Complete Cuba Day 5

Day 05 - Monday, January 13, 2014 - Depart Trinidad for the Zapata Wetlands, an UNESCO Biosphere Reserve; View the Bee Hummingbird; Drive to Playa Giron at the Bay of Pigs; Lunch at the Cueva de los Peces; Go to the Hotel Playa Larga

Another beautiful day in paradise! The temperature was 75 degrees and the humidity was 78%. Our luggage was to be outside of our door at 8:00 and we were to leave at 8:15. It was such a treat to be with a small group that was on time and only took a few minutes to load the bus.

While we drove back through Trinidad and then Cienfuegos, Claudia gave us the Cuban school version of the history of her island. There was time for a very lively discussion.

Hopefully, by having individual people talk and share opinions, our two countries will be able to have better understandings.

In Cienfuegos we had a biological stop at a service station. There was a problem with our bus, the brake fluid line was leaking. While we waited, Boli bought us an ice cream, we took photos, and we shared the Garcia Family presentation on Gennie's iPad.

Boli showed us some of the videos he has been taking with his Go-Pro. He has been documenting our journey; it was fun to see our actions on the first third of our adventure.

We transferred all of our luggage and belongings out of our old bus and into the new one. As Eliecer had to stay with his bus, we thanked him for his service, said goodbye, and then met our new driver, Boris.

At 11:15 we were on our way in a 24 passenger bus heading west. On the way to the park we picked up Orlando Ramirez, a local resident who was our bird guide for the Zapata Peninsula.

The national park that protects Cuba’s most vital wetland area is also an UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and is often called the Zapata Swamp. We began our hike with Orlando - our quest being a glimpse of the bee hummingbird.

In the four times Boli has been on this tour, he has yet to see this smallest bird in the world. Within two minutes Orlando had spotted a female feasting on the nectar of a flowering tree. One really had to look closely to see that it was not an insect.

During our hour walk Orlando had spotted almost 20 species of birds, including several more bee hummingbirds, a pygmy owl, a Cuban Tory, and a screech owl. Because he could imitate the calls of the birds we were able to locate many varieties on our hike.

We said goodbye to Orlando and drove a few more miles until we came to the tiny beach community of Playa Giron where we had a visit to the Museo Giron or Bay of Pigs Museum.

The well laid out museum houses a memorial to all of the Freedom Fighters who were killed in the attack by the mercenaries, backed by the United States CIA in 1961. The "Battle" of the Bay of Pigs lasted only 65 hours but will be remembered in Cuba as the time the small band of Castro followers beat off the the great American imperialists.

We left the museum at 2:15 continuing along the beach road of the Bay of Pigs for lunch at a small palapa restaurant called Cueva de los Peces. Our menu choices were pork, fish, chicken, or fish and crocodile. Gennie had the chicken and daring Vic had the combo plate, both were excellent!

Our next stop was Playa Larga where we checked in and found our cabin. The hotel clerk opened the door and smelled the strong cigar smoke and moved us to another room immediately.

Vic found that there was no water pressure in the shower but the maintenance men came to change the shower head which helped the situation. Boli gave us a little free time to explore the area and talk to taxi drivers bringing guests to the beach cabins.

At 6:00 we met in the bar where we listened to Frank Medina, a local environmentalist and Director of the National Park. He talked about the numbers of species of endemic plants, vertebrates, invertebrates, and especially the birds in the wetlands.

He told us the difference between the American and Cuba crocodiles. Both varieties in the park are now thriving. In the past farmers used to kill them for the leather until the government named them a protected species.

He talked about the dangers of climate change and the changes in the temperature of the water, the mix of brackish and fresh water, as well as sea levels. He also talked about changes in the numbers of parrots, gar fish, and alien species that were introduced and are now invading the natural habitats.

Dinner was at 7:15 at the hotel but both of us were not hungry because of our late lunch. We came back to the room to finish the journal, look at the photos, and prepare for an early morning birding expedition with Frank at 6:15.

Accommodations: HOTEL PLAYA LARGA - - - Meal: B, L, D

OH! You are so lucky! We were in Cuba and never saw the Bee hummingbird. Spent over an hour and nothing. Only have seen the drying of rice on roads in SE Asia.

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