Yumuri Canyon, Baracoa

I decided to write a separate post about Yumuri for 2 reasons. First because the place is very very nice and second for the people we met over there. 

We drove over from Baracoa, the road is well indicated and once we arrived a lot of people welcomed us, offering us tours, cacao cream, cacao balls, coconut oil and so many others. The problem is that the people can't afford to buy material things such as pens, towels or simple cloth so they take any opportunity to get some extra money. If you go  get along a hand-full of pens to giveaway  

The tour

There are several tours that you can take with fewer or more hours and more or less walking of course but as we were in a bit of a hurry but still wanted to enjoy the place in a relaxed way â€‹thus we took the shortest one. This was 5 CUC per person including the boat trip (very short one) and a guide. 

so we first find out that there was a legend about the name of the place. Namely the princess of the Indian Tribe who was living there was cursed that when she falls in love misfortune will come over her and her land. A young man from Camagüey heard about her beauty and wanted to meet her, they fell in love and in that moment the earth started to shake forming the river but also taking in the fall the couple. When she died it is said that she screamed Yu...muri which would mean I died 

The tour starts with a short boat trip and then you walk around, the guide will show you different medicine plants and will explain what they are used for. Also he will try to spot and show you birds that are living around the area.  We had a cute surprise in the tour. 

mother hummingbird

We all know the cute tiny birds called hummingbirds, well can you imagine how tiny the babies of the hummingbirds are? oh well VERY have a look. â€‹

2 baby hummingbirds

Besides the gorgeous nature, in the Yumuri Canyon you have the chance to be alone, there is not too much tourism at the moment so you can enjoy a lovely and relaxing walk around and a nice swim in a natural pool

of course we should not leave aside the fresh coconut cocktail, the lovely canchanchara (coconut juice, rum, lime and honey). Our guide climbed in the coconut and brought back for us 6 fresh coconuts. 

Here you can also get loads of useful souvenirs to bring back home such as cacao cream, coconut oil or cacao balls, there are a lot of people offering them, you can negotiate the prices but I would not over do it as it is also a material support for the local people.   

Our guide was called Yorli and is the guy on the left in blue and on the right with the cap is Joel from whom I got the cocoa cream. If you want to get Yorli as a guide (which I recommend) contact
e-mail: Joelandy82@nauta.cu
phone:+5353211389

you'll have a very nice experience and hopefully you have more time to enjoy than we had. 

I leave you with this view! Going to and coming from Yumuri you can stop at any of the several (black) beaches that are along the way