STOP PRESS:
Don’t miss the very brief description at the bottom of this post called “US NAVAL BASE GUATANAMO BAY”.
What a morning ! Glorious sun and alto-cirrus. The landscape around Segundo Frente looks so much better under these conditions. Lush, green with layers of rolling hills as far back as the eye can see. The tops of these thick tree-covered trees reveal limestone facias giving them a unique look (as you will see in the photos below). Today was our first Cuban Caribbean Swim Day !!! What better way to fuel up for it than a hearty cheese omelette washed down with strong Cuban coffee and an apple !!! The first part of our drive was very scenic given we passed through it late at night when first driving here. Now it revealed lush forests and plenty of agricultural land. Finally, Cuba looked Caribbean and even Central American.
Then came the “Reserva de Biosfera Baconao” – a huge National Park with dense jungle-covered mountains which we passed on one side and not through it. On the way we passed through the town of La Maya, one of the most cosy, colourful towns so far. Just one long street with the National Park on one side. Lovely.
We made a 60min stop at The Guantanamo Hotel in Guantanamo city so that our driver could go to a petrol station to fill up with diesel. We had a coffee break and learned that Djokovic had just made it to another Australian Open Final – can he make the world record 25 Grand Slams ? While Djokovic was sleeping we drove another 50km out of Guantanamo to see the infamous Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base which is actually US Territory and not part of Cuba. It is roughly a 15km by 15km square and features a huge dock for naval vessels and an airport for military aircraft. There are only 12 prisoners left on the base but the rest is for strategic purposes. The base has a desalination plane for making drinking water, a diesel farm for power, 100-bed hospital, supermarket and even a McDonalds. There are only 6,100 US staff here and only 600 Cubans who live in and service the base and can only enter and exit via military flights from Miami. Read all about the base at the very bottom of this post called “NAVAL BASE GUATANAMO BAY”.
From here it was a short 30min drive to Playa Tortuguilla where I swam 1.6km in lots of waves and seaweed. I was lucky to get to taste lunch leftovers of Red Snapper sauteed in pickled celery with ample string beans, cucumber and crispy plantain chips – very Eastern Cuba. The subsequent 3hr drive to Baracoa was extremely scenic with green mountains on one side and a Caribbean coast on the other. Extremely lush with rainforest and limestone pinnacles. This turned out to be the best drive so far and is known locally as Candlestick Road. We arrived in Baracoa at sunset. This place is the land that time forgot. Isolated. Run-down. Un-kept. Baracoa is also very poor. Lots of people lined up at “Bodegas” which are government run buildings that hand out basic foodstuffs as part of the communist system. Each person gets 2 loaves of bread, 1kg of sugar, 6 eggs and 2kg of rice PER MONTH using a little passport-sized booklet that gets stamped each time. Hard to believe that this system still exists here in the digital age !!! We stayed in a large home full of rooms over 3 levels. A huge storm had taken out the whole town’s power so no 220V electricity. Only 110V from a family diesel generator in Pats/Nicks room so I had to set up my charging there since Bundy & I had no electricity whatsoever in our room – just battery-operated lights. Showered in warm water that dripped down. At least Bundy and I had the only room at the top which faced the beach and fed us cool albeit humid air from the sea. We had a group dinner that night which featured Baracoa’s famous dish of whole halved baby lobster or fish (Marlin) with coconut sauce. Delicious. This dinner was our most expensive to date at $USD20 each which included beers and rum.
I am surprised I slept so well with only a fan. That cool sea air did the trick. I was up at 630am to run with brother Nick. A nice cool run but humid. Lots of people about for a Saturday. Poverty everywhere. Found out that local farmers must hand-over 90% of their output to the government which is used to run the Botegas and fund the army. This has resulted in a black market for produce since the Botega offering is simply insufficient for life. Despite the poor state of Baracoa, the people are very laid back and friendly.
Baracoa (Pop 84,000) is Cuba’s first and oldest Spanish settlement founded in 1511 by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, the first governor of Cuba after Columbus landed near here in 1492. It was Cuba’s first capital with the first cathedral and therefore considered the birthplace of Spanish colonial Cuba. Before Spain, Baracoa was home to the indigenous Taíno people, one of the four across the entire Caribbean. Baracoa is 1,050km from Havana separated by thick jungles and mountains and it is this isolation that has preserved its simplicity. The best Baracoa offering is its beaches. White sand and green-blue water. Baracoa is famous for its chocolate and “Pescado en Leche de Coco”, fresh fish cooked in a creamy coconut sauce.
We spent the entire last day of January visiting the best Baracoa had to offer. Our firsts top was a family-run Chocolate Plantation. There are many in this area. The owner of this one looks like Former US President Obama so his name is Obama !!! Benny translated for Obama who showed us his plantation and explained the chocolate making process showing us each stage performed by members of his family. All by hand. Obama manages to sell his chocolate on-site and is not even allowed a simple roadside stall. The government gets 90% of everything he makes. We stopped at Mata Bay on our way to the German Pass. Mata is where fresh produce was shipped to Miam before the cold war and embargos. The German Pass is a road tunnel in a cliff-side road that traversed the farm of a German family. The Yamuri Canyon was impressive. 300m high, 12km long with the 53km long Yamuri River at its base. We hoped on a row boat for a kilometre and walked a short way to swim in the deepest and freshest part of the canyon river. The highlight came shortly after with a delicious seafood banquet on a long-covered table right on the sand of Boca De Yamuri Beach. Amazing taste and experience. Lobster, Marlin, Beans, Saffron Rice, Micro-White Bait, Octopus and Casava Chips. After eating like Kings and Queens, we had barely enough energy to swim in nearby Playa Manglito that offered us calm crystal-clear water and a nice nap under palm trees. Our last stop was the unused, being-renovated Hotel El Castillo which is atop a hill in the middle of Baracoa where an old Spanish fort once stood. It was closed during COVID and never re-opened. The airport suffered the same fate. The only thing open was the million-peso 360-degree views of the city and surrounding countryside below. We also managed to see the following sites in the city below before ending our day under a glorious sunset: La Punta, Red Christopher Columbus Statue, Basilica (Columbus Wooden Cross inside), Parque Central, Town Hall.
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We spent the first day of February 2026 crying for Djokovic’s lost 25thGrand Slam and driving to Santiago de Cuba via Guantanamo. It was a glorious sunny morning and the quickest on-the-spot, black-money currency exchange executed by Bundy and I walking from hotel to the minivan down the road - thanks to someone Benny knew who just happened to be sitting near the minivan !!! The only downside climbing aboard the minivan was a terrible pain in my left ear…
Santiago de Cuba (Pop 429,537, Elev 82m) is the second-largest city in Cuba, some 870 km from Havana and the 7th Spanish city to be founded in 1515. It is the birthplace of the world-famous Bacardi brand, which was started by Facundo Bacardi Masso in 1862 and is currently still owned by his great grand-daughter. Since the fall of Batista, the Bacardi recipe left Cuba and found its new home in the USA making the spirit a global success. Santiago de Cuba is also famous as the birthplace of Frank Pais who helped launch the Revolution in Segundo Frente as per last post. The city is on the coast and so laid back that it feels like Jamaica and has a very strong African look and influence in food and music. The city was also home to thousands of French before Napolean who ended up in New Orleans post Bonaparte. Amazing.
Not so amazing for me. My left ear was swelling up and hurting. I had an infection. I know because I have had it before from the Blutac (soft plasticine to hang photos) that I put in my ears instead of earplugs because they take the exact shape of your ears and you hear NOTHING. The problem is if you stick them on a table or chair next to your overseas bed and they pick up bacteria that then goes into your ear !!! Despite this I enjoyed our first walk around the centre of Santiago de Cuba. Very different from Havana or Baracoa. Much more industrial and spread out. Small narrow streets with big slopes like San Francisco. In fact, trams used to run through this city in the early 1900s but were removed to allow enough room for the sudden influx of cars. This is what we saw: Parque Céspedes (Central Square), Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, Casa de Diego Velázquez (old colonial house), Plaza Dolores, Parque Serrano, Jose Antonio Saco (Enramadas Pedestrian Street). The main Catedral is impressive. A huge edifice that is well preserved and well kept. An ornate interior with huge ceilings and life-size statues of Christ in His Suffering. St Pope John Paul II actually visited here. By the time we got to our house stay it was time to eat. No electricity but there was hot water. Cuba has an ENORMOUS problem with electricity. All of it is generated by plants running multiple industrial diesel generators donated by non-other than Russia. Power lines are poorly built and the slightest storm will blow them down. Combine the two and you can understand this dilemma. There are few hotels in Cuba. You stay with private families that have large multi-story homes that they convert to rooms with ensuites and provide a common lounge and eating area – much like hostels but it is a person’s house and they are there eating and sleeping with you.
Monday 2 February was fabulous and frightening. A tour that really brought home both the plight of Cuba. Notice that I use the term “plight” and not “history” or “culture”. This is because we quickly discovered that post-indigenous Cuba is a place of constant conflict and hardship. Almost 90% of the population is challenged to live on $12USD per month with government handouts that have been reduced by half and sometimes do not appear in a year. People are desperate and living hour-to-hour. We looked beyond this to get a glimpse of their history and culture and survival instincts. This journey began at 9am and traversed many places. Best to summarise them now:
Santa Ifigenia Cemetery (Fidel Castro, Cesperes, José Martí, Emilio Barcadi), Bacardi Rum Factory, Plaza de la Revolucion, Sanctuary of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre (including Hall of Miracles), Castillo del Morro Fortress.
Santa Ifigenia Cemetery is like the Cuban version of Arlington Cemetery. All of Cuba’s pivotal people are buried here with Fidel leading the charge. Much to my surprise he requested no statues or elaborate monument. Instead, a huge rock with his name on it. Surprising. The Bacardi Rum Factory was fabulous. The first rum was made here in 1874. Amazing. And we drank heaps of it during our visit. Our local guide, Alex was a terrific guy and epitomised the story of Cuba. He is a professor of Medicine and has been a guide for the last 10 years because his professorship wages are not enough to support his wife and three children. This is the reality of Cuba. And he is not the only one. Most professional people in Cuba are external and temporary. The internals have second jobs or permanent alternatives working in tourism or hospitality to earn enough money. How do you survive on $12USD per month. You move back to your parent’s or grandparent’s generational homes in the countryside where they grow food and raise chickens, goats or pigs and live off the land. This is the only way when you cannot afford food in the city. I have seen this many times in Africa and South-East Asia.
SPECIAL POST:
US NAVAL BASE GUANTANAMO BAY
Often referred to as "GTMO" or "Gitmo," Naval Station Guantanamo Bay is the oldest overseas U.S. Navy base and the only one located in a country with which the United States does not have formal diplomatic relations.
Origins:
• 1898 Spanish-American War: U.S. forces first landed at Guantanamo Bay to secure a deep-water harbour for the invasion of Cuba.
• Strategic Location: The bay was highly valued for its position near the Windward Passage, a key shipping lane between the Atlantic and the Caribbean.
• The Platt Amendment (1901): A provision in the Cuban Constitution dictated by the U.S., which granted the U.S. the right to lease land for coaling and naval stations.
• 1903 Lease Agreement: President Theodore Roosevelt signed a formal lease for the land. The U.S. agreed to pay roughly $2,000 in gold per year (later updated to $4,085).
History
• 1934 Treaty of Relations: A new treaty reaffirmed the lease, stipulating that it could only be terminated by mutual consent or if the U.S. abandoned the base.
• World War II: The base served as a critical anti-submarine hub and a distribution point for convoys in the Caribbean.
• The 1959 Revolution: Following Fidel Castro’s rise to power, Cuba demanded the U.S. leave. Castro famously refused to cash the annual rent checks (except for one, allegedly by mistake).
• Cold War Tension: During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, the base became a flashpoint. Families were evacuated, and a "Cactus Curtain" of mines and fences was installed by both sides.
• 1990s Migrant Crisis: The base was used as a massive temporary camp for tens of thousands of Haitian and Cuban refugees intercepted at sea.
Current Status
• The Detention Centre: In 2002, the U.S. established a military prison there to hold "unlawful enemy combatants" following the 9/11 attacks. This remains the most controversial aspect of the base.
• Legal Limbo: The U.S. maintains that because the base is on leased Cuban soil, it is technically outside the jurisdiction of U.S. federal courts, though the Supreme Court later ruled that prisoners have some habeas corpus rights.
• Operational Role: Beyond the prison, the base serves as a logistics hub for Fourth Fleet operations, counter-narcotics missions, and humanitarian disaster relief in the Caribbean.
• Diminishing Population: As of 2026, only 12 detainees remain at the prison facility, down from a peak of nearly 780.
Sovereignty Dispute: Cuba continues to view the U.S. presence as an illegal military occupation, while the U.S. maintains the 1934 lease is legally binding and permanent.
END OF POST
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