How can nature bring together the delights of Mother Earth, history and a prehistoric landscape in a single place? Could an indigenous legend be the source of such vast enchantment, spread over 80,000 hectares?
Although you might not believe it, in Santiago de Cuba’s Baconao Park one can experience walking with dinosaurs, climb to the summit of a giant rock from where according to some, the coasts of Jamaica can be seen, and even visit a Taíno village or feel with your own hands the tangible history of the Centenary Generation.
The place I’m talking about lies just short distance from the city of Santiago de Cuba. Travel barely 20 kilometers from this capital and we arrive at the World Biosphere Reserve which owes its name to an indigenous boy named Baconao - who lived in the area long before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors - famed for his ability to make music using shells from a nearby lagoon.
Also lost in time, as are the footsteps of the native boy, is the moment when inhabitants began to call an enormous, majestic rock formation “La Gran Piedra” (The Great Stone), located among the region’s abundant offerings of flora and fauna.
To see it in its entirety is an awe-inspiring experience. To climb it is to test your strength to the limit. The rock is believed to weigh some 63,000 tons and stands at 1,200 meters above sea level. Those who have reached its peak have been able to observe the northern and southern coasts of the island’s eastern region.
But visitors will never forget the huge sculptures in the Valley of Prehistory. Entirely dedicated to paleontology, this section of the Baconao National Park is home to over 200 life size stone figures of dinosaurs and predecessors of today’s homo sapiens; a genuine treat for those who dream of reliving the past.
The pre-Revolutionary period is encapsulated in the Granjita Siboney, where, on the morning of July 26, 1953, the assailants of the Moncada Garrison, led by Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro Ruz, departed for the city center to keep their date with history.
The park reflects a blissful merging of human beings and nature. Hotels to accommodate adventurers, a four square kilometer lagoon and replica of a Taíno village, the Museum of Overland Transport and an aquarium make one recall my initial words: such vast enchantment in a single place.
