Maybe no other place in Cuba treasures as many natural wonders as Baracoa, the land that dazzled Christopher Columbus and he described as "... the most beautiful thing in the world ...".
The flora of Baracoa, one of the elements that most stunned the Genoese Great Admiral, continues to be prodigal in diversity and endemism, even more than 500 years after such affirmation. There is a predominance of the conifer, the royal palm, the largest cocoa and coconut plantations in the country and the most important Cuban reserves of hard and precious wood.
Its fauna, also abundant and of high endemism, is privileged by the presence of the almiquí, a living fossil in critical danger of extinction; of mollusks as the Polymita picta (which is considered the most beautiful snail on Earth because of its chromatic variety) and other invertebrates such as the Centruroides anchorellus and the Rophalurus junceus scorpions, both of precautionary and biomedical importance.
Parrots, cateyes, woodpeckers, thrushes, manatees, amphibians and reptiles also stand out in their extensive animal biodiversity.
To its prodigal flora and fauna, Our Lady of the Assumption of Baracoa (as the Spanish conqueror Diego Velázquez named it when he founded it as the first town, bishopric and capital of Cuba, on August 15, 1511) adds other charms that include beaches, crystalline rivers, bays, caves, waterfalls, the magnificent Yumurí canyon, the Merman´s Passage and the tibaracones or linear deltas, exclusive geographical features of this Cuban area.
The anvil (El Yunque)
The greatest preponderance among the natural enchantments of this territory, however, is the Yunque of Baracoa, a mountain in the shape of a truncated pyramid, described by Christopher Columbus on his arrival in Baracoa, on November 27, 1492, in his navigation diary as a tall and square mountain that looked like an island.
Since such a distant time this hill would become a natural lighthouse for the sailors crossing Baracoa´s coasts.
They assure that the boats crossing the old Bahamas channel, know that they are in front of the oldest city in Cuba when they see its attractive image.
This artistic work of nature is located ten kilometers from the Prime City and constitutes the highest elevation of the entire mountain massif in the region. It has a height between 400 and 575 meters above sea level, which makes possible seeing it from any point in the city.
El Yunque (appears on the coat of arms of the city of Baracoa), served as a refuge for Indians and black runaway slaves, and on its slopes remain the ruins of manor houses built by the French who arrived in Cuba from Haiti.
Due to its historical-natural values it was declared a National Monument in December of 1979, and proclaimed as such on April 2, 1980 by the eminent Cuban geographer and speleologist Antonio Núñez Jiménez, in a ceremony held on the top of the majestic mountain.
Symbol of the Prime City of Cuba, this ecological reserve is considered the most photographed geographical feature of the region. It forms part of the Cuchillas del Toa biosphere reserve, with the category of Outstanding Natural Element, and of the Alejandro de Humboldt National Park, World Heritage of Humanity.
The Cross of Christopher Columbus
To the aforementioned treasures, Baracoa adds others, such as the preservation, in the Parochial Church of the city, of the Holy Parra Cross or Columbus Cross, placed at Baracoa´s port by the Admiral, on December 1rst, 1492, barely four days after his arrival.
The Holy Parra Cross is the only one that remains of the 29 planted by the famous navigator in his four trips to America. It is assured that priest Fray Bartolomé de las Casas used it to make services in the city. Hence, it constitutes a heritage of the history of mankind.
Considered the oldest historical-religious relic of the so-called meeting of the European and native cultures, the Cross was declared a National Monument and Treasure of the Cuban Nation, on the occasion of the 500th birthday of the Village of Baracoa.
La Farola Viaduct
Something to be added to the mentioned natural attractions, in a distinctive way, is a work created by man: La Farola viaduct. This winding and picturesque road, a promise unfulfilled by the Republican administrations and made real by the Revolution, was built in just 20 months, between April 1964 and December 1965, in what constituted one of the most gigantic work feats of those carried out in the country after January 1, 1959.
This beautiful and admired work (one of the seven wonders of Cuban civil engineering) took Baracoa out of its terrestrial isolation and of the secular isolation with the rest of the country. Its socioeconomic value can be summarized with the following data: about 96 percent of the people entering or leaving the Prime City of Cuba and 80 percent of the resources, pass through this important road, about which must be said, to be fair, that much of its extension that belonged to the Baracoa region until 1976 is today part of the municipality of Imias.
Other attractions
Baracoa must be admired not only for the beauty of its nature, but also for the preservation of its heritage, cultural values and history, aspects that also privilege it as an attractive place for national and foreign tourists.
The tourism industry, by the way, has been favored in the recent years with the construction of new hotels, the opening of trails and services, in addition to other options that have contributed to the sustained increase of visitors, who can also find accommodations in private rent houses.
Ancient constructions such as those that were part of the city´s defensive system, red ceramic tiles in the roof of homes, join native rhythms, such as Nengón and Kiribá, and a culinary tradition that highlights typical foods such as bacán , coconut sweet cones, crab meat and tetí.
Bathed by the Atlantic Ocean and several of the largest rivers in Cuba, Baracoa contributed to the Cuban nation the first independence fighters and martyrs, coming from the indigenous rebellion against the Spanish conquerors, headed by caciques Hatuey and Guamá.
Famous expeditions disembarked in this area to join the Necessary War, such as the Major Generals Antonio and José Maceo, together with Flor Crombet, in the Honor Gulet on Duaba beach, on April 1rst, 1895; and a year later, by the Maraví bay, the one headed by Major General Calixto García.
The mountains of Baracoa also constituted a bastion of the II Frank País Front, led by the then commander Raul Castro Ruz, and the main stage of war in the area until the definitive liberation of the city by the Rebel Army, on December 27, 1958.
The conjunction of its charms make of Baracoa one of the most attractive places in the country. Visiting Guantánamo and not reaching the First City of Cuba has practically become an impossible fact, due to the natural beauties of this ancient city, a real charm for all national or foreign visitors, and the hospitality, humility and sense of belonging of its inhabitants.
Source: Granma
Translation: Liubis Balart