Page 243 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Cuba

EASTERN CUBA  241

Isabelica, which can be reached
easily via a path from the foot of
the Gran Piedra. This plantation
belonged to Victor Constantin, a
French landowner who, together
with many others, fled from Haiti
in the late 1800s following a
slave uprising there. He brought
with him numerous slaves and
his mistress, Isabel María, after
whom he named his plantation.
The largest structure is
the manor house, which has
been reconstructed following
a fire that burned it down.
The ground floor was partly Reproductions of Pre-Columbian objects, Exposición Mesoamericana
for the labourers and partly
used to store tools and imple­ The house overlooks a terrace Model T Ford. There are also
ments. The first floor consists where coffee beans were left to vehicles of historical signifi­
of a bedroom, living room, dry – actually the roof of a large cance, including cars that once
dining room and studio, all storehouse. Nearby are the belonged to Fidel Castro and
with 18th­century furniture kitchens, behind which is the Benny Moré.
and furnishings. water tank; the whole area is
surrounded by coffee plants. Comunidad Artística Verraco
Visitors to the cafetal museum are Close to the small Playa Verraco,
offered a demonstration of how artists, potters and sculptors live
coffee is grown and processed and work in is a nascent artists’
for consumption. community. Drop by to watch
them at work and to see their
E Museo Nacional del small gallery.
Transporte
Carretera de Baconao. Open 8am– E Exposición
5pm daily. & Mesoamericana
This museum houses a Carretera de Baconao. Open daily.
fascinating collection of 2,500 This series of sea caves along
miniature cars and an array of the road are showcases for
old vintage cars, including a reproductions of Central
Interior of the Cafetal La Isabelica owner’s local Maya Cuba – a tiny, one­ American Pre­Columbian
manor house cylinder car. The oldest is a 1912 works of art.

The Origins of Coffee Growing in Cuba
Coffee was introduced to Cuba at the end trees; by 1807 this figure had increased to four
of the 18th century, by which time it had been million, cultivated on 191 plantations. The French
a fashionable drink among the European growers became very wealthy, building palatial
aristocracy and bourgeoisie for some time. manor houses on their plantations. As the
The French coffee growers who had fled to cultivation of coffee required plenty of manual
Eastern Cuba from Haiti in 1791 were well labour, and there weren’t enough workers from
aware of this: they were the ones who brought Haiti, there was a “boom” in the slave trade in the
the “new” plant to the island. The hills around early 19th century. Cuban archives mention
Santiago and the 7,654 “dead souls” at
valleys between the beginning of the
Baracoa and century, and 42,000
Guantánamo were in 1820. While this
ideal for coffee immigration contributed
growing, because they to the economic fortune
offered both water and of the island, it proved
shade. Coffee was an to be the end of the
immediate success, landowners. It was not
and demand increased long before the slaves,
so much that it was increasingly numerous
planted along the and organized, began
coast too. In 1803 there to rebel against their
were 100,000 coffee Coffee growing beneath the trees in the mountains condition (see p46).

240-241_EW_Cuba.indd 241 14/02/17 11:37 am