Hiking on a Rain Forest Mountain Trail in the Guanayara National Park, Cuba

Day 5 - Afternoon

Getting on an old Russian army truck for our ride

After our coffee stop, we continued our mountain adventure into the rain forest,  a part of the Guanayara National Park.

This was to be a 4 km mountain hike. Every so often, our guide stopped and pointed out to us some interesting or unique plants and animals native to Cuba.

A leaf from the Mother -in-law tree

We learned about the Mother-in-law plant – the fallen leaves once when dry, each would have two different colours on the leaves, a lighter silvery colour on one side and a darker colour on the other.

Our tour guide also pointed out the majestically Royal Palm Tree, the national tree of Cuba. 


I was amazed to learn about the many uses of the palm tree and its various parts by Cubans. For example, the palm leaves are used for building material as the roof of those small shelters for shade while the barks, the seeds and the fruits are also used in various other ways. 

No part of the palm tree is wasted by the local people.

While hiking on the trail we saw lush vegetation, and dense forests.



















We walked past small streams, gingerly stepping on numerous narrow wooden bridges made of large tree trunks with branches used as railings keeping us from falling into the water below us.

We had to be very cautious!

We also walked up and down narrow paths with different sizes of rocks zigzagging along the way. We needed to keep our eyes open and be cautious as we were hiking on mountain trails.

The walk seemed like endless at times. I was glad that my regular exercise gym classes have paid off as I was able to hike these trails with little difficulty.
















Finally, we were rewarded of our effort and arrived under a waterfall. 



Elated, we lingered and posted for pictures there for a few minutes before resuming our hike. 

















The highlight of our hike was reaching a small body of water. It looked like a natural swimming pool.

Though the water was cold, many of us did take a dip in there for a few minutes.

It was a beautiful and scenic spot for a swim and a rest.

 
After our swim, we walked for another 1/ 2 hour. A BBQ chicken lunch was prepared for us at the Casa Gallera. 

 By then it was almost 2pm and we were starving; the food never tasted so good.

We got back into the army truck and went to Mirador. 

We climbed the 100 plus steps up to the top leading to a look out point. It was a challenging climb for some.

Climbing up those 100 stairs,  we saw a number of palm leaves with people engraving their names and date of visit to this place. 

This was the first time I saw names engraved onto palm leaves.






 

Reaching the top of the stairs to the look out point, we had a marvelous view of the entire valley below us.

We were about a few hundred meters above. The scenery was beautiful! 

After getting back to the resort, we had dinner at the ala carte dining room. It was fun dressing up for a more formal dinner and being served by white gloved waiting staff. However, the food portion was a little too big for us. 

This was the first night we were able to use the resort internet and check our emails.

We had another enjoyable day in Cuba!

R.T.
Parque Guanayara
Guanayara National Park
Cuba