ROAD BETWEEN GUANTÁNAMO AND BARACOA

Rarely will you have made such a beautiful journey. After leaving behind the scrubland and the U.S. Army base, which spans 121 square kilometers in the heart of one of the world's largest bays, the roadway skirts the Caribbean Sea. Between the wildly indented shoreline, the foaming turquoise waters and a semi-arid landscape covered with cactus and framed by striking rocky massifs, one's eyes never cease to widen. We will meet only very few villages on the way. From Cajobabo, where the independence leaders José Martí and Máximo Gómez landed in 1895, the landscape changes completely. Gradually, as the road rises, the vegetation grows and becomes much denser. Opened in 1964, this road section (named La Farola) connecting Cajobabo to Baracoa, stretches its sinuous laces on mountainsides for 55 km in the heart of the Sierra del Plurial. Some viewpoints (especially at km 84 and 86, not to be missed!) on the heights will allow you to admire the panorama that is offered to you. In rainy weather, be careful, landslides are not rare. The descent towards Baracoa, just as grandiose as the ascent, is a real and sensational dive in the most tropical biotope of the country. A small roadtrip that travelers with a rental car should not miss!