This is the Cuba I dreamed about

Damien Enright visits a friendly haven of resplendent nature

WE fell in love with Baracoa. The moment I set foot on the long, curving beach and saw the tall palms and coconut groves in the distance, beyond the Boca de Miel (the mouth of the River of Honey), and then saw the clear, sparkling waters of the river, with blue herons fishing the shallows, I knew I’d found it. Baracoa, a town of 80,000 in Oriente province, in the far south east of Cuba — at the end of the island of Cuba — was the place for me.

Oriente is the Cuba one might dream of: laid-back, replete with nature, crystal-clear rivers, dense jungles, a hundred varieties of trees, the Humboldt National Park, wherein can be found the tiniest bird in the world (2.5 inches) and the smallest frog (big as your thumbnail) and people who are as warm as the weather — ‘sunny’ is the best word. There is little or no hustling; in any case, everything is cheap.