Cuba: Sierra Maestra Mountains

One of the days in Trinidad we went on a trek up to Topes de Collantes.

We drove in an army truck for about an hour up the Sierra Maestra Mountains to a coffee plantation. This area is the best area to grow coffee in Cuba. We learnt all about coffee and then had a cup of coffee in a coffee house. The coffee is super strong. They grow Arabica coffee, one of the best in the world. Also has to taste like one of the strongest and they usually only drink espressos. Although we were told that they export more than 90% of their Cuban coffee as it is so highly regarded everywhere in the world they can make a lot of money from it and they import coffee from Venezuela for everyday drinking.

Then we trekked for 3 km each way to see a waterfall. Our guide was brilliant and was the best English speaking Cuban we met along the way so we learnt a lot of interesting things from her about Cuba. Along the way she pointed out wildlife as we came across it, like the Tocorroco, the national Cuban bird, as it looks like the flag, parrots, and homes of tarantulas,(they live in little holes in the ground, we were able to look in them, all we could see was some legs… but that crept me out enough!)