English version
Hello dear traveller community!! I haven't been posting for a while due to work, but it has been a very good period since I have been able to collect new travel experiences to share with you. This time we will start with a trip to one of the most beautiful places of the Cuban geography, the National Park “Valle de Viñales”, located in the province of Pinar del Río and about 184 km west of Havana. In 1999 it was designated a national park of Cuba and in December of the same year it was declared Natural Patrimony of Humanity by UNESCO. It is a place where you can enjoy an environment of incomparable beauty, as well as the great native diversity of the area. As this trip is part of a fieldwork that aimed to visit relevant sites of the geology of Cuba I will give you interesting elements of geological character, I hope you like it.
The trip started in Havana and took about 2 and a half hours along the Havana-Pinar del Rio highway and then we turned north to enter the Guaniguanico mountain range, the main mountain system of the region, in which Viñales is located.
The first point is the Hotel “Los Jazmines” from where you can see the valley of Viñales in all its splendour.
“Los Jazmines Hotel”
In the image below we can see the classic view of the Viñales Valley, with the fertile reddish soil in the middle ground where the emblematic Habano tobacco, considered the best in the world, is grown. In the background, we can see the Guaniguanico mountain range, characterised by the whimsical shapes of petrified elephants, known as Mogotes. These forms are the result of the action of the waters on the limestone rock over the years, a process characteristic of the “Carso” phenomenon. In this case the image shows the mogotes known as “Dos Hermanas”, in their interior it is common to find cavern systems. Note the variety of fauna in the region where the national tree of Cuba, the Royal Palm, stands out.
At the viewpoint of Los Jazmines, located to the right of the hotel of the same name, we are welcomed by a curious living sculpture simulating a style of the 1970s and 80s, standing next to a weather vane that shows a wind rose on the floor and the distances in kilometres to important cities of the world.
After enjoying a succulent buffet lunch we pass by the Visitor Centre, a building where the visitor is given an overview of the history and natural characteristics of the park.
On the opposite side of the entrance to the building is a balcony overlooking the valley, where we received a pleasant and very interesting lecture by Dr. Manuel Iturralde, a geologist-palaeontologist with a vast experience in the geology of Cuba, who explained the geological past of this region, which is crucial to understand the phenomena we would see here.
Puerta de Ancón
The next stop was at the site known as Puerta de Ancón, which consists of an “Abra” or narrow pass between elevations and connects the valleys of Viñales and San Vicente. An equally beautiful spot. It is interesting to note that these Mogotes have formed on the oldest rocks in the country, dating from the Jurassic period, when the emerged territory of Cuba was still submerged under the waters of the early Caribbean Sea. In the photo below, the Abra I am talking about is the space between the two Mogotes mountain ranges. The elevations on the left belong to the Sierra de Viñales and the one on the right to the Sierra de Guasasa.
Other views of the site.
A characteristic feature of the Mogotes is the rugged, vertical walls with cave entrances.
Mural of Prehistory
On one of the walls of the mogotes is one of the largest open-air frescoes in the world, called the Mural of Prehistory, which is 120 m high by 160 m wide and was designed by the artist and scientist Leovigildo Gonzáles, who was also a student of the eminent Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. In this pictorial work the biological evolution of the region is represented, where aborigines and extinct species of mammals such as the Megalocnus rodens (a kind of prehistoric giant bear), ammonites and other molluscs that lived in the Jurassic period are represented.
The Cuban Stonehenge
Adjacent to the Abra de Ancon is the Dos Hermanas Valley where there are whimsical limestone formations in the form of 2-3 m high pinnacles that are the remains of the karstic processes that prevailed in the area. These structures are known as the ''Cuban Stonehenge'', due to their similarity to the monoliths of this famous archaeological site in Scotland.
Moncada, the K-Pg boundary. Evidence of the disaster
We then travelled in the direction of the town of Moncada where rock outcrops are found that were formed during the impact of the large asteroid that caused the mass extinction of the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago. And it turns out that the western tip of Cuba is very close to the point where the impact occurred, in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. It was my first time at this site and for me as a geologist, it was incredible to be seeing the results of one of the major cataclysms in the history of our planet. According to rock dating and geological interpretations, this is the boundary between rocks of different geological periods, Cretaceous (K) and Paleogene (Pg), which is why this site is known as the K-Pg Boundary.
Ichthyosaur Cave
After a stop to eat we enter an interesting cave known as ´´The Cave of the Ichthyosaurus´´, so called because inside there is a dismembered skeleton of an Ichthyosaurus (a prehistoric fish that inhabited the primitive seas). To see it properly you have to lie down, as it is on the roof of the cave. When you are there the question that assails the mind is the following, what would the person who discovered this Ichthyosaurus fossil be doing, because it is certainly in a position that makes it difficult to realise that it is there.
Surroundings of the cave. In the background, if you look closely at the image below, you will see an elevation with a hollow at the top that represents a natural arch.
Cave entrance
As can be seen in the photo, there are numerous fragments of rocks which were uprooted and carried by the river that gave rise to this cave and which, over time, has diminished its flow until it has dried up completely.
Ichthyosaur skeleton. The image shows part of the vertebrae that made up its spinal column.
Viñales town
Finally, we end our geotourism trip with images of the picturesque village of Viñales, the main town in the area, which enjoys a very peaceful atmosphere and the hospitality of the locals, as is characteristic of the people of the countryside.
In the centre of the village there is a placid square where people sit to enjoy the breeze, chat, etc. while the younger ones take the opportunity to play. Here we find a recently restored church from the last century. About 80% of the houses are rented out to visitors, which is the main source of income for the families.
Well, dear readers, I hope you have enjoyed this trip to one of the most beautiful and interesting places in Cuba and the world. See you on the next tour.
Versión en español
Hola querida comunidad de viajero!!! Hace un tiempo estuve sin publicar por motivos del trabajo, pero ha sido un periodo muy bueno ya que he podido recopilar nuevas experiencias de viaje que compartir con ustedes. En esta ocasión iniciaremos con un viaje a uno de los parajes más hermosos de la geografía cubana, el Parque Nacional ´´Valle de Viñales´´, ubicado en la provincia de Pinar del Río y a unos 184 km al oeste de La Habana. En el año 1999 fue designado parque nacional de Cuba y en diciembre de ese mismo año fue declarado Patrimonio Natural de la Humanidad por la UNESCO. Constituye un lugar donde puedes disfrutar de un entorno de inigualable belleza, así como la gran diversidad autóctona de la zona. Como este viaje forma parte de un trabajo de campo que tuvo como objetivo visitar sitios relevantes de la geología de Cuba les daré elementos interesantes de carácter geológico, espero les guste.
El viaje lo iniciamos en La Habana y demoró unas 2 horas y media a través de la autopista Habana-Pinar del Río y luego nos desviamos hacia el norte para adentrarnos en la cordillera de Guaniguanico, principal sistema montañoso de la región y en la cual se encuentra enclavado Viñales.
El primer punto es el Hotel ‘’Los Jazmines’’ desde donde se contempla en todo su esplendor el valle de Viñales.
Hotel ‘’Los Jazmines’’
En la imagen inferior podemos contemplar la clásica vista del Valle de Viñales donde se observa en un plano intermedio el fértil suelo rojizo donde se cultiva el emblemático tabaco Habano, considerado el mejor del mundo. Al fondo, podemos ver la cordillera de Guaniguanico caracterizada por elevaciones de formas caprichosas semejantes a elefantes petrificados, conocidas como Mogotes. Formas que son el resultado de la acción de las aguas en la roca caliza con el decursar de los años, proceso característico del fenómeno ´´Carso´´. En este caso la imagen muestra a los mogotes conocidos como ´´Dos hermanas´´, en su interior es común encontrar sistemas de cavernas.
Nótese la variedad faunística de la región donde resalta el árbol nacional de Cuba, La Palma Real.
En el mirador de Los Jazmines ubicado a la derecha del hotel del mismo nombre nos da la bienvenida una curiosa escultura viviente simulando un estilo de los años 1970-80, parada junto a una veleta que muestra en el piso una rosa de los vientos y las distancias en km a ciudades importantes del mundo.
Luego de degustar un suculento almuerzo buffet pasamos por el Centro de visitantes, inmueble donde se le explica al visitante una panorámica de la historia y características naturales del parque.