Las Terrazas: Cuba's Eco Village
As soon as I saw the words "eco-village" in my Cuba guidebook I knew I had to visit Las Terrazas, when I read that it was also home to Cuba's first vegetarian restaurant, that was all the confirmation I needed.
Though Las Terrazas' one hour drive time from Havana makes it an easy day trip, I would definitely recommend staying overnight if you can. We arrived in our taxi late on a Tuesday morning (bus tickets were sold out when we went to buy our tickets the day before, get them early if you want a cheaper journey!) and after a lot of toing and froing we managed to book two nights in a cabin at the Baños del San Juan. We had asked our taxi to drop us at Hotel Moka, as from our guidebook it seemed to be a central location where you could book excursions, it was actually a little way out of the village and up a very steep hill, you can book excursions there, but we later found out that it would have been much easier to book them at the activity centre next to the bus stop! We missed this of course having driven straight past in our taxi. It worked out well, though, the helpful staff at Hotel Moka called the Baños del San Juan for us and arranged another taxi to take us over there. It was all a bit of a palaver though, so I would recommend trying to book a cabin in advance if you can (I believe they do have a website) and going straight there. It's about 3km out of the village so you'll need to get a taxi there.
Once we arrived at the Baños, though, all the hassle was worth it. After a less than relaxing couple of days in Havana we were overjoyed to find ourselves in this little piece of paradise. We climbed the ladder and lifted the hatch to our little rustic cabin on stilts, and after spending a couple of minutes marvelling at how cute it was, dumped our bags and headed to the water. The Baños are a beautiful series of natural pools watered by a river that trickles down over the rocks. Some are large as swimming pools, some only deep enough for paddling, all are fresh and clear and surrounded by lush green forest. We picked out a spot to lay our towels down on a rock and spent a wonderful afternoon swimming, reading, sunbathing, and gazing up at the blue blue sky.
The Baños has a little cafe, but this shuts early, and once it did there didn't seem to be any staff around at all. We didn't mind, as we were planning to walk into the village to eat at the vegetarian restaurant before getting a taxi back to our cabin. Bad idea. We definitely misjudged both the distance to the village and the time the sun would set. I don't know how far we had gotten before it was completely dark, but it unnerved us and made us question ourselves, wondering if we'd taken a wrong turn. We kept walking and walking, but our hope that the village would appear around the next corner grew smaller with every step we took, we heard a lot of dogs barking and they didn't sound friendly. In the end we were so creeped out that we turned back and made do with snacks we had brought with us for our dinner!
Safe to say we were more than a little hungry the next morning, lucky our stay came with a free breakfast. We got a taxi into the village and realised that the walk was indeed a lot longer than we'd thought and, although we had been on the right track the night before, we had only gotten about half way when we'd turned around. Luckily, as we had full bellies at this point we were able to laugh at ourselves. Our taxi dropped us at the visitor's centre and we arranged a guide to take us on a hike around the local forest. We went for a trail advertised as moderate, as my fitness level wasn't great at the time, but honestly I didn't find it difficult. Our guide was lovely and spoke fairly good English, which was a novelty for us as he was the first person we had met that we could communicate properly with. He pointed out different birds and plants as we tramped around the lake and through the forest, and taught us that reforestation had begun on the land here in 1968 after concern about the extent of island-wide deforestation for farmland. Before it became and eco-reserve the area was occupied by old coffee plantations, but manage your expectations if, like me, you're picturing crumbling colonial grandeur and sprawling estates; the ruins you will see on your walk are not much more than a few piles of bricks. Nevertheless the walk was thoroughly enjoyable and culminated at a lookout with a beautiful view across the reservoir.
We got back to the village at around lunch time and wondered around, browsing the small museum and art gallery. There isn't that much to see, but the white-washed houses are lovely and we enjoyed watching the flamingos that live in the reservoir. There are a couple of cafes in the village and we finally made it to El Romero, the vegetarian restaurant, for a light lunch. There we discovered that making reservations for dinner is advisable, and promptly made a booking to secure our evening spot. After spending an afternoon back at the Baños we decided this time to book a taxi to get back into the village for a dinner that was simply delicious. As two vegetarians with allergies it was such a relief to find a place to eat where we actually could choose from several options on the menu, add the fact that their ingredients are all homegrown and organic, and they use solar power and I felt that I'd found my spiritual home in Cuba.
Heading to Cuba? Check out the seven things I wish I'd known before my trip
Once we arrived at the Baños, though, all the hassle was worth it. After a less than relaxing couple of days in Havana we were overjoyed to find ourselves in this little piece of paradise. We climbed the ladder and lifted the hatch to our little rustic cabin on stilts, and after spending a couple of minutes marvelling at how cute it was, dumped our bags and headed to the water. The Baños are a beautiful series of natural pools watered by a river that trickles down over the rocks. Some are large as swimming pools, some only deep enough for paddling, all are fresh and clear and surrounded by lush green forest. We picked out a spot to lay our towels down on a rock and spent a wonderful afternoon swimming, reading, sunbathing, and gazing up at the blue blue sky.
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| I was kinda scared to post this one, but, you know what #mybodyisabikinibody |
The Baños has a little cafe, but this shuts early, and once it did there didn't seem to be any staff around at all. We didn't mind, as we were planning to walk into the village to eat at the vegetarian restaurant before getting a taxi back to our cabin. Bad idea. We definitely misjudged both the distance to the village and the time the sun would set. I don't know how far we had gotten before it was completely dark, but it unnerved us and made us question ourselves, wondering if we'd taken a wrong turn. We kept walking and walking, but our hope that the village would appear around the next corner grew smaller with every step we took, we heard a lot of dogs barking and they didn't sound friendly. In the end we were so creeped out that we turned back and made do with snacks we had brought with us for our dinner!
Safe to say we were more than a little hungry the next morning, lucky our stay came with a free breakfast. We got a taxi into the village and realised that the walk was indeed a lot longer than we'd thought and, although we had been on the right track the night before, we had only gotten about half way when we'd turned around. Luckily, as we had full bellies at this point we were able to laugh at ourselves. Our taxi dropped us at the visitor's centre and we arranged a guide to take us on a hike around the local forest. We went for a trail advertised as moderate, as my fitness level wasn't great at the time, but honestly I didn't find it difficult. Our guide was lovely and spoke fairly good English, which was a novelty for us as he was the first person we had met that we could communicate properly with. He pointed out different birds and plants as we tramped around the lake and through the forest, and taught us that reforestation had begun on the land here in 1968 after concern about the extent of island-wide deforestation for farmland. Before it became and eco-reserve the area was occupied by old coffee plantations, but manage your expectations if, like me, you're picturing crumbling colonial grandeur and sprawling estates; the ruins you will see on your walk are not much more than a few piles of bricks. Nevertheless the walk was thoroughly enjoyable and culminated at a lookout with a beautiful view across the reservoir.
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| The coffee plantation ruins... |
We got back to the village at around lunch time and wondered around, browsing the small museum and art gallery. There isn't that much to see, but the white-washed houses are lovely and we enjoyed watching the flamingos that live in the reservoir. There are a couple of cafes in the village and we finally made it to El Romero, the vegetarian restaurant, for a light lunch. There we discovered that making reservations for dinner is advisable, and promptly made a booking to secure our evening spot. After spending an afternoon back at the Baños we decided this time to book a taxi to get back into the village for a dinner that was simply delicious. As two vegetarians with allergies it was such a relief to find a place to eat where we actually could choose from several options on the menu, add the fact that their ingredients are all homegrown and organic, and they use solar power and I felt that I'd found my spiritual home in Cuba.
Heading to Cuba? Check out the seven things I wish I'd known before my trip
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