Today we have one of our longer drives to Baracoa, the info we have says 3 3/4 hours but Trip Advisor suggests it is more like 4 1/2, as it turned out it was actually more like six from door to door. The first part of the journey was across the flatlands with miles and miles of sugar plantations. We did have a bit of a moment with our driver George who didn’t quite understand the slave trade, he was saying that everyone in this part of Cuba is dark skinned because they have emigrated from Haiti and Jamaica rather missing the point that they were forced here from Africa! We did find out that Guantanamo is actually a province rather than just an American rendition base, it actually covers quite a large part of northeast Cuba. After three hours we finally reached Guantanamo town which is where we swapped cars and drivers, the next part of the journey to Baracoa was very much through the mountains which are spectacular, we are entering the region where Fidel and Che spent some time during the revolution and we saw a lot of signs suggesting that Guantanamo was the first line of defence against imperialism, there were also numerous plaques and dedications to the soldiers of the revolution. After almost 3 hours we finally reached the hotel which is called El Castillo or the castle as it is high up on the hillside overlooking the town. There is a lovely looking pool which we had originally planned to use but by the time we had a snack and a few drinks it was almost 5pm, six hours of transfer had definitely taken its toll so we went back to the room to relax, we have a balcony on the end with great views over the town and the sea so we chilled for a while but we seem to be directly in line with the runway so hopefully it isn’t a busy airport! Later we navigated the steps down to town to see if we can find the WiFi hot spot which apparently is near the church! I guess that is one way of making sure people go to church but it will also mean there won’t be any pictures until we reach Santiago de Cuba.
