Baracoa is a charming little town on the very east coast of Cuba. Until
the 1960s, Baracoa was only reachable from sea. Today, a bus takes you there
from Santiago in just under 6 hours. Baracoa is in surrounded by rainforest. We
chose the weekend of the Carnaval de Baracoa. See also Links on
Baracoa.
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| The air
conditioned Viazul bus leaves
from the Plaza de la Revolución |
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| The first leg
of the six hour trip goes along the beach |
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| Fifties cars
under wooden roofs can be found anywhere in Cuba |
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| The road passes
over the hills on its way to Baracoa |
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| Political
propaganda from the Communist Party still holds the flag high |
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| Palm trees on the
way to Guantanamo |
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| Guantanamo's
bus terminal, a welcome break in the long trip |
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| About one hour
before arriving the bus stops at a pig farm in the hills |
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| The
inhabitants, presumably relatives of the driver, sell food and
artisan goods to the passengers |
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| The Carnaval de
Baracoa once a year gets everyone out in the streets |
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| Children have
fun on rides built from old car parts and chicken wire |
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| The Malécon of
Baracoa is a rocky coastal strip |
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| This dead
piglet was floating off the Malécon |
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| This cousin
wasn't any more fortunate. Lots of street vendors offer sucking-pig
sandwiches |
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| Enjoying the
sun on the Malécon |
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| Steve, doing
the same |
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| Pillared wooden
houses give Baracoa this Western Town feel |
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| The streets are
empty as everyone is curing their hangover |
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| Yulima and
Katrina who accompanied us from Santiago |
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| A Cubana plane
ride towed by a Moskvitch |
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| This car could
be steered by the rider and was powered by a long power cord |
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| Cotton candy is
another favorite of the locals |
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| The venue of
the Carnaval at the end of the Malécon is deserted during the day
after |
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| The captain of
this tanker probably imagined arriving in Baracoa differently |
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| Our friendly
host Roberto with Yulima and Katrina |
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| Negré,
Roberto's wife with their daughter Yasmin |
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| Yasmin fooling
around on the porch |
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| Judging from
the kitchen you wouldn't have expected the excellent dinner we got |
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| We never found
out whether one of those two ended up on our plates |
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