San Diego de los Banos to Las Terrazas
54 Miles
My body is covered with grainy salt, my face radiates heat like boiled potato and still the hills keep coming. I look ahead and see my friend, Jeanne, weaving from one side of the road to the other trying to find purchase on this 19% grade.
One hour becomes two and exhaustion seeps in, begging us to stop, to lie down on the pavement in the shade, but as we climb, we leave the the dry valley on the southern side of Cuba behind and are treated to the lush, tropic, mountainous region to the west of Las Terrazas and it makes it all worth it.
Birds, frogs, waterfalls and streams beckon to us from the sides of the road, and when we finally summit, all about us are mountains upon mountains stretching out as far as we can see.
We gasp, gulp water, face into the breeze begging for it to cool us, and then we start down.
Down and down and down, swooping through forests and fields on a car less road for mile upon mile, until we reach Las Terrazas—our home for the night.
Las Terrazas is an experimental eco-village where the people living there used to farm the land, fish the lake and live in community. It is a tranquil, beautiful town.
When we get to our casa, we are offered tea and coffee and then for dinner, we eat langosta, cabbage salad, rice and beans, yucca and lemonade. Fat and happy and full in more ways than one we settle in for the night, rubbing our knees and our bellies.
We learn that the Cuban government charges Casa owners 150 US dollars a month for each room they offer, whether or not they have guests. Casa owners are struggling to stay open due to the drop in tourism. They can’t stay open “just in case”. Because they have to pay regardless.
Our host wants to stay here despite the financial hardship because this is her land, her family’s home and she is decidedly Cuban. She just needs people to keep coming. There isn’t a better place to be.
