On top of Vuelta Abajo
The local scenery shows off heavy contrasts on both sides of the mountain road. The highest peak of western Cuba, the Pan de Guajaibon (2,300 feet), marks the nearness of the region. That was the impression the area caused to Cuba's 19th-century novelist Cirilo Villaverde, who in countless occasions made references to it in his work entitled Tour to Vueltabajo, in which he wrote:
“Walking out of those unhealthy lowlands, right off the San Luis pastures in the westernmost part of the bay: three leagues from Loma del Pelado, the tremendous spectacle of watching the entire Guaniguanico mountain range, that meets the eye unexpectedly and put a different spin on our minds. Over an uninterrupted row of crests and ashen cones, the humongous Pan de Guajaibon stands out, whose resemblance with a camel that rests in the desert once hurt the imagination of the three travelers.”
Right at the base of the limestone giant, down the northern bank of the Sagua River, the charming rubber palm (Microcycas calocoma, Lin.) is the queen of the surroundings. This prehistoric plant, whose origins hark back to the dinosaur-thumping Jurassic Era more than 150 million years ago, came into being when the island of Cuba didn't even exist. The interesting fact about this palm tree, in addition to its age, is its concentration in this western neck of the woods.
Climbing to the top of the colossal mountain, travelers must walk a couple of miles between valleys and vertical walls that run down the south of the pathway, clambering from the northeast up a 45-degree slope. You need to stop often along the way to admire the gaudiness of the location, let alone take a deep breath to carry on. You may see the palmetto (Coccothrinax crinita), exclusively found in Pinar del Rio. Three hours later, the uphill effort has paid off. The view of the landscape is peerless. Trapped inside a cloudy forest, there's a huge open space that serves as lookout post. Down below, the whole province of Pinar del Rio. In the night, the sky over the heads of those who dared to climb the mountain shows a million stars, and no poet can resist the temptation to write under the velvet backdrop. Daybreak catches visitors inside their sleeping bags as the sky displays the colors of the new day. The light fog rolls over and the dew wets everything around. The view is seductive.
Far to the west, the Cajalbana Tableland (1,522 feet) stands tall before our eyes, running from east to west. This is a metamorphic height that stretches out roughly 10 miles long and 5 miles wide. It's less steep toward the north, featuring a trail known as Mas Alla de las Espinas (Beyond the Thorns). The total length is 7,381 yards. Almost in the middle, the height peaks 984 feet high, offering a spectacular view of the entire Mil Cumbres area and far beyond to the Guira Sierra, not far from San Diego de los Baños.
Traipsing into the woodland is amazing, a forest that features the largest amount of endemic floral species per square mile all across Cuba. There are 35 different types of plants and shrubs inside this wooded area. Visitors may walk along the pinewoods, through the thorny shrubs that make do with little water and nutrients. Las Vueltas creek rolls down from the top of the mountain and the banks are teeming with delicate wild orchids. Small level gaps put a happy spin on such a rugged place. The watercourse takes us to the handsome plus pine. The story has it that the engineers that built the road that runs through these mountains decided to make a detour in order to preserve Cuba's oldest coniferous woodland
Trekkers may rest in a charming French-gable countryside house built in 1898 by General Armando Montes Montes. The construction of the house took precious wood such as jocuma (Mastichodendron foetidissimum), acana (manilkara, albescens Grises), cedar and mahogany (Swietenia mahogani). Even today, the former structure and part of the furniture are preserved. Spending a few days here can make you turn back time to a century ago and take a firsthand look at history. The mess hall contains enough information to make you choose the daily route to be scouted. Water supply comes from nearby springs and is pumped into the house by means of gravity. Lighting is based on photovoltaic cells. The chalet is hemmed in by fruit trees and citrus shrubs, as well as vegetables and root vegetables that guarantee a supply of fresh foodstuffs.
Little more than 200 yards from the house, there are two bathing areas: one over a spring of medicinal mineral waters with great powers for skin protection. There are smaller waterfalls that jump into a group of romantic natural pools, rolling down from Segui Hill where spurts of crystal-clear waters sound brisker with the intimate touch provided by a summer afternoon in the woods.
The dirt roads that take visitors from here all the way to San Diego de los Baños must be traveled on the back of a mule. One of these roads kicks off by the banks of the Caimito River, running through an orchid ground inside a patch of plus pines –some of them as high as 114 feet. It's possible to watch the Cuabales waterfalls from here, especially during the rainy season. From there, day trippers may go down to the Bermejales baths, a tributary of the San Diego River that also boasts great medicinal waters and has been all the rage since the 19th century. The second choice, similarly attractive, is the old route of Las Catalinas, a huge mountain valley featuring a few limestone crags in the form of small round-top hills that harbored runaway slaves and Cuban freedom fighters back in the late 19th century. Today, locals grow corn and root vegs here.
Out of this natural maze, you get to Las Yeguas Path, running in and out of the heavy forest where warbling tocororos, nightingales (Myadestes elisabeth), skinners (Saurothera marline), different types of bijiritas, like the creaking (Teretistris fernandinae) and the ground finch, nestle and fly in flock around this place. The same happens with the chichinguaco (Quiscalus Niger gundlachi), a bird that announces residents of San Diego the arrival of a newcomer.
The Waters of Taita At the base of the Guaniguanico mountain range, right on the exact spot where the Caiguanabo and San Diego rivers meet and cut off the sierra into the Sierra del Rosario to the east and Sierra de los Organos to the west, God's hand has put a picturesque, quiet and pleasant village: San Diego de los Baños. When coming from Havana, travelers may drive the nearly 80 miles to the city of Pinar del Rio, plus 32 miles from there to San Diego.
The town's history picked up the legend of a slave in the 17th century with a skin ailment who was forced by his master to leave the crew out of fear that he could pass it to other slaves. The homeless Negro, named Taita Domingo, went into the woods and started camping by the river banks, where he found springs that spurted out fresh water. Other springs squirted hot water and he suddenly noted that his skin was getting better and better with each passing day. Once he was completely cured, he decided to go back to his master. The slaver couldn't believe his eyes and thought just a miracle has happened. The slave talked to him about the healing powers of the river he had bathed in and then told him: “This has been a miracle worked by our lord San Diego.”
Truth or not, the legend was passed by word of mouth and since the 18th century, the medicinal powers of these waters have helped put San Diego on the map. Thousands of sick people and pilgrims have moved over there. At the onset, they started building makeshift shacks until some began to move in permanently to the premises, giving birth to a village by the San Diego River.
In 1844, Don Luis Pedroso ordered surveyor Don Cristobal Gallegos to design the urban layout of San Diego in an effort to improve and further organize the village. The festivities of San Diego, the town's saint patron, used to take place between April 21 and 23 each year, a celebration that was usually part of the annual mayflower festival. Both parties turned out to be two of the most important observances of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.
The first rustic wooden building that served as spa was built in 1861, but it was razed by a flooding as rainfall water rolled down the nearby northern and western mountains.
Cirilo Villaverde, accompanied by Cuban painter Alejandro Moreau and presbyter Don Francisco Ruiz, wrote the following notes in their book Tour to Vueltabajo when they visited the rundown place:
“(…) most of the houses or ranches here, with their verandas overlooking main street that, as a matter of fact, is quite curvy and rugged, and looks more like a carriageway, called here the Monte Road. That main street ends up in a plaza with two exits to the river: one to the right for the baths, another one to the left for the common ford of the river. Only a handful of rooftops, when we were there back in 1839, were tiled. Many were covered with thatches and palm leaves; the walls made of clay and wood and hay. There's no doubt that San Diego, over 30 years after becoming a world attraction, is nothing but a miserable settlement, whose resemblance with an Indian village still meets the eye of those who don't know much about American antiques.”
Other visitors to the region were Tranquilino Sandalio de Noda, who worked as a surveyor for some time in that village. Cuban patriot Ignacio Agramonte paid a visit to San Diego in April 1867. Other boldface names were Dr. Francisco Antomachi, Napoleon Bonaparte's private physician; General Ulysses Grant, former President of the United States, and Gonzalo Roig, Cuban composer who spent some time there when he came back ill from Mexico. According to oral tradition, he wrote The Sun's Daughter and Out of Africa in tribute to San Diego de los Baños.
In 1952, the current building was opened and 42 years later, after an all-out refurbishment and equipment with cutting-edge technology in terms of medicinal bathing, the building got a second wind and now offers high-tech rehab treatments with a staff of experienced physicians who deal with patients in a case-by-case basis. Most of these patients suffer from skin, neurological, post-traumatic, digestive and mental disorders. The use hydrotherapy, massages, body and facial beautifying treatments, mud therapy, psychology, acupuncture, steam baths, digital acupuncture, physiotherapy, dental care and gym workouts work wonders for these sick people.
The facility is outfitted with a lab and a drugstore that sell products made of natural substances. The local mud, with excellent curative properties, extracted from the mouth of the San Diego River, near the Caribbean Sea, is well known for its anti-inflammatory, tissue-regenerating, analgesic and sedative powers.
Its waters have been screened for two hundred years and they are now labeled as sulfurous, sulfurized, calcic, magnesium carbonated, fluoride and thermal.
Mirador Hotel Not only the miraculous waters are the main allure of this hidden getaway. Just a few yards from there, the three-star Mirador Hotel brings back memories of the 1950s and features 50 rooms, a mini suite and a triple room. All accommodations are air-conditioned, equipped with private bathrooms, phone lines, pay-TV and hot water. There's a lovely restaurant, a snack bar, a game arcade, a swimming pool, a store, a drugstore, medical outpost, laundry service, cab service, travel desk, safety box and other conveniences. Perches on the location's highest hill, the Mirador (Watchtower) Hotel is faithful to the magnificent high ground position it has.
The Town Driving through this riverine town makes travelers wonder whether they're making a trip through time back to the late 19th century or the early 20th century. Virtually nothing in this town reeks of state-of-the-art technology. The humble church was built in 1922. Across from the one-block park and protected by a lovely wrought-iron gate, there are trees, benches and walls where locals usually sit down in the summer afternoons to get some cool air, or just swing by the park in the morning to sip a cup of coffee before heading for their workplaces. Accompanied by chirping sparrows and other birds that flutter around, the tile-roofed houses are supported by neoclassical columns and feature huge split doors equipped with brass knockers.
The few and narrow streets close to the river are jam-packed with inns and flophouses, perfect getaways for nature lovers and the poor. The Satagoga, for instance, still flaunts church window panes and brings back memories of a time long gone, as well as other hostels and guesthouses in the vicinity. Time and weather have roughed up the old iron bridge, built in 1930s and no longer operational. Nevertheless, that old bridge still provides a breathtaking view of the San Diego River, making the whole place look twice as wonderful.
La Guira Park The road to La Guira Park borders the eye-catching sierra it was named after and that it's been home of several major historic developments, among them, the stockade in the Guillermo Cave, the same cavern where half a dozen stick beds used by runaway slaves in the past, plus food leftovers, fire remains and other evidence were found some time ago. The Abron Edge is located on the westernmost point of the park, in a place where a huge cave painting was found, an ancient message of men's early spirituality despite the horrors that slavery had imposed on them.
The south portion is great for birdwatching. Visitors might stroll three miles under shadowy trees and pinewood patches where some 61 bird species have been logged, including the cartacuba, the tocororos and the ground thrush (Turdus plumbeus), the black jackdaw (Merropiria nigra), the pinewood and ground finches, as well as the goatherd (Spingalis cena), the warbler and chillina (Teretistris fernandinae), the San Diego's apparition (Cyanerpes cyaneus), the long-tail hawk, and for the lucky ones, the siguapa (Asio stygius) and the sneaky nightingale, easy to overhear but too hard to spot.
This is, at the same time, home of the one of most exotic parks in all of Cuba: the Cortina Estate, a.k.a the Guira Park.
Jose Manuel Cortina bought the Guira Estate in 1906, shortly after graduating from law school. In 1940, his property has grown to 1,423 acres, one of the country's largest estates. During the 1920s, the building of the island nation's biggest recreational spot kicked off. Huge gardens of refined esthetic values were designed, including an amazing avenue with brass lamp poles lined up on both sides that used to light small squares hedged with benches, flowerpots, sculptures, ponds, fountains and gazebos bound by round and oval-shaped trees that marked the route to his two-story, house, built of precious wood and limestone in 1924. The mansion simulated some elements of the military architectures of that time, like turrets and battlements. He made sure to perch the whole thing on two knolls that allowed him a perfect view of his property, both from the mansion and the beginning of the slope.
He built Japanese houses in 1920 and Chinese houses in 1940, hiring the services of a Japanese builder named Nakasawa, an effort he pulled off thanks to his diplomatic contacts in the two Asian nations. He treasured a huge collection of objects and works of art that panned out to be major models of the Asian civilization. He built outdoor spaces, sculptures made of the finest Italian marble, bronze and other materials, most of them purchased overseas, that resembled the nymphs and goddesses of the beautiful legends of ancient Greece.
One of the highest esthetic and landscaping works of engineering on the premises is a manmade lake where even small boats may sail. The artificial lagoon is equipped with wharves, stepping stones over the arch-shaped creeks, a roofed swimming pool by the river, other smaller pools, fountains, ponds, medicinal water baths, gazebos, parks, benches, cages for animals. The whole thing was conceived on the basis of intelligence use of natural resources. In the case of other buildings, he went the extra mile to make them look like medieval constructions. A case in point is the astonishing estate porch, similar to a wall or turrets of a feudal castle.
Its lavish vegetation, dominated by fruit trees and an array of tropical shrubs and other plants brought from Asia, Europe and Latin America –sixty six species in all- are indeed a safe haven for all the biodiversity describe above, where birds, mammals, reptiles and mollusks go hand in hand in perfect harmony, making visitors believe they're living in a fairy tale.
… the history of Cuba, like the one tour made by Cirilo Villaverde and his companions, who resorted to lyricism-laden prose and realism to describe this lovely cavity:
“(…) I can't paint too well the form, grandeur and details, not even the impression that wonder of nature caused to the three travelers, a wonder that has been ignored and remains hidden in these unexplored woods that the hands of civilized men have barely touched. Mr. Moreau fell down on the beach sands, pencil in hand and the notebook on his lap. Mr. Ruiz and me remained standing, stunned behind the sitting Moreau and the riders. The three traveling partners, perplexed and unable to grasp the meaning of our own admiration.
What the uncultivated language of our peasants called Porches, are nothing but two gorgeous oval-shaped naves of a Gothic church with approximately 20 yards wide, 50 yards high and 100 yards long. Under the first nave, the crystal-clear and calm waters of the Caiguanabo River run through, reflecting with great accuracy the exquisite work made by the humongous rock. What actually underscores the beauty of this magnificent work is not the quietness and religious silence whereby the river slithers under the rock, as well as the brightness, shape and perfect cut of its solid walls, but its plenty that regardless of its extension, gives a clear view of the other side of the watercourse, the bends of the craggy banks, and the trunks and twigs off leafy trees that, so to speak, make up the vault.
(…) God knows where our imagination flew to at that moment!
Another intellectual man, American writer Samuel Hazard, visited the Portales Cave in 1866. Perhaps in the second half of the 20th century, Jose Manuel Cortina invited Colombian author Jose M. Vargas Vila, a close friend of Jose Marti's, to his property.
In 1940, the fitting-out of the cave and the neighboring cavern of Los Espejos (The Mirrors) began. Sidewalks, ramps, gates, hand rails and a bridge over the river were added, in a bid to turn the place into a recreational area for his relatives and closest friends. He linked his house with the rest of the property by means of a dirt road in 1943, thus creating new jobs for the local population.
During a visit paid in 1959 by Cuban President Fidel Castro, with close collaborators Celia Sanchez and Antonio Nuñez Jimenez in tow, the idea of turning the Los Portales Cave into a public place for recreation and leisure of residents of the nearby La Guira town was born.
Guerrilla Commander Ernesto Guevara, dearly known as Che, was appointed military chief of Pinar del Rio during the 1962 Missile Crisis. During the 32-day standoff with the U.S. government, Che set up his headquarters on the premises. The place –consisting of a brick house where Commander Guevara spent long working sessions- is still there. In there, Che slept and led all military efforts in the province.
Today, two miles of the cave and four cavern spaces have been explored, before becoming a National Monument in 1978. Now the cave is part of a people's campout system in the vicinity.
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