The Criadero Cocodrilo, or crocodile farm, is halfway between Australia and Playa Larga. Everyone likes it, especially the under-twelve-year-olds. You get to see lots of crocodiles, and hold a baby crocodile, and eat crocodile meat in the restaurant.
The other tourist attraction at the crocodile ranch is a boat ride to Guama. This is an island in a lake, the Laguna del Tesero (Treasure Lake). Fidel Castro enjoyed vacationing on the island and commissioned the building of a Taino native village and 32 sculptures depicting native life. A sign at the ticket office says, in English, that the Taino village is "the most exciting place on Earthdon't miss it!" Guama was pleasant and relaxing, but "exciting" it wasn't. The boat ride was also fairly expensive. If you're short on cash and/or time you might want to skip Guama.
Playa Maquina, just east of Playa Larga, is a beautiful beach. The sand is white coral. The water is warm, clear, shallow, and calm. Palm trees and limestone <i>cenotes</i> line the shore. You'll probably have the beach to yourself. The guidebook calls this beach "Caleta del Rosario."
The Cienaga de Zapata is one of the best birdwatching areas in the world. The best birdwatching guide in the national park is Orestes Martinez Garcias, a.k.a. "El Chino." He's amazing. Every time he turns around he points out a new bird.
We saw the Tocororo (Cuban Trogon), which is the national bird. We saw the Bee Hummingbird , which is the world's smallest bird and is found only in the Cienaga de Zapata.
We also saw the Cuban Pygmy Owl, Cuban Toady, Great Lizard Cuckoo, Black-Cowled Oriole, Osprey, Cuban Blackbird, Greater Antillean Grackle, Cuban Bullfinch, Striped-Headed Tanager, American Redstart, Yellow-Headed Warbler, Palm Warbler, Red-Legged Thrush, Cuban Crow, Black-Whiskered Vireo, Cuban Vireo, Loggerhead Kingbird, La Sagra's Flycatcher, Cuban Peewee, Fernandina's Flicker, West Indian Woodpecker, Cuban Green Woodpecker, Cuban Parrot, Smooth-Billed Ani, Zenaida Dove, Common Ground Dove, Grey-Haired Quail Dove, Laughing Gull, Common Moorhen, Northern Jacana, American Kestral, Turkey Vulture, Blue-Winged Teal, Wood Stork, Cattle Egret, Green Heron, Little Blue Heron, Neotropical Cormorant, Emerald Hummingbird, Great Blue Heron, Brown Pelican, Cuban Screech Owl, and the Black and White Warbler.
El Chino's e-mail is: chino.zapata@gmail.com; telephone: 045-98-7354 or 045 98 7355; mobile 52 94185; address: Caleton (just west of Playa Larga), Cienaga de Zapata, Matanzas, CP 43000.
The best guidebook is "Field Guide to the Birds of Cuba," by Orlando H. Garrido, Arturo Kirkconnell, and Roman F. Company.
Dinners at the <i>casa particular</I> "Susurros de Mar" in Caleton include a choice of chicken, fish, lobster, crocodile (<i>cocodrilo</i>), or jutiagiant tree rat! Everybody likes crocodile meat. Jutia is, shall we say, the choice of the adventurous traveler.
And if you want to make friends with Cubans, don't eat lobster. It's illegal for Cubans to eat lobster so they might be resentful.
In Playa Larga, the town at the top of the Bahia de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs), the hotel was closed for renovation in March 2008.
In Caleton, the village just west of Playa Larga, the <i>casa particular</i> "Susurros del Mar" ("whispers of the sea") is on the beach, a few feet from the water. The rooms are nice, the food excellent, and the large living room is sort of the local pub for the neighbors. 25 CUC per night, 10 CUC for supper, and 4 CUC for breakfast. Contact: Nivaldo Ortega, Caleton, Cicuaga de Zapata, Matanzas; telephone 015 225 2021.
Across the street Cubans can stay in an unlicensed <i>casa particular</i> for 15 CUC per night for two bedrooms. (The government license to rent a room to tourists costs 260 CUC per month. So the <i>casa</i> owner has to rent each room 11 nights a month just to break even. The neighbor across the street didn't pay for the license so she could only rent to Cubans, but she kept all the money she earned.)
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