Cuba’s Sierra Maestra Mountains – Where Castro began his journey – Jan Feduck
“How did Castro and his followers do it?” I asked my husband as we climbed the stairway to Cuba’s heaven. We were hiking up Pico Turquino, the highest mountain in the Sierra Maestra mountain range that lines the south east coast of Cuba.
Castro gathered his men and women to start his Revolution in this mountainous and isolated part of Cuba.
CBC television recently aired a documentary film entitled Finding Fidel – the Journey, about Erik Durschmied a young journalist who visited and interviewed the then unknown rebel Castro at his base of operations in 1958, in the Sierra Maestra mountains. This television interview later became the first contact between Castro and the outside world.” In the film, Director Bay Weyman takes Durshmied back to revisit the headquarters in the mountains, a trip that continues to be challenging but possible today.
This remote corner of Cuba attracted us with a promise of rugged beauty, isolation and the challenge of travelling there.
During two trips, we cycled and hiked in this area of Cuba, and learned that it was the amazing people of this area that made the journey both interesting and possible for us as independent travellers.
With mountains on one side and the ocean on the other, a single paved road hugs the coast for 175 kilometres between the village of Marea del Portillo, the location of a resort and the city of Santiago de Cuba.
There is little traffic on this road, the odd old car and truck that act as transportation between villages. This made for a cyclist’s dream, as we pedaled along the coast, visiting a quieter and more remote side of Cuba, far away from the buzz of resorts. We waved to children, and rode beside curious villagers on bikes or horseback, listening to the ever present bleating of goats and roar of the surf. One day, we kept pace with a 1950’s Ford touring the coast at 20 kilometres an hour.
After several flat tires exhausted our supply of inner tubes, we were taken to a tire repair home, and given some local brew to drink while we watched as our inner tubes were repaired with surgery- like precision. Because little outside commerce exists, innovation rules and people possess an admirable ability to live from what they grow, make or remake. We attempted to camp at the side of the road, but a farmer convinced us to bring our tent to his farm. We shared food and he shared coffee all the while communicating in universal smiles and gestures. Damage from Hurricane Dennis can be seen on a mangled section of the road, and some villages have been slow to repair damage to their homes.
In the village of LaPlata, a small museum displays photos from the first successful skirmish of the Cuban Revolution on January 17, 1957. We joined a group who had gathered on a house porch to play music on a variety of well used instruments. After dancing with a man in aviator glasses, we rumbaed away on our bikes. A sunset view guided us back and remembering the snowy 401, we pedaled more slowly.
Our vow to hike up to Pico Turquino, found us in a taxi a year later leaving the resort at Mareo del Portillo, and driving the coastal road that had taken us days to cycle the year before. Our hike was in the Gran Parque Nacional Sierra Maestra, a wilderness area made famous as Castro’s base of operations in the 1950’s. After an overnight in simple accommodations at the Las Cuevas park base, we headed into the mountains with our guide.
Looking at butterflies gave me an excuse to catch my breath. We neared the top of Pico Turquino, as the fog was settling in. After climbing for six hours, we pointed our hiking boots down to make it back by dark. This had been a challenging walk on the paths that Castro’s early followers tramped daily.
Given a few days to continue over the mountains, the hike would have taken us through mountainous terrain and a rainforest to Alto del Naranjo. It was here, that Castro founded Comandancia de la Plata as his command post and residence during the revolution. Hikers can visit that site, and see photos and the camera used by Durshmied when he filmed Castro telling the world his plans, some fifty years ago.
Castro began his revolution in this wild beauty of the Sierra Maestra mountains of Cuba, and I wondered as I wandered…
Do those living there now; live the proud, independent and still challenging existence of Castro’s early dreams?
If you Go
Flights: Sunwing offers packages that fly to Manzanillo with bus transfers to Marea del Portillo, a good beginning poiny for this journey.
Accomodation : Marea del Portillo:
Club Amigo Marea Del Portillo and Farillon del Caribe – makes a good base for exploring this
coastline. This accommodation is available through Sunwing Vacations www.sunwing.ca
Las Cuevas: Simple accommodation is available at the National Park headquarters to sleep
overnight before an early morning start to hike Pico Turquino.
Eating : There are no services along this road, past the resorts at Marea del Portillo, so it is necessary to
take your own food. Families may offer to cook a meal for travellers. It is necessary to take
enough food to share with your guide if you are hiking up Pico Turquino.
Arrangements : It is possible to cycle independently in this part of Cuba. You can make arrangements
for the Pico Turquino hike through Club Amigo Marea Del Portillo, or arrive and
arrange for a guide at the Gran Parc National de Sierra Maestra headquarters.
Documentary: Finding Fidel – the Journey can be viewed at no cost www.lovedocumentaries.com