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Thursday, February 01, 2007

We're going to CUBA!!

Signed, sealed and dilevered! BOOKED, we're going to Cuba! Oh god I can't wait! Some history of Camaguey, Cuba

Camagüey
Is the biggest province in the country, with more than 14 thousands square kilometers, its geography its characterize for extensive plain, which make the province an ideal place to cultivate the sugar cane and to shepherd a great number of cattle. This two activities are the most economic important in this zone, followed by the rice and the citrics.

Camagüey is not absent of nature beauty, in spite of the apparent monotony of its plains, the rivers that cross it had been made marvelous green zones and natural pool, figured in the limestone rock, like the well known forms in the Maximo river, without reply in no other place in the country

Their key and little islands in the north and in the south are valuable reservation of the flora and fauna and its beaches of whiteness sand and transparent waters are waiting to be conquer

The province has 120 kilometers of beaches, almost the 25 percent of the whole country, which convert it in the potential most important tourist focus in Cuba. In Santa Lucia, with its 20 kilometers of beach, many of them virgin and protected by a choral barrier, you can learn and practice dive here. The best beaches in the zone are in the Boca, near the access channel to the Nuevitas Bay, semi isolated and little visited. Immerse in this water you can see an incredible choral variety (50 species), more than 200 of sponge and 500 of tropical fishes, and like a thirty spanish galleon and some ship sank from the II World War. Following to the west, it can be find the Sabinal key joined to the island by a road of stone. Romano and Cruz with 40 kilometers of beaches with very fine sands, are ideal places for dive too. In this zone live an important colony of pink flamingo on the Caribbean.

The capital of the province is the city of Camagüey, one of the seven first village founded by Diego Velazques in 1515, with the name of Santa Maria del Puerto Principe, in the place known as Punta del Guincho, at the west side of the Nuevitas Bay. The constant pirates' attack obligated to their firsts residents to move the city in 1516 to the border of the Caonao river, in 1528 the city was settled finally in the indian place known as Camaguelo Camaguebax, in the center of the province. Very soon it lose this peculiar name and it was named as Puerto Principe, which was losed too. Today every body call it Camagüey.

Camagüey is known as the Tinajones city. Its first residents were in serious problems with the absence of water, since its extensive plain is not plentiful in water sources. However, it rained so much. The problem was how to stock the precious liquid: Spanish potters settled in the village found the solution to the problem of stock water. They made the now famous tinajones, a kind of vessel to stock water, following the models of the spanish vessels that came from Spain with wine and oil. They found that some local clays were easy to mold, resistant and with refractory properties. With this clays began the manufacture production of big vessels named as Tinajones to stock the water. In that way surged the most important ceramic industry in the country, which maintain its production in the actual days.

Since that time, the Tinajon became an important element in every home in Camagüey. It was located in the most shadow areas, where you can still see them, over the ground or sunken in the ground to its middle size, but under the channels that collect the rain water from the roof.


Departure Date March 17, 2007. 43 more sleeps!

3 comments:

Shelley said...

Sounds amazing!! Take lots of pictures....hope all is well with you!!

Take care

Arrah-Lee said...

Whooohoo, watch out Cuba - here comes Tanya!!

your going to have an awesome time!

Take lots of pics and remember to bring me back something!! ;o)

Angie Parker said...

Have a great time and enjoy some hot weather for me. It's cold up here!

Angie