Banes travel guide

It is a pleasant drive about 30 km from Guardalavaca to Banes over the hills through rolling fields of sugar interspersed with Royal palms. This town is not usually on the itineraries of tour parties even though its church, Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Caridad was the site of the marriage of Fidel Castro to Mirta Díaz Balart on 12 October 1948. Banes was also the birthplace of the dictator Fulgencio Batista, giving it a second claim to fame with Cuba’s leaders. When the Spanish gave way to the Americans in 1898, Banes became a dependency of the United Fruit Company and was owned by them until the Revolution. Having visited the Museo Aborigen Chorro de Maita (above), you may be interested to see the Museo Indocubano Bani (Gen Marrero 305 y Av José Martí, T24-802487, Tue-Sat 0900-1700, Sun 0800-1200, CUC$1) which has a good collection of pre-Columbian artifacts, probably the best in Cuba, and a sizable collection of malachite. Explanations can be given by the curator, Luis Quiñones, who speaks English and French. The town of Banes was originally the site of the Bani chieftancy and the museum contains treasures discovered by the many archaeological digs in the area. Banes is considered the archaeological capital of the country.