[Click on photo to enlarge and click on links for more inforamtion.]
Las Terrazas
Las Terrazas in western Pinar del Rio Province is a small community and nature reserve in the Sierra del Rosario mountains that was designated a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1984. The Las Terrazas Community was conceived as a miniature city with basic facilities for the inhabitants and is aimed at developing tourism in a beautiful mountain setting. A hotel, several restaurants, a number of hiking trails and other visitor amenties attract visitors. We toured the community and visited the kindergarten, library and clinic.
The maps show the entire area with a close-up of the community.
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Our visit began at Rancho Curujey, a thatched-roof open-air restaurant by a lake and mountain with some energetic musicians.
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Nearby was the Buena Vista restaurant with its separate kitchen (cocina).
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Coffee beans are one of the restored crops. It is grown and the beans are dried on the terraces.
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While the rest of the group climbed the terraces to view the restored planting area, Lloyd and I enjoyed the views, flowers and wildlife near the restaurant.
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The community lives close to the earth. A palm leaf forms this little trash basket.
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Lloyd knows my fascination with turkey vultures. I saw many of them flying all during the week, but he found this group resting in a tree.
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In the community, we visited the kindergarten.
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Our guide at Las Terrazas (on left) helped translate for the school's assistant principal.
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The youngest children were in their own area.
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The older children sang for us. Three of our group turned the tables by serenading the kids with "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round." (That tune stayed with me for three days as we rolled through the countryside ... lol)
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We stopped for coffee in the community's only coffee shop. It's owned by Maria, the oldest member of the community.
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Just up the hill from the coffee shop are the library (biblioteca) and the community's clinic on the floor above it.
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The buildings are scattered on numerous levels on the mountainside.
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We had lunch in a nice open-air restaurant at a nearby farmhouse. We were warned not to feed the chicks running around, but they did seem to enjoy the rice that "accidentally" fell off the table.
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Food Distribution Center
A July 2013 article in the Miami Herald reports the 50th anniversary of state-run food stores that distribute rations. In 2011 Cuban ruler Raul Castro called for an orderly end to the system under which two generations of citizens have lived. Castro has been pushing a series of market-oriented reforms to help raise the economy out of the doldrums. We stopped in one of the remaining centers, where flour was being distributed. Read more here.
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Clave de Sol (Treble Clef) Community Project
Without state support, Cubans have organized community projects that include many programs for youth. One such operates in a small, windowless building in one of the poorer section of the city. It was rehabbed by parents and program volunteers and there children ages 6-12 learn to play the guitar.
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Two of the young performers sang for us.
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Buena Vista Social Club
An evening of pure Cuban entertainment at the Buena Vista Social Club. To learn more about the club and its traditions, click the link.
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