Hotel Gran Caribe Jagua*** Cienfuegos Cuba

We stayed on the eighth floor of Hotel Gran Caribe Jagua *** in Cienfuegos

and had lovely views on the bay and the city

We had a spacious, clean room and a balcony

The bathroom had beautiful marble tiles and was also spacious and clean

The meals were buffet style and tasted good

There was a large pool with sun beds and umbrellas

On the gallery we had views on the Moorish palace "Palacio de Valle" which was

built in 1860 by a wealthy businessman Catalan

The palace features lavish decorations inside and outside,

Gothic pillars, a tower with battlements and stained-glass windows

There`s a wonderful restaurant on the ground floor and a roof terrace on

the second floor with panoramic views over the bay 

Cienfuegos is worth a visit

In the evening you might see a show at the beautiful

theater "Teatro Tomas Terry" show

With a guide we've seen waterfalls and lots of tropical plants in Parque Natural Topes de Collantes

In the Escambray Mountains you will find the 110 square km

Parque Natural Topes de Collantes that lies 16 km from Trinidad

There is an extraordinary flora and fauna including several

endemic species such as the parrot cotorra

In an old Russian army truck we went into the

mountains whit very steep roads

This village was built for the workers of a coffee and banana plantation

On the south side of the park are deep ravines carved by storms

This is a beautiful landscape with valleys where coffee is grown

Coffee plant

Freshly picked coffee beans

Topes de Collantes is divided into smaller parks

We've visited Parque Guanayara with this guide

During the walk, which lasted over five hours, he let us

see and taste and told a lot about the local nature

Orchid

This fruit tasted like marzipan

Some tourists had their name in the bamboo stalks scratched

Higher up is the cold (16/25 C) and humid atmosphere ideal for

epifytplanten clinging to branches of eucalyptus trees

A very large termite nest

From afar we heard the roar of the 65 meter high

waterfall 'Salto el Rocio' that I found wonderful to see

A Cuban orange

In the Netherlands these are houseplants

The Tocororo is Cuba' s national bird because he

has the colors of the Cuban flag

Unfortunately I couldn`t get a better picture of him

Halfway you could choose to make a "Rambo tour"

with the guide or just follow the path

The Rambo tour went through the waterfalls, you had to swim,

dive and climb rocks

At the last waterfall you had to grab a liana and swing

over the waterfall and drop into the water

Halfway was a Cuban with a horse selling drinks

This farmer lived alone in the mountains far away from everyone