Imagine leaving behind the hustle and bustle of the city and getting lost in a corner of Cuba where time seems to stand still. In the Santa Cruz Canyon, every step reveals hidden stories and breathtaking landscapes. Join me in discovering one of them.

 We’re setting course just a few kilometers away from the Cuban capital, in the province of Artemisa.

This is the first of two posts about this visit.

I won’t ask you to follow me just yet; just read until the end and let me convince you.

Shall we get started?

The Idea

The idea to visit the Santa Cruz Canyon came from a group of friends I met at the end of 2024. They have a "project" that brings together all nature lovers, travelers, and everything related in one place and sets off for a peculiar destination.

...* It doesn’t matter if they know each other or not; the journey will unite them* ... that’s the motto of these guys.

They’ve managed to create some great adventures, and I felt I had debts to myself.

As their first trip of the year, they decided to visit Tomás's House, in the neighboring province of Artemisa, right in the heart of the Santa Cruz Canyon.

What I didn’t know was that Tomás lived deep in the mountains.

Upon hearing about the idea, I wanted to join without asking too many details, beyond what was necessary to prepare minimally for the trip.

On the day of the trip, I met the rest of the group of adventurers. A group that seemed quite varied from the very first moment. It was easy to think that fun would not be lacking—and it wasn’t.

This type of adventure reminded me of an app that has become very popular: TripBFF. The goal of the app is to connect people with the same interests, without needing to know each other beforehand

Havana- Artemisa

We left Havana early in the morning—I think that along with our driver, we were the only ones awake in the city. The first transport would drop us off at Lido (a place known for transferring passengers to the province of Pinar del Río). We weren’t going that far.

We were among the first to fill a truck and half of another (more than 15 people), and we would get off in San Cristobal, Artemisa.

The Santa Cruz Canyon and our "Headquarters" for the weekend belong to this municipality. But no, it’s not as easy as I’m telling you.

Once we arrived at the place, we had to wait for Ale (the guy who would guide us to where we needed to go).

I hadn’t asked many details since it was my debut with these guys; I wanted to be as surprised as possible. Bad decision? Or maybe not, because the surprises were much bigger than I had thought.

With our "guide" in front, we said goodbye to the little town of San Cristóbal, to find ourselves in the middle of the mountains.

Suddenly, Ale and those in the lead of the group started to separate from the cart and head deeper into the woods—I knew the hardest part awaited us.

The rain made its presence known from the moment we got off. Many ancient civilizations saw rain as a blessing; would it be for us?

It accompanied us for much of the journey; it made the climbs feel eternal and the descents more dangerous than the road to hell.

After walking more than 5 kilometers into the mountains on a path that didn’t seem very traveled, we arrived at a typical Cuban peasant's house.

It looked like it was taken from a history book, and at the door, Tomás, the owner, was waiting for us.

Tomás, Tomasito, the Guajiro

Tomás is an 83-year-old man who welcomed us in the morning wearing his work clothes for the field. I hope to reach his age as well as he has.

Well, he didn’t even greet us; his first words were ... "Come on, guys, there’s work to do"

Next to his rustic house, we saw a clearing (it was actually a coffee drying area) that would be our home for the rest of the weekend.

Tomasito decided to open his doors to anyone who could make it to them. He welcomes each visitor as if they were the first, regardless of whether you are a tourist or just another Cuban.

I talked a bit with Tomás, and it’s easy to understand why the guajiros live so long. The man gets up at 4 in the morning and starts his routine in the field until 11-12, when he returns to have lunch and feed some of his animals.

The rest of the day (if he doesn’t have pending tasks) he roasts his own coffee, contemplates nature, and occasionally receives visitors from all over the world. So much so that he has a shelf where he keeps several notebooks with dedications from visitors.

It pained me that during that visit, I couldn’t write anything for him; my pen broke due to the rain, just like those of other travelers. It doesn’t matter; the memories remain.

The Landscape

I connected in an incredible way with the environment that surrounded us. With the rain, everything turned green, the sound of the birds, and the weather improving. Everything was turning in our favor.

I had never liked saying goodbye to the concrete jungle so much. I was falling in love with the place, and we had barely arrived.

What can I say? The pictures speak for themselves.

The solar panels, along with the cell phone, are the most modern technologies they have around here. Life is very simple, very basic. They just live it and enjoy it—no social media, no WhatsApp, no algorithms, just living.

It was like traveling back in time.

The landscape was undoubtedly the best part, but let’s save that for the next post.

In the next post, I’ll take you to discover the powers of nature.

Now, if you want to know the second installment of this trip to one of the most remote places I’ve visited, you know what to do.

Read you soon!

Oh, and don’t leave without telling me how your recent adventures have gone! Any anecdotes you’d like to share? I’m all ears; it will be a pleasure to respond to you.

[dahpilot]

The images are either my own,  or my partner's or my friend's, authorized for exclusive use in this post.