 Pinar
del Río is the most western province
of Cuba and the land of the best cigar in
the world. Here Cuba ends or begins, depending
on the way you look at the island.
On the north it limits with the Golf of
Mexico, on the east with La Habana province,
on the west with the Yucatán straight,
and on the south with the Golf of Batabanó
and the Caribbean Sea.
It is said that the name
Pinar del Río was given due to geographic
reasons, because the nucleus of the city
is bordering the Guamá River, surrounded
by vast pine forests.
Because of its landscapes,
this province is one of the most picturesque
of the country; it has several tourist resorts
which have international reputation; such
as, Soroa and Viñales.
Soroa appears surrounded
by green mountains and a prodigious vegetation,
among which the majestic orchid stands out,
the flower that represents the area.
Viñales is located
in the heart of the Sierra de los Órganos,
the oldest of the country. Here the view
is dominated by carsic elevations that form
abrupt and typical mogotes only found in
this region, rich in caves, many of which
have rivers and underwater streams, la Cueva
del Indio is one of the most visited ones.
Guanahacabibes: the biggest
forest reservation in the country, is also
located here. Huge forests with abundant
plants and animals that do not exist in
other places of the island, lazy iguanas
being almost two meters long, wild pigs
with fangs like razors, nervous deer and
many other species can be found here.
Roncali Lighthouse, located
on Cabo de San Antonio, limits the western
part of Cuba and the entrance of the Golf
of Mexico.
The city of Pinar del
Río is characterized by its houses
with porches and columns, with such a variety
of styles that surprise the visitors, their
manifest eagerness to break the monotony
gives way to a collection of clashing colors.
Cayo Levisa, with beautiful
pine forests and wild bushes, is found among
the cays located in the northern part of
the province, just 9 miles away from the
coast.
The main economic activity
of the area is the cultivation of the three
varieties of tobacco: mild, black and burley.
The intense green of the wide and long tobacco
leave matches the view, in contrast with
the wide spectrum of greens that the irregular
geography of Pinar del Río presents.
The most important tobacco areas are located
in the regions of Consolación del
Sur, San Juan y Martínez, Pinar del
Río, San Luis, Guane and Sandino,
being living exponents of these beautiful
contrasts. But among so much green verdor,
the typical “casas de tabaco”
(tobacco houses) stand out, built with guano
(dry leave of the palm tree), where the
tobacco leave is placed in order to be dried,
giving way to the beginning of the long
process which will produce aromatic cigarettes
or the insuperable habanos cigars.
Pinar del Río also
has a rehabilitation center, San Diego de
los Baños, with solarium steam baths,
sulfurous baths and a Physiotherapy department.
The visitors may enjoy the benefits of its
three mine-medicinal streams:
- El Templado (the moderate
one): with baths temperature of 34 Celsius
grades. It is used mainly for rheumatic
diseases.
- El Tigre (the Tiger):
its average temperature is about 31 Celsius
grades. Due to its privacy, this one is
used for skin diseases.
- La Gallina (the Hen):
with 36 Celsius grades, for younger sick
persons having the same arthritis diseases.
In the different hotel
installations of the region, you may enjoy
a nice offer, la Guayabita del Pinar, an
exquisite liqueur of this region. In its
elaboration, a small and aromatic wild fruit
which grows in sandy savannahs and pine
trees of this territory, having the same
name (Guayabita), is used. Nowadays, two
types are produced: the dry guayabita (brandy)
and the guayabita liqueur (sweet), which
may be acquired not only in Pinar del Río,
but practically in all the regions of Cuba.
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