Cuba - Lonely Planet [259]
Getting Around
The roads from Morón northwest to Caibarién (112km) and southeast Nuevitas (168km) are both good.
Cubacar ( 50-22-22; Hotel Morón, Av de Tarafa) rents cars and mopeds.
The Servi-Cupet gas station ( 24hr) is near Hotel Morón.
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NORTH OF MORÓN
Far more interesting than Morón itself is the grab-bag of attractions to the north.
Laguna de la Leche & Laguna La Redonda
These two freshwater lakes a few kilometers north of Morón are hot spots for fishermen. Measuring 67 sq km, the Laguna de la Leche (Milk Lake) is named for its reflective underwater lime deposits and is the largest natural lake in Cuba. Accessed from the south via a link road from Morón (3km), the lake is popular among budding anglers who flock here to take advantage of its abundant stocks of carp, tarpon, snook and tilapia. Situated on the southern shoreline you’ll find La Atarraya ( 50-53-51), a restaurant specializing in fish dishes, as well as an entertainment venue known as Cabaret Cueva ( 50-22-39). You can rent boats here as well. Every year Laguna de la Leche is the venue for the Morón Aquatic Carnival. The area has also twice hosted the Jardines del Rey F-1 speedboat competition.
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TROCHA DE JÚCARO A MORÓN
Shaped by a volatile history, many of Ciego de Ávila’s provincial towns grew up in the mid-19th century around the formidable Trocha, a 68km-long line of fortifications that stretched from Morón in the north to Júcaro in the south, splitting the island divisively in two.
Constructed by the Spanish in the early 1870s using a mixture of black slaves and poorly paid Chinese laborers, the gargantuan Trocha was designed to contain the rebellious armies of the Oriente and stop the seeds of anarchy from spreading west during the First War of Independence.
By the time of the construction’s completion in 1872, the Trocha was the most sophisticated military defense system in the colonies, a seemingly unbreakable bastion that included 17 forts, 5000 full-time military guards and a parallel railway line.
Armed to the hilt, it held firm during the First War of Independence, preventing the rebel armies of Antonio Maceo and Máximo Gómez from causing widespread destruction in the richer western provinces of Matanzas and Pinar del Río, where more conservative sugar planters held sway.
But, despite renovations that doubled the number of forts and tripled the number of armed guards by 1895, the Trocha proved to be more porous during the Spanish-Cuban-American War, enabling the audacious Maceo to break through and march his army as far west as Pinar del Río.
A handful of old military towers that once acted as lookouts and guard houses on the Trocha still scatter the countryside between Ciego de Ávila and Morón. While none are, as yet, official museums, they stand as timeworn testaments to a more divisive and violent era.
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The next world record largemouth bass will come from Cuba, if fishing around Laguna La Redonda is anything to go by. The lake has already yielded a humongous 9½kg-er. Situated 18km north of Morón, off the road to Cayo Coco, the mangroves surrounding this 4-sq-km lake have the best square-kilometer density of bass and trout on the island. Four/eight hours of fishing costs CUC$35/70 or a 45-minute boat trip without rods costs CUC$16. There’s a decent, rustic bar-restaurant combo here if you only want to stop for a drink with a lake view. Try the house specialty, a fillet of fish called calentico – great with ketchup and Tabasco.
The Aguachales de Falla Game Reserve is a hunting area containing seven natural lakes and abundant flocks of pigeons, ducks and doves. If you really feel the urge, you can take the Hemingway tour to its natural conclusion (Papa loved firing guns at feathered targets).
Loma de Cunagua
Rising like a huge termite mound above the surrounding