Las Terrazas travel guide

On the autopista, 51 km west of Havana, the Sierra del Rosario appears on the right and a roadside billboard announces the turning to Las Terrazas/Moka , 4 km north of the autopista. However, after that there is little signposting through a confusing series of side roads; you will have to ask the way. There is a barrier at the entrance to the Biosphere Reserve (admission CUC$7) which covers 260 sq km of the eastern Sierra del Rosario. Admission to the reserve includes a horrible lunch, unless you have a reservation at the hotel. Las Terrazas was built in 1971 as a forestry and soil conservation station, with nearby slopes terraced to prevent erosion. It is a pleasant settlement of white-painted houses and a long apartment block overlooking the lake of San Juan, which now houses an ecological research centre. In Las Terrazas there is a paladar, as well as craft workshops, a gym, a cinema and a museum which sometimes holds canturías or folk music sessions. Nearby there are waterfalls where you can picnic.

Following the death in a car accident of the popular singer, Polo Montañez in 2002, his house was opened as a museum, run by his brother. In nearby San Cristóbal, a clay statue of the singer has been put on display. Once a woodcutter, he rose to fame as a singer/songwriter with many hits in the three years before his death, touring Latin America and Europe.