This year's heat has broken records in thermometers around the world, and from Cuba I can tell you that never in my life have I felt a more brutal summer than this one. Without going into details, nor investigating the real causes of this uncontrolled temperature, I can assure you that there are places with kinder microclimates within the hell created by the so-called climate change. And this weekend I spent it in one of those paradises.
This fantastic place is called Soroa - named after the Basque surname of a former owner of coffee plantations in the area - and it is only an hour and a half's drive from Havana. As a protected national park, in my opinion, it is not well enough taken care of. But as a space for an encounter with nature that demonstrates its resilience, it is worth it to me.
We were four women who wanted to take a break from the city and from housework and family chores. With desires to take a bath in forests and rivers that was fulfilled one hundred percent. With the desire to breathe oxygen, feel the fresh air under centenary trees, listen to the singing of birds and the fluttering of hundreds of butterflies. We were able to do and feel everything, but in express mode, only two days are not enough to detoxify the body and mind of so much Havana heat.
Climbing up to the viewpoint -the highest and closest mountain-, from where you can see the southern coast of the province of Artemisa on clear days and enjoy a trail full of endemic species of the area, can be a hard but very rewarding task. Achieving the ascent, which is not Everest 😜😂, provokes a lot of happiness just for the fact of living 30 minutes walking among "expert musicians in their instrument" 😁. I am referring to birds like the Cartacuba, the Sinsonte, the Tocororo, the Woodpecker and others that I can't remember, there are about 80 endemic species that inhabit this mountains full of forests and good animals that are not dangerous to humans.
We slept in the hamlet of Soroa, in very comfortable and beautiful cabins in the house of a plastic artist named Jesus Gastell. He and his family have been in Soroa for many years doing projects with the community, developing creativity with the children in school, and educating people about ecology. In his yard alone there were more than 50 varieties of orchids. You can imagine!
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It was hot and sweaty on those wooded trails, walking to the waterfall or up to the towering lookout point that touched the clouds. But my most lucid experience this weekend was to corroborate that we need more trees, lots of trees...every possible space should have trees. We humans have given ourselves the task of arranging nature according to our convenience or as we see fit, making gardens, which although beautiful, are sometimes very absurd. We only need trees and arrange our lives, architectures and infrastructures according to the trees and not the other way around. The heat we felt on the trails was a gentle heat, the result of the effort of the hike or the climb up a hill. As soon as I sat down, I drank water, refreshed myself and recovered with renewed energy. In the city I stay sweltering and recovery is just a sham.
My thanks to the forest, our natural habitat. The source of food and medicine. The factory of oxygen and water. The paradise of diversity and balance. The place I will be returning to again and again, and who knows if one day I might even stay there forever.
This text has been translated with Deepl.com
My native language is Spanish
The images are my property