Visited in January 2013. The last part of our journey through Cuba was the historically first town on the island, Baracoa. It's the base from which you can easily get to the Alejandro de Humboldt National Park. There are plenty of options on how to visit this site, we chose to take part in a guided tour that included 4 hour long trek around the National park. The price was reasonable, the guide waits you in city centre with bus at hand. The only downside of the tour is getting there, as the road is very rickety indeed, you will have to endure an hour and half of being shaken to your core.

Once you get there, though, it's a different story: tropical flora everywhere around you, many trees and loads of greens that make even the heat of the day much more bearable. There are many curious examples of local fauna, such as tiny frog Iberica, wild hogs with their young piglets and large millipedes. Our guide was very entertaining and made sure we saw most of what could have been seen. The hike is an easy one, apart from first ascend you won't get much elevation. There's a gorgeous lake with a waterfall at the end of the hike, you get to enjoy a soak. Sensible shoes are a neccessity as the red clay on some parts of the trail gets extremely slippery and wet and some shallow river crossings are required.