Day 9: To Baracoa

After a five hour bus ride from St. de Cuba we are in Baracoa, established in 1511, thus the oldest settlement in Cuba, 19 years after Columbus' voyage, and a century before Jamestown. Ironically, it tends to be rather un-Cuban, mostly because it is isolated by a high mountain chain, which creates what the LP calls "tricky" weather - right now a monsoon-like downpour that has gone on for nearly two hours.



The good news is that we have a neat casa particular (one suite - for $25)...



that has a very cool rooftop restaurant, with a sea view.







Between squalls we managed to schedule a National Park tour for tomorrow, get the lowdown on dance performances, and change money. This is a pleasant, small town - a welcome change from St. de Cuba.



















The main cathedral is nice but unremarkable...






but for a wooden cross, Cruz de la Parra,





said to have been erected by Columbus some time in 1511.

Facing the cathedral, fittingly defiant, is a statue of a Taino leader, Hatuey, who was executed after refusing conversion to Catholicism.







The source of the weightlifter physiques here appears to be this open gym, although body building may be a popular pastime throughout the country, judging by the ripped bodies, both sexes, that show up everywhere.






After a great dinner at the restaurant on top of our casa particular, we turned in, listening to the rain pounding on the roof, and, through the night, wringing out the towel that was collecting water from a troublesome drip on a wall, and hoping the rain would quit by tomorrow.


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Location:Baracoa