CUBA's ORIENTE BACKGROUND NOTES KARST and CAVES Cuba is a large country with quite varied terrain. It is a tropical country with lots of rainfall and soluble rocks. As a result karst areas occur throughout Cuba including the eastern part of the country. The caves and karst in eastern Cuba are much less well known to foreign visitors than the ones in western (Pinar del Rio - Viñales) and central (Matansas - Sancti Spiritus) Cuba. Dwight and Mary made one brief reconnaissance trip to the Oriente in April 2017 and we still have a lot to learn. Our first impressions are that there are numerous interesting karstlands containing caves, but they are generally not as spectacular as those farther west (Pinar del Rio - Viñales), and they are harder to get to due to the very rural nature of the area. However, there are a large number of enthusiastic Cuban cavers who know and explore their local areas. Many of the caves are of significant archaeological interest even if they are not especially extensive or filled with spectacular cave formations. There are some areas of magotes, cone-karst hills overlying insoluble serpentinites. Although well- developed, they do not have as high a relief as the ones seen in western Cuba. Magotes occur in the Maniabon east and north of Holguin. Cave systems have developed in Miocene limestone overlying the serpentinites (mineralized mid-ocean ridge igneous rocks). The serpentinites weather more easily than the limestone and form lowlands at the base of the limestone cliffs. Some of Cuba's nickel, cobalt and other mineral resources are mined from the serpentinites in this area. Holguin Province, NW A fairly extensive and complex cave system occurs beneath the suburbs of Gibara. For many years a local group of friends who happened to be bread bakers (Panaderos) explored the system which became known as La Caverna de Los Panaderos. This is the closest thing to a show cave in the Oriente. Other caves near Gibara have been flooded as a result of the rise in sea level following the Pleistocene deglaciation. Some of the most active Cuban cave divers work these flooded systems. Caverna Tanque Azul is one of the best known. The southern coast Much to our surprise we found that there are a number of caves along the southern coast, especially in the vicinity of Playa Siboney, Santiago de Cüba. These are not sea caves, but formed as typical phreatic caves. One, Cueva Atabex; was transformed into an underground biological laboratory in the 1960s by Dr. Nicasio Viña Bayés, one of the early leaders of Cuban speleology. Dr. Viña helped establish the Cuban Academy of Sciences for Antonio Núñez Jiménez and Fidel Castro. Vertical caves The mountains of eastern Cuba contain some significant vertical caves. These are all in remote mountain areas with difficult terrain. We will not make any attempt to get to these caves on this trip. Camaguey There are a number of karst and cave areas in the vicinity of Camaguey, especially north and northeast of the city. We did not have the opportunity to visit any of them on our reconnaissance trip in April 2017. There are large caves in the Sierra de Cubitas including at least one which reportedly flows through the mountain from south to north somewhat similar to Systema Boquerones northeast of Sancti Spiritus that our group visited in February 2016. The Sierra de Cubitas is also the place where Antonio Núñez Jiménez found extensive cave paintings and a large 1 bat-shaped mound (14 meters wide with a 108 meters long wingspread) built by the indigenous Taíno people. Reported also are large karst springs along the Rio Maximo in the vicinity of Los Cangilones (the buckets) Monumento National, north of the town of Minas and southeast of the Sierra de Cubitas. HOLGUIN (‘ol-geen) In 1545 Founder Captain García Holguín, a Spanish military officer, modestly named the area for himself, San Isidoro de Holguín in 1545. There is debate about whether Columbus also stopped here, but Pope Francis, during his 2015 trip to Cuba, planned a visit to the Diocese of Holguín to, among other things, commemorate the location where Christopher Columbus landed. Holguin is a major city with banks and a cathedral, but its memorable features are small parks, little cafes and galleries, and an open door provincial museum. Due to the shortage of fuel, few motor vehicles are seen. Transportation depends mainly on bici taxis or horse-drawn carts, a mode Americans particularly enjoy. Different neighborhoods surround a sequence of central shopping squares with a two-way pedestrian path that connects the areas. Small city but easy to get turned around! Holguin’s economic base is supported, in part, by the brewery Cervecería Bucanero, a joint venture with Labatt of Canada. It makes three brands of beer: Bucanero, Cristal and Mayabe. Appropriate, as Holguín is a popular destination for Canadians with resorts nearby and is home to one of two Canadian Consulates in Cuba. Early People The Taíno Indians were the most populous of several groups who inhabited Cuba when Columbus sailed into the Oriente in 1492, as noted in a Smithsonian 2016 Quarterly article: “The explorer described them in his journal as a friendly and generous people who lived simply, noting pointedly, ‘They will make good servants’. He wasted no time in erecting a wooden cross on the shore. Not long after that, he enslaved the Taíno in the name of Spain.” While the Taíno were thought to die out due to disease and being slaves, many of them ran for the hills. In time, they merged with different groups in Cuba whose descendants today are less identified by their physical features as by their cultural customs. Genetic analysis has shown a presence of the Taíno DNA. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/taino-indigenous-culture-pre-columbian-roots- archaeology-cuban-identity-cultural-travel-180960975/ El Chorro de Maíta is an early colonial archaeological site near the coastal resort of Guardalavaca. The site dates from the early 16th century and consists of an excavated indigenous settlement and cemetery, including dozens of well-preserved human remains. Recent scholarship suggests that indigenous peoples were living here many decades after Columbus' arrival. Part of this site is now a museum and a reconstructed village that features life-sized models of native dwellings. Reanctments of Taíno dances and rituals are also performed. GIBARA (hee-bar’-a) This northeast district spreads wide with a large population, but compact Gibara with well planned streets and a central square, is easily traversed by foot. This remote fishing village comes alive every April when hundreds of cinema fans arrive for the International Film Festival. “In a city by the sea, you're lured out of the spring sunshine and into a darkened cinema but, no, you're not in Hollywood or Cannes. Don't expect to find any gala dinners or five-star hotels….” 2 http://havana-cultura.com/en/cinema/humberto-solas-low-budget-film-festival Background to the origin of this Festival, written in 2007. Interview with the founder (in Spanish) but also photos that capture the spirit of the event. http://ficgibara.cult.cu/ A few photos of Gibara with announcement of the 2018 film festival. SANTIAGO de CUBA http://www.cubatravel.cu/en/destinations/santiago-de-cuba (subtopics have photos) Founded in 1514, Santiago de Cuba is older than Havana and served as Cuba’s first capitol, but within 50 years it was moved 535 miles west to its present location. Ongoing waves of immigrants came to the Oriente, making Santiago de Cuba known as “Cuba’s most Caribbean city.” It gained a population rich with stories and customs that remain vibrant today. The capital of Cuba's southeastern province faces a bay off the Caribbean Sea. Spanish colonial architecture is its face while distinctive Afro-Cuban cultural influences comprise its spirit. The colorful costumes of Carnival in July are the backdrop to an all engaging festival, displaying passion in drum-beating parades and sensuous rhythms in the birthplace of son dancing. The economics of Santiago de Cuba changed from mining to farming to its current industrial activity. It is best known for its sugar production and the making of rum. But history relates the biggest stories centering on the fight for Cuba’s independence. Santiago saw the last battles of the Spanish and American Forces with a naval battle in Santiago Bay and the decisive charge led by Teddy Roosevelt up the Hill of San Juan. More important to Cubans was this city’s first revolutionary attack for Independence by Fidel Castro and his rebel followers. Declared the Hero City of the Republic of Cuba, Santiago de Cuba has many of its heroes in the cemetery of Santa Ifigenia. Here Fidel Castro was put to rest in 2016. He lies among many national heroes, most notably José Martí, known as the “Apostle of the Nation”. He used the pen as his sword in the struggle to win Cuba’s Independence against U.S. expansionism in the late 1800s. BioEco Centro Oriental de Ecosistemas y Biodiversidad, under the Ministry of Economy and Planning, is focused on the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems of Cuba. The office in Santiago de Cuba has recently taken over the Natural History Museum in Santiago and operates the Museo Tomas Romay. BioEco also administers the underground laboratory in a cave at Siboney (Rescnua Ecolóoca Siboney-Jerticé). The cave is Cueva Atabex and the underground laboratory was established in the 1960s by Dr. Nicasio Viña Bayes, a biologist, caver, and Investigador Titulart Académico de Ciencias de Cuba.