www.cubacasas.net •|• Puerto Padre [Las Tunas]

OUR CASA LIST BEGINS HERE

REGIONAL MAP HERE

Named the Blue City of Mills (Villa Azul de los Molinos), Puerto Padre spreads over 180 square k's and was shown on 16th century maps as Portus Patris.

Legend has that a sailor aboard one of Christopher Colombus' ships, seeing the port for the first time said to the man next to him, a priest : " Que puerto, Padre ! " (What a port, Father !). We don't make 'em up, we just copy and paste.

The ciudad reminds one of some coastal towns like Trinidad, Gibara and Remedios : not enormous, relatively calm, with colonial architecture, an industrial port, Puerto Carupano (largest sugar port in the world in its heyday) and an access to the sea.

That large water mass is made up of two bays, Bahia de Puerto Padre or Cascarero and Bahia de Chaparra with tiny Cayo Juan Claro and Cayo Puerco and beaches Las Bocas and Las Llanitas nearby as well as a large reef off Covarrubias.

Birthplace of Latin Jazz precursor, Emiliano Salvador (1951-1992) and of many magazines and papers from 1896 (Localista, El Noticiero, Madrugada and Alborada Villazulina).

Puenteras and puenteros can guide you through remnants of wide avenues and colonial buildings, the La Premiere library, El Cucalambé printer, a cinema, a concert stage, the Rivoli theater (originally the Aldana).

MAPS & LINKS

Map of area up including Covarrubias.

Rising and downward tides - Puerto Padre

Map - An Architecture & Landscape Guide : 8 places

Map - Detailed street map of historic centre

Map - Detailed coast from here to Banes

Map - Roads to Las Bocas and Herradura

Our page on nearby Playa Las Bocas

Map - The province of Las Tunas

Weather (Wunderground)

Daily currency exchange rates

All things natural in the province of Las Tunas

DISTANCES
Amancio, 87
Bayamo, 138
Camaguey, 195
Chaparra, 28
Delicias, 15
El Socucho (ferry), 16
Gibara, 83
Holguin, 59
La Habana, 600
Las Tunas, 56
Playa Covarrubias, 42
Playa Las Bocas, 16 or 71
Playa La Herradura, 47

The eponym movie by Gustavo Fallas

POPULATION 93,660 in the regional township (municipio) in 2007

SEE THE PARKS
The small Statue of Liberty imitating those in Paris and New York in • The parque Marti and its Iglesia Catolica • The parque de la Independencia

SEE TOO
• Museo Fernando García Grave de Peralta • The buste in homage to Cuban mothers, Busto de las Madres • The casa de la UNEAC (Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba), the 17th in Cuba, inaugurated in September 2006. • Fortress from the 19th century, El Fuerte de la Loma, national monument— • The Casa Pastoral, example of colonial architecture well conserved —

SERVICES
Internet connections available every day from 08h30 to 19h30 on avenida Libertad 144, e/ B. Masó y Flor Crombet, site of the ETECSA phone company.

The Malecon, the seaside promenade •|• Parque Marti in front of the catholic church, Iglesia Católica © radiolibertad.cu

Parque de la Independencia : Statue of Liberty and the museum Fernando García Grave de Peralta •|• Don Quichote on the main avenida © radiolibertad.cu

Town is also known as Teofilo Stevenson's birthplace in 1952. At the 1976 Games in Montreal, Stevenson became a household name, beating his first three opponents and knocking out Romanian Mircea Simon in the final. He continued his winning streak at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, returning with three gold medals. Career was 302-22. © unk. Bio here

Covarrubias, its beach and coral reef are 42 km west •|• Main street — avenida Libertad — leads directly to the once-industrial Puerto Carupano.

Los Jimaguas — Jacobo and Isaac — twins who were so identical that one day (so the story goes) Jacobo who was in prison was replaced for the night by his bro without the jefe de policia noticing... © Casals •|• Casa de la Trova at night on calle N © von Esmarch panoramio

PLAYAS
Superb and almost deserted in winter, packed by Cubans from Holguin in summer : Playa Las Bocas (see our page here) and neighbouring Playa Las Llanitas are 16 km or 20 mins. away by guagua to El Socucho, then by mini ferry (lancha). By car the whole way, via Delicias and Lora, it's 71 km.

Playa Covarrubias, 42 km northwest is where the 180-room Hotel Club Covarrubias — Tel. (31) 51-5530 — offers, since 1998, 3-star all-inclusive only lodging and scuba diving on a 6 km-long coral reef 1.5 km offshore. The resort, with its lovely flour-like white beach sits beside a coral reef so fascinating that some compare it with Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Non-guests can spend the day all included from 10am to 6pm for 20cuc. ••• But getting there is apparently murder on your bum as the road is supposedly pock-holed from constant running of water tankers to/from the hotel. The only "public" transportation, the employees guagua, takes 90 mins. From town, tip the driver 2cuc and he'll let you on. Hotel details here.

CAYO JUAN CLARO
It's on the bay - accessible by a median (pedraplen) for cars and trains - that remains Cayo Juan Claro which survived at the outset with an international community of workers (Barbados, Antigua, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas or the Virgin Islands, the majority from Jamaica) nicknamed Jamaiquinos — workers exploited by the US-based Cuban American Sugar Mills and by "bosses" who lived in pretty wooden bungalows named chalets (photo).

It is on this cayo that lies the port of Carupano which was improved with modern facilities in 1978. At its peak, the port facilities served the sugar mills of Maibacoa in the province of Las Tunas and sugar mills Urbano Noris, Cristino Naranjo Loynaz Echevarria, Antonio Maceo and Rafael Freyre in the neighboring province of Holguin. Most are still in operation.

Workers (ie slaves) lived for free (!) in a tall one-room building called barracones (barracks), with basic privacy by hanging sheets between beds ... Only one light bulb lit the place, jamaiquinos being forced to pay 1 peso (US dollar) per month to warrant an electrical extension in their own neighborhood. The cayo did not have either sewage or running water. The Cuban American Sugar Mills operated more than 330,000 acres (133,000 hectares) of sugar cane for its two mills, Delicias and Chaparra. Workers went on a strike that lasted 52 days in 1925.

Puerto Padre townspeople - many under a parasol - under the scorching summer sun © unk

OUR RECOMMENDATIONS
::: Make sure that in your first email or phone call you specify that you want to book a room in that particular casa and that you will reconfirm your booking on arrival in Cuba. Unless you only want a room in any house which may be of the same quality, not the specific casa you booked through photos on these websites ::: So as to not abandon expecting owners with empty rooms, reconfirm (or call ahead to cancel) your booking by phone as soon as you can after arriving in Cuba ::: Please write or phone a casa owner to cancel a booking. As late as it may seem, it allows them a chance to rebook. ::: Children under the age of 16 may share a bedroom with adults for free. Specify the child's age when booking. ::: Since October 2010, maximum bedroom capacity is not limited to two adults ::: Also, large casas are not limited to renting only two bedrooms per night. ::: At the end of the casa name, the V signals the casa was suggested by travelers or owners but not verified by the website staff. If you try it and like it, write us about it. ::: Unless otherwise mentioned, the average room rates and service prices are : 20-25cuc per bedroom per night [up to 40+ for 4 in a room]; breakfasts 3-5cuc, dinners 7-10cuc. ::: Any casa particular anywhere in Cuba must have a hot water shower, otherwise it cannot have a permit to rent ::: Please share your Complaints, comments & suggestions webmaster [@]cubacasas.net

TO MAKE A RESERVATION BY PHONE
• From Canada and the USA : 011 53 (add phone # preceded by the town's area code, 31) • From Europe, Great Britain, Scandinavia and Mexico : 00 53 (add phone # preceded by the town's area code, 31)••• HOW TO DIAL A CUBAN PHONE NUMBER HERE ••• CELL PHONE NUMBERS on our town lists and casa pages are preceded by 05 for calls originating Havana; from anywhere else in Cuba, dial 05 + the 8 digits of the cell.

BOOK BY EMAIL :
Click on logo to open a message addressed to that casa in your email application; or right-click to copy address. Spanish vocabulary here.

BONNEVILLE PLACE V
Two aircon bedrooms, ensuites, whole casa
Calle Flor Crombet No. 117, entre Carlos Manuel de Cespedes y Vicente Garcia, facing a park, two blocks from avenida Libertad.
Cel. 54 05 89 61

CARLOS y NUIRIS V
One aircon bedroom, ensuite
Calle Maceo 5, near avenida Libertad and a few moments' walk from the sea.
Tel. (31) 51-28-20 cel 53 36 98 95

JORGE y CARMEN V
One aircon bedroom, ensuite, roof terrace
Calle Yara #30, near town center and Malecon
Tel. (31) 51-36-80

VILLA MARIA V
Upstairs, three aircon bedrooms, ensuites
Calle Mártires de la Herradura No. 90, entre Vicente Garcia y Antonio Maceo. Tél. (31) 51-36-66

LEONARDO SILVA GOMEZ
Two aircon bedrooms, ensuites
Calle Mártires de la Herradura No. 98.
Tél. (31) 51-34-46

JULIO VALLADARES VALLADARES
Up two floors, two aircon bedrooms, ensuites
Avenida Libertad 148,
Tél. (31) 51-33-09 cel 52 96 90 40

LUIS GONZÁLEZ GONZÁLEZ
Two aircon bedrooms, ensuites
Calle Cuba No. 28, entre Marti y 24 de Febrero.
Tél. (31) 51-25-48

OSCAR y ALICE V
One ac bedroom, ensuite, private patio, mini pool
Calle Cuba No. 12, entre Marti y 24 de Febrero.
Tél. (31) 51-33-23
"Oscar is a retired hotel manager and a great cook. The house is nicely furnished and absolutely spotless. And the hosts are truly wonderful people." (NancyNS, Halifax, TA 170511)

GABRIEL MAESTRE V
One aircon bedroom, ensuite
Calle Cuba No. 8, entre Marti y 24 de Febrero.
Tél. (31) 51-22-15