Cuba, January 29, 2019
Maria la Gorda
The waters all along the southern coast of Cuba are so
beautiful---shades of blue from light aqua to deep navy, but this morning we
anchored off of Maria la Gorda, surely the most stunning water of all. It lies
near the end of the peninsula on the western end of Cuba. It’s a very popular
spot for diving and beach going.
After transferring from ship to shore, we were off to
Guanahacabibes Reserve, a strip of land 62 miles long that in 1986 was declared
a world biosphere reserve by UNESCO to preserve the flora and fauna. As such,
access is strictly controlled. Visitors must check in with the park rangers and
then be accompanied by guides. This is all rather loosey-goosey. There is a man
in a gate house with a gate across the road that he raises manually. At the
entrance to another part of the reserve the “gate” was a piece of string
stretched across that the guard dropped to let us through. Air tight security.
Our guide led us along the bumpy limestone path (at this
point I’m wondering if there is a smooth surface in the entire country) through
the semi-deciduous forest, whistling to attract the tocororo, the state bird. I
could hear its answering call but never did spot it up high in the tree
branches. My favorite tree is commonly
known as the Tourist Tree; in the sun its bark
turns red and peels. Afterwards we made our way through the park to the
coastline where we picked our way through the rough limestone surface to the
water’s edge.
We were driving back to the dock along the coastal road when
suddenly, there in the translucent shallows was a rather shabby looking
sailboat grounded and listing heavily to starboard. Flying a Canadian flag and of
dubious sea worthiness it had run aground during the same storm that had tossed
us about. Guess we were lucky that we were just sick. Just.
We were back on board in time for a BBQ lunch and then we
set sail for Havana, 143 nautical miles. We rounded the western tip of Cuba
where the Caribbean meets the Gulf of Mexico which sometimes can get a bit
rough. Stefano had put a dish of Dramamine on his desk just in case. I
swallowed one of those and chewed a Bonine. Belt and suspenders time for this
kid but it was smooth sailing all the way.
Hermes Mallea, the NY architect and designer, based his
afternoon presentation on his book Havana Living Today which is beautifully
illustrated with pictures of interiors of homes old and redesigned. Hermes is
an interesting guy. His parents are Cuban. In the 50s his father was a pilot
for one of the mining companies. When the revolution started, he was told to
fly himself, the Mrs and the company plane to Miami until it was safe to
return, probably in three weeks or so. Needless to say, they never returned.
Hermes was born in Miami. He told us that Cuban Spanish is lazy, lots of
dropping the ends of words, etc, so his parents sent him to high school in
Spain to learn proper Spanish. He doesn’t have any family in Cuba, but a wide
circle of friends and sources for his books so he travels there several times
each year. When there he has to "Cubanize" his Spanish so he doesn’t sound
snooty to the locals.
Tomorrow, Habana! Habana with a B was the original spelling
that somehow became Havana with a V, but you see both spellings used. Another
note, Cubans do not say “koo-bah.” They pronounce it “kew-bah,” really popping
the B. And we all thought we were so cool calling it koobah.
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