Bahia de Los Cochinos, where History happened

The defeat of Imperialism: a reason for every Cuban to be proud.
(photo taken by M.L.)

I wouldn't say that Bahia de Los Cochinos and Playa Larga are exactly the most touristic spots in Cuba. And I'm glad it is like this! Here we found the perfect refuge, of rest and peacefulness, and we could have for a few days a privilege contact with Cuba's nature and with locals. Its hard to imagine nowadays that this was once stage of an enormous fight between distinct ways of life, a fight for ideals that still cleaves the World up to this day...

Our literature (and road map) on Cuba... quite extensive, one can say...

In Playa Larga village there are a handful of casas particulares. None of our several guides made any special point in visiting Bahia de Los Cochinos. This is probably the reason why we didn't see that many tourist around... and we were thankful for that! Thanks to this lack of information, here the beaches were practically deserted, with only a few locals swimming. It's true that it doesnt look as fancy as the picture-perfect resort beaches we see on postcards, but the vibe was much more honest and authentic. Here I felt I was in the real Cuba.

The unpretentious beach of Playa Larga

Bahia de los Cochinos, just a few hours before the expected tropical storm Fay... We were a bit nervous, I must say, but the sea was amazingly calm...

My feet in the Caribbean Sea and my head in the clouds. Yes, I have my feet inside the water. It was THAT transparent!

You never forget that this Bay witnessed one of the most important Cuban fights, for their ideology and sovereignty.

My favorite part of the trip to Bahia de Los Cochinos was, with no shred of doubt, my scuba-diving baptism!!!!!!! Lua&Estrela, you would be so proud of me!!!!!!! :-D
I dived with O2 bottle for the first time in my life, in an historical place and in the day after the tropical storm Fay. Certainly, a unique combination! So, while I was trying to learn how to properly breed and control my level in the water, I was struggling to avoid getting smashed against the rocks, as the sea was quite strong. After a lot of attempts and personal drama, I MADE IT!!!!!! I, Menina Azul Reciclada, scuba-dived in the Caribbean Sea!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To make the whole experience even better, we dived with Félix, a Cuban diving instructor (and our host in Playa Larga as well) that has scuba-dived in the past with no other than Jacques Cousteau!!!!!!!!! How cool is that?????

A ride from Hell! This was our car in Playa Larga, with the most funny driver I've ever met in my life!

Ready to get acquainted with the Caribbean sea, finally.
(photo taken by S.Z.)

Fragments of our adventures in the sea. It was GREAT!!!!!! And I wanna do it again!

Another highlight of our stay in Bahia de Los Cochinos was our visit to Zapata National Park, a wildlife sanctuary. It's particularly nice for all of you birdwatchers out there! I could only think of Maffas and Timme - my dear ornithologist friends - while we were with our binocular, doing the paparazzi-style to the poor birds!

The landscape of Zapata! It was a privilege for to be in such close contact with the beautiful nature of Cuba!

Until very recently, if you would ask me what was the highlight of my trip to Cuba, I would definitely place Zapata amongst the top five! This was mostly due to the our amazing encounter with REAL FLAMINGOS!!!!! We saw real, pink-pink-PINK flamingos! I was over the moon when I saw them and, again, I immediately thought about telling to Maffas and Timme about my flamingo sighting - especially since this was not the flamingo season around these areas, so we were really really lucky to see them!

The flamingos!!!!!!! They are really pink!!!!!! (and they were really far away...)

I was very happy, thinking I witnessed something truly unique. But apparently, according to Maffas there are flamingos in Estuário do Tejo. And with the simple sentence "Nice for you! Once we also saw some near Ponte Vasco da Gama" she broke my heart...

The very rare heron...

Well, nonetheless I enjoyed my flamingo experience and my day as an ornithologist. And in the end of the day I even had a truly rare experience (for sure more rare than the flamingos), as we had a glance of this beautiful heron - according to our guide a very rare specimen... Sorry for my ignorance, but can anybody identify it?