Cuba March 21st and 22th 2023; From Las Terrazas to Soroa, days 5 and 6.
I stopped writing by blogs for a few days due to several difficulties with the Internet on my cell phone where most of my photos come from. My Galaxy tablet is usefull and helps me, but it’s camera is of poor quality. Nevertheless, it allowed me to post on Facebook and Instagram with some photos, to prove that I’m still there !
On Tuesday, March 21st, I went out for a walk to explore Las Terrazas and then went out of the city to walk in the forest to the La Serafina lookout. Then I went to the Rancho Curujey which is in front of the Lago Palmar and I passed by the Escuela “Republica Oriental de Urugay” where all the students were outside to welcome dignitaries. All this walking whetted my appetite so I went to the center of the village to examine the gastronomic offer. My choice stopped at the Mercedes Fonda where I got a full meal, soup, rice with black peas, salad, potato, an extremely tender steak with a Cristal Extra beer!
After two nights at the Moka Hotel in Las Terrazas, a rest day where I walked a few kilometres to visit to a viewpoint and gourmet meals both at the hotel and at the small restaurants in the village, I was ready to hit the road again. The only reservation of my trip to date is the almost complete absence of quality wines. Beers are plenty but rather ‘ordinary’ (no microbreweries in Cuba). Many tourists come to Las Terrazas to hike and view many exotic birds or have thrills with 3 zip lines the longest one being 300 meters above one of the lakes!
The trip to Soroa was short (less than 20 km) but difficult due to the grade of the slopes. The Hotel Villa Soroa was nice with it’s superb swimming pool, but a bit noisy due to wild and domestic animals. Worth noting also it the complete absence of wifi and intermittent power outages. It was with a nice lady’s phone at the reception that I managed to make my reservation for Pinar Del Rio. After eating two juicy chicken legs with a Cristal beer and some chips at the Restaurante El Salto, I visited the Orquideario de Soroa, a splendid collection of flowers in a beautiful setting and the ‘Salto de Soroa’ falls where you can enjoy a delicious drink of honey, rum and juice prepared in a hollowed out pineapple in addition to admiring the falls ! I did not visit the viewpoint because my legs were not cooperating ! Here is the Strava link of my bike ride from Las Terrazas to Soroa and my photos.
