Cuba - Lonely Planet [303]
Eight kilometers from the hotel is the Hacienda La Mensura, a breeding center for exotic animals such as antelope and guapeti. Horseback riding can be arranged here.
Speleologists may want to ask about trips to the ghostly Farallones de Seboruco, which contain aboriginal cave paintings.
Sleeping & Eating
Villa Pinares del Mayarí (Gaviota; 5-3308; s/d CUC$30/35, cabins CUC$35/40; ) One in a duo of classic Gaviota Holguín hideaways (Cayo Saetía is the other; Click here), Pinares del Mayarí stands at 600m elevation between the Altiplanicie de Nipe and Sierra del Cristal, 30km south of Mayarí on a rough dirt road. Part Swiss-chalet resort, part mountain retreat, this isolated rural gem is situated in one of Cuba’s largest pine forests and the two- and three-bedroom cabins, with hot showers and comfortable beds, make it seem almost alpine-esque. There’s also a large restaurant, bar, tennis court and horses for hire.
Getting There & Away
The only way to get to Villa Pinares del Mayarí and Parque Nacional La Mensura outside an organized tour is via car, taxi or bike (if you’re adventurous and it’s not a Cuban one). The access road is rough and in a poor state of repair, but it’s passable in a hire car if driven with care. If arriving from Santiago the best route is via the small settlement of Mella.
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CAYO SAETÍA
East of Mayarí the road becomes increasingly potholed and the surroundings, while never losing their dusty rural charm, progressively more remote. The culmination of this rustic drive is lovely Cayo Saetía, a small, flat wooded island in the Bahía de Nipe that’s connected to the mainland by a small bridge. During the 1970s and ’80s this was a favored hunting ground for communist apparatchiks who enjoyed spraying lead into the local wildlife. Fortunately, those days are now gone. Indeed, ironic as it may sound, Cayo Saetía is now a protected wildlife park with 19 species of exotic animals, including camels, zebras, antelopes, ostriches and deer. Bisected by grassy meadows and adorned by hidden coves and beaches, it’s the closet Cuba gets to an African wildlife reserve. Well worth a visit.
Sleeping & Eating
Campismo Río Cabonico ( 59-41-18; r per person from CUC$5) This place is at Pueblo Nuevo, 9km east of Levisa and 73km west of Moa, about 900m south of the main road. The 23 cabins with baths and fans on a low terrace beside the Río Cabonico (decent swimming) have four or six beds. It may accept foreigners, if there’s space; check ahead or contact Cubamar in Havana.
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WILL HISTORY ABSOLVE HIM?
Has the world misunderstood Fidel Castro? Is this rugged survivor of the Cold War and the catastrophic economic meltdown that followed just a Machiavellian dictator responsible for driving an immovable wedge into US-Cuban relations? Or is he the de facto leader of an unofficial Third World alliance pioneering the fight for equal rights and social justice on the world stage? To get closer to the personality that lies behind the public mask we must (as every good Freudian knows) delve back into his childhood.
Born near the village of Birán in Holguín province on August 13, 1926, the illegitimate product of a relationship between Spanish-born landowner Ángel Castro and his cook and housemaid Lina Ruz (they later married), Fidel grew up as a favored child in a large and relatively wealthy family of sugar farmers. Educated at a Jesuit school and sent away to study in the city of Santiago at the age of seven, the young Castro was an exceptional student whose prodigious talents included a photographic memory and an extraordinary aptitude for sport. Indeed, legend has it that at the age of 21, Fidel – by then a skilled left-arm pitcher – was offered a professional baseball contract with the Washington Senators.
At the age of 13 Fidel staged his first insurrection, a strike organized among his