Blue Juice (1995)

In Las Tunas and Playa Santa Lucia in Cuba

After having enjoyed the privileges of Santa Lucia Beach in your cuba vacations, we suggest continuing towards the East. There is a city we recommend, Las Tunas, capital of the province of the same name, founded in 1796. The distance betweenSanta Luciaand Las Tunas is about 87 km.

The province is almost plain except for some small isolated hills. Its population is of 527 891 inhabitants. During the trip, if you want to visit a small harbor on the Northern coast, you can take a detour and go to Manati, but be careful not to mistake Manati Town with the harbor of the same name. Remember to consult your road map.

This harbor is small and located in the mouth of Manati Bay. There, you can visit Barbarito Diez house, known as the “Golden Voice of the Danzon” for he was the best Danzon singer in Cuba. The Music Festival is held there in his honor. The Danzon is one of the traditional rhythms of the Cuban music and it was very commonly danced in the past.

There are no hotels in Manati. The bay is a “bag” type, that is to say, narrow at the entrance and wide in the inside. The road that leads you to the harbor borders the bay in its Eastern section, offering you a very beautiful view. You should add 40 km round trip to the estimated distance if you visit the harbor.

Back to the main road, you can visit the camping site Cerro de Caimisu, a few kilometers from the road that leads you to Las Tunas. This is a charming place where you can rest and have something to eat before continuing your trip. Here, you can visit the Caimisu Shrine where the Virgen Caridad del Cobre, the patroness saint of Cuba, is.

Get back to the road that will take you to Las Tunas. You are already at less than 25 km from Tunas, where you will arrive after passing beside the Hermanos Ameijeiras Airport. Once in the city you can stay at the Isla Azul (Blue Island) Company’s Las Tunas Hotel (2*), located at Loma de Peralejo (Peralejo Hill). The address is: Quartier Finlay, on December 2nd. Avenue, between Plaza de la Revolucion and Ernesto Guevara Hospital.

Once in the hotel, the following day you can visit the city. It is not a big city and you can visit the most interesting places in two days. It is common to see some sculptures all over the city; that is the reason why Las Tunas is known as ¨ the city of sculptures¨. Start by visiting the museums and parks.
The provincial museum Major General Vicente Garcia Gonzales was built in the historical center of the city, where the first house of the old settlement was raised. It is beautiful and of eclectic style. Visiting it is interesting for it has, in its largest halls, numismatic, decorative arts and natural science exhibitions. The smallest halls are devoted to conferences, concerts and other activities, devoted to the development of research on local history.

Another place of interest related to the Wars of Independence is the Vicente Garcia Memorial, which is in the house where the patriot was born, burned down by the fires that destroyed the city during the war. It was restored during the last decade of last century. In its halls you can find everything related to its history during the 10 Year War. The architectonical structure of this Memorial has the peculiarity of exhibiting traces of its original floor on the main floor, while the patio, the different exhibition halls and the multipurpose hall preserve the colonial architecture.

The historical center has an interesting system of squares. One of them is the Marti Square, built in 1995, which has two interesting elements: the face of Jose Marti and a sun clock. It has a pedestal with the form of a star. In one of the star tips is the face of Jose Marti. His bronze face was made by the Cuban sculptor Rita Longa. The ensemble lights up every year on May 19 at 2:30 pm, the time and date when the National Hero fell in combat at Dos Rios, in 1895. Regarding the sun clock, horizontally placed, is set at the 76˚ 57′ of the Greenwich meridian. The clock shows the year seasons and 275 dates are registered, from Jose Marti’s birth until the day he died, all those dates are all related to his life.

Another important square is the Cultural Square, also located in the oldest part of the city. There, three columns have been built, representing the three times that the city was set on fire during the Wars of Independence.

The parks are interesting too. One of them is the Antonio Maceo, built in 1912, which has an obelisk devoted to the heroes of the Independence. This park suffered some transformations up to 1930, having today the appearance it got on that date. Another park you should visit is the Vicente Garcia, built in 1915, which has become the center of the city. We suggest not missing the Antilles Fountain.

After visiting the city, we advise also visiting the Northern coast. Consult the map. Your next destination will be Holguin Province. You should arrive in Holguin from the North coast, where the main attractions, as interesting as the city itself, are. That is why we recommend, if you want to enjoy excellent beaches once more, to book in the Brisas Covarrubias Hotel, located at the Covarrubias tourist spot.

The above mentioned tourist spot, which is at 90 km from Las Tunas, is a group of beaches located at the Northern coast of the province, towards the Western. It is 10 km long, including Blanche, Bonita, Covarrubias, Malagueta, Real and Rocosa Beaches. There are other beaches on the coast, about 30 of them, some are directly by the coast at open sea, others at the interior of the Puerto Padre, Chaparra and Malagueta bays. You can also find three camping sites and areas next to Malagueta that can be visited because of their interesting flora and fauna, which gives you an idea of the many possibilities to enjoy nature at your disposal.

From Covarrubias you can go to Puerto Padre, a warm village at the bay of the same name, or join any of the tours made from the beach to this village. In this area there are several sugar mills and during the trip you receive information about the whole process to produce sugar and other derived products, including the “guarapo”, very popular in Cuba, a drink prepared with the juice of the sugar cane and ice.

In this excursion, you visit La Loma (The Hill) Fortress, built during colonial times and located on the highest part of the city. You can also visit the “Multipurpose” Museum and the Quixote Park, besides other beaches or some of the afore-mentioned camping sites. That of Corella Beach is near a salt mine company from where you can see the curious salt pyramids processed there.

Your next destination is Holguin Province. We will explain in our next article the reasons why we propose to go directly to Holguin City. To do so, you should take the road that passes by Delicias, Jesus Menendez and Velazco Villages. This last one is already in Holguin province. From here, there are only 44 km to Holguin, the economic, cultural and tourist center of the province. Be welcome.

About the Author

Martin Luis López is a Cuba hotels and Cuba Vacations specialist working with Umbrella Travel.

Catherine Zeta Jones, Ewan McGregor in “Blue Juice” (1995)

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