north) and Sur (south) at Calle Independencia. Marcial Gómez marks the transition from Este (east) to Oeste (west). This is important to remember, as the compass points are often part of an address. The Carretera Central turns into Chicho Valdés as it cuts across town.
Information
BOOKSTORES
Bookstore (Independencia Oeste No 153) On the corner of Simón Reyes.
INTERNET ACCESS & TELEPHONE
Etecsa Telepunto (Joaquín Agüero No 62; internet access per hr CUC$6; 8:30am-7:30pm) Three terminals.