La Farola
Fifty Five Kilometres Of Mountain Road From The Dry South Coast To Baracoa, Carried In Places On Concrete Brackets Pinned Into The Cliffs, And The Only Land Route To Cuba'S Oldest Town · Baracoa, Guantanamo
Baracoa was the first town the Spanish founded in Cuba, in 1511, and for four and a half centuries the only way to reach it was by boat. La Farola changed that in 1965: fifty-five kilometres of road from Cajobabo on the dry southern coast over the mountains and down into Baracoa, built where there was frequently no room for a road at all, so that long stretches of it ride on concrete brackets driven into the cliff face. It is counted among Cuba's modern engineering achievements and it is one of the great drives in the Caribbean. You start among cactus and thorn scrub on a coast that barely rains, climb through hairpins into cloud forest at the Alto de Cotilla, and come down the far side through cacao, coconut and banana into the wettest corner of the island. Stalls at the top sell cucurucho, a cone of palm leaf packed with coconut and honey that is made here and nowhere else. Landslides close the road from time to time, and when they do, Baracoa is cut off by land entirely.
Viaducto La Farola, Cajobabo to Baracoa, Guantanamo, Baracoa, Guantanamo, Cuba
Open at all times and free; there is no toll. Roadside stalls at the high points sell cucurucho, cacao and fruit through the day and are gone by dark. LANDSLIDES AND STORM DAMAGE CLOSE THE ROAD, sometimes for extended periods, and it is the only land route to Baracoa - confirm it is open before committing. Fog at the top is common in the afternoon.