Eight wonders of Cuba

Eight wonders of Cuba
Fri Aug 4, 1:00 AM ET

For the first time in many years, travel to Cuba suddenly seems like a
possibility in the future of ordinary Americans. As well it should be,
in our honest opinion — other nationalities have had free access to
travel in Cuba for years, and Americans can visit other dictatorships
without penalty. Adventure Beat editor Christian Kallen went to Cuba in
2002 on a then-legal exchange program; he compiles this list of the
eight best things that tomorrow's traveler might expect to find while
visiting our Caribbean neighbor.
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1) La Habana Vieja

The crown of Cuba's attractions is Old Havana, La Habana Vieja, one of
the first cities founded in the New World that is still at the same
location. The compact old city center expresses the soul of Cuba, in its
people as well as its buildings.
UNESCO added La Habana Vieja to the World Heritage list back in 1982 for
its architecture and historic value. Today its neighborhoods pulse with
good music, good food, and good times — street crime is virtually
unheard of in Castro's Cuba, one of the(if not the only) benefits of
dictatorship. All about Havana on Wikipedia.

2) La Malecón

It may seem strange to point to a pedestrian walk as a wonder, but the
Malecón, the 4-mile walkway fronting Havana Bay, is exactly that for
many residents and visitors to Havana. Here all Havana comes, at some
time or another, to be alone with their thoughts, or to enjoy the sun
setting over Morro Castle across the bay, or simply to take a walk and
breathe the sea air (sometimes carried by dramatically strong winds and
high tides). Along its length you travel from Old Havana to new, passing
residents fishing for their supper, children playing in the waves, and
lovers hooking up for the night or for life. Read what a Cuba junky has
to say about La Malecón.

3) Santiago de Cuba

On the other end of the island, Cuba's second-largest city rivals Havana
in art, history and even politics — during the 1950s it was the first to
embrace Castro's rebels, and earned the sobriquet "cradle of the
revolution" as a result. Its eastern location is more Caribbean-facing,
and its architecture, cuisine and ethnic mix reflects this character.
It, too, has earned World Heritage Site recognition for San Pedro de la
Roca Castle, which overlooks the Bahia de Santiago de Cuba. It was cited
by UNESCO for its "Spanish-American military architecture, based on
Italian and Renaissance design principles." More about San Pedro de la
Roca.

4) Cienfuegos

Another World Heritage site (Cuba has eight), this colonial town dates
from 1819. Cienfuegos was built on three crops closely identified with
Cuba: sugar cane, coffee, and tobacco. Its first architects followed the
neoclassical trends of the 19th century, but as the city grew (it is now
home to 120,000) more modern concerns such as landscaping, ordered
streets and metropolitan hygiene made it a model for subsequent
development in Latin America. Cienfuegos means "100 fires" — perhaps a
reminder of an Indian encampment, or maybe the nightly ritual of
lighting up the celebrated cigars of Cuba. It's also a sister city of
Tacoma, Wash.

5) Cigars

'El 4 del Son' in Old HavanaIt took a Genoan mariner named Christopher
Columbus to introduce tobacco to Europe, and his first contact came in
Cuba, where the natives smoked thick rolls of dried leaves. Over the
next couple centuries tobacco slowly gained its fans (and its
detractors). Though cigars as we know them today were first commercially
made in Spain early in the 18th century, they were made with tobacco
from Cuba. Shortly afterward the cigar factories were set up in Cuba
itself, as it was found that prerolled cigars traveled better than loose
tobacco. For over a century the Cuban cigar was the pinnacle of smoking
pleasure, and even in Castro's Cuba manufacturers have labored to keep
quality and production high. One prime market — American smokers — is
bound to catch fire once Castro is gone. More on the history of cigars.

6) Music

The signature image of pre-revolutionary Cuba might be the Tropicana
Nightclub in Havana, where artists such as Nat King Cole headlined
during the 50s (and local stars such as Benny Moré attained
international stardom). Brass, timbales, congas and syncopation over the
years led to the dance style known as son, which in turn spawned salsa.
With Ry Cooder's 1998 Buena Vista Social Club came a new dawn for Cuban
artists performing Cuban songs, but the impact of Los Van-Van, the
Afro-Cuban All-Stars and other Cuban-born performers from Desi Arnaz to
Gloria Estefan have made the Cuban sound central to the modern world
beat. More about Cuban music.

7) Alejandro de Humboldt National Park

In 1801 the German naturalist Alejandro de Humboldt visited Cuba on his
extended tour of the New World, and 200 years later this rugged, rocky
cluster of peaks in easternmost Cuba was cited as a World Heritage site.
The primary reason is its unusually high degree of endemism — an
astonishing 70% of its seed-producing plant life (spermatophytes) can be
found nowhere else in the world, because the rocks in the area are toxic
to many plant forms. This complex ecosystem also provides striking
scenery, and the park is sure to become a favorite hiking destination
for post-Castro visitors. More about the park.

8) Reefs of Cuba

It is, after all, a Caribbean island, in the same seas that inspire
divers and snorkelers to visit Grand Cayman, the Bahamas and the other
Indies. So diving off the shores of Cuba could become a favorite sport
in the coming years, and with good reason — the reef systems surrounding
the archipelagos south of Cuba, especially Jardines de la Reina, are
extensive and well-preserved. The four species of sea turtles, spiney
lobsters, manatees, and large and healthy coral fish populations found
here are already known to diving cognoscenti; let's hope they can
survive their inevitable increased popularity, as well as changes to
oceanic health. More on the reef systems of Cuba.

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