Page 144 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Cuba

142  CUBA REGION B Y REGION

4 Cayo Levisa
Pinar del Río. Road Map A2. 4 from
Palma Rubia (1 hr), departures 9am &
10am, return 5pm & 6pm. Excursions
from Pinar del Río. n Havanatur,
Calle Osmani Arenado, esq. Martí.
(48) 778 494.
This small island, with its white
sand beaches, an offshore coral
reef and mangroves, is the most
geared up for tourists in the Los
Colo rados archipelago, and the
only one with diving facilities.
Despite this, it is still unspoilt
and is home to several species
of bird and the surrounding
waters have an abundance
of fish, especially marlin.
The lovely gardens in Parque Nacional La Güira
5 Parque Nacional
La Güira forced to leave Cuba in 1959, personal effects are on display.
fleeing charges of worker
Plaques indicate where he
Los Palacios (Pinar del Río). Road exploitation and ending his days played chess and slept.
Map A2. Tel (48) 750 486. * 3,000. in Miami, where he died in 1970.
& n Cueva de los Portales: The large park, though it lay
Carretera San Andrès km 14. derelict for many years, is still in 6 Vuelta Abajo
Open 8am–5pm daily. & 8 fairly good shape and includes Pinar del Río. Road Map A3.
Note: fee for photography applies. the ruins of a medieval-style
residence and an English garden The small area between Pinar
At the heart of what was, prior with a small Chinese temple and del Río, San Juan y Martínez and
to the Revolution, one of the statues of mythological figures San Luís produces very high
largest agricultural estates in including sphinxes and satyrs. quality tobacco. Good growing
Pinar del Rio, Parque Nacional La About 5 km (3 miles) east of conditions are the result of a
Güira comprises the landscaped the Güira park is San Diego de series of factors: for example,
grounds and former residence los Baños, a peaceful village on the Sierra del Rosario protects
of the landowner Don Manuel the slopes of the Sierra de los the plants from heavy rainfall,
Cortina, a successful lawyer and Quemados, which and the sandy red soil in
notable politician.This was one has retained its which the tobacco
of the first properties to be colonial atmos- plants grow is
nationalized after Castro’s rebel phere. The village well drained and
seized power and Cortina was is a major tourist rich in nitrogen.
and therapeutic A Hoyo de Monterrey This is a unique
centre. Springs in the cigar band environment; in
area produce fact, the former
sulphurous water that was said landowners who left Cuba
to help cure rheumatism and in 1959 have tried in vain
skin diseases. Unfortunately to reproduce the miracle in
they have now been closed Nicaragua, Honduras, Santo
for several years. Domingo and the US.
Don Manuel Cortina also On the road from the
owned a nearby cave, the provincial capital to San Juan y
Cueva de los Portales, Martínez, the prestigious Hoyo
discovered in the 19th century. de Monterrey planta tions can
This old hiding place was used be visited. Here plants are
by the natives as a refuge from protected from the sun by
the massacres that were waged cotton cloth in order to
by the Spanish in the early 16th maintain the softness of the
century. During the missile crisis tobacco leaves. There are also
in 1962, the cave became the curing houses, window less
headquarters of Che Guevara’s storehouses where the leaves
The entrance to the Cueva de los Portales Western Army, some of whose are left to dry on long poles.
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp258–9 and pp272–3

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