Sierra Cristal NP
Located in the Cristal Mountains...the highest peak in the park is Pico Cristal which rises to 4,300 feet. The mountains are covered with pine. Here one can find the Cuban Pine which towers an impressive 98 feet, bearing huge pinecones.
The Southern Park covers a mostly mountainous 71 square miles and is used as an ecological preserve.
Tour
https://youtu.be/_0yyw_X5GH0
The next stop on our virtual park adventure is
Turquino National Park
The Sierra Maestra Mountains have been called the Pathway to The Revolution.
It is from here that Fidel, Raul, Che and their band of Guerillas led and accomplished the overthrow of the barbaric Batista regime.
The park itself is names after Pico Turquino, the highest point in Cuba at 6,480 feet. It covers 88 Square miles. The higher points are basically a pine forest. The middle and lower are a tropical habitat.
Turquino Pico
But the Real Story behind these mountains is how they sheltered Fidel and his Freedom Fighters who brought about the Liberation of Cuba.
https://youtu.be/DT04DugUkRM
and the signs are everywhere.
A hike up the (now named) Revolutionary Trail leads to the former Guerilla camp.
Video
https://youtu.be/9q8H_6JBVsA
And the Last stop on our Virtual Tour of Cuba is
Vinales Valley
The valley covers only 51 square miles and the flat bottom-land is best suited for tobacco and other agriculture.
Caves dot the surrounding hillsides.
The limestone cliffs rising from the bottoms are called mogotes and can be up to 300 meters tall. This offers tourism in area with hiking and (most recently) rock climbing.
An explanation of how Morgotes formed:
One of the unusual formations in Cuba is the Mogotes. The mountains have hills that are covered with foliage, flat tops and vertical sides that form a 90 degree angle with the ground. A huge limestone outcrop lies under the dense foliage which actually use to be underwater. During the Jurassic Age, the mogotes were the first formations to emerge from the Atlantic Ocean while Cuba was being formed. In a book by Don J. Easterbrook, he suggests that the exact reason for the development of the mogotes is not well understood. It has been suggested that "differential solutions of limestone, the collapse of caves, and stream erosion" may have been some causes (Easterbrook, 1999). One other reason that has surfaced was the fact that 70 percent of the island is limestone and due to the location to the equator it has formed Tower Karsts, which is another name for the mogotes. It is said that the high amount of solution resulted in karstified limestone. In the town of Vinales, the mogotes hide a "labyrinths of caves and tunnels carved out by underground rivers"(Cramer, 2000). One of those caves is the Cueva del Indio which allows for people to walk through the cave for 300 yards and then for the next 350 yards they can ride a boat on an underground river which concludes with a waterfall. Most of these caves though remained unexplored due to the fact that inside them live mosquito-eating bats. Another interesting fact that is seen in Cuba is the artistic abilities of the people. The flat single sides of the mogotes allows for artist to paint large murals that sometimes displays the prehistory of the area.
An example of the Murals painted on the flat side of one of the Morgotes.
Tour of the Valley.
https://youtu.be/zAtDKfv9pso
Finished the Beach Painting
(...although shadows sill elude me...must study and learn this...until then it is noon, okay?)
And received the last of my souvenirs.
A Lottery ticket issued in 1954 when Batista was still in power (before the overthrow), which I thought was really neat...and a much newer 3 Peso Bill with Che on it.
Because how could I go to Cuba (even virtually) an not bring back an image of Che.
Really.
And now it is time to say Adios (Ah-Dee-Ohs) to Cuba!
More anon...
