Guardalavaca is a town in the Holguín Province of

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. It is a

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...

location due to its white sandy

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

es and warm waters. Guardalavaca beach is protected by a large

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

and is visited by both local Cubans and tourists. Most Cuban workers in the all-inclusive hotels are transported daily in buses from neighbouring cities like Holguin, Banes, and

Rafael Freyre Rafael Freyre is a municipality and town in the Holguín Province of Cuba. Overview The main municipal settlement (Rafael Freyre itself) developed around the sugar cane factory "Central Santa Lucía". The only middle school in the area, “ESBU ...

, as only a few Cubans live in Guardalavaca due to the small size of the resort. Between Guardalavaca and Playa Esmeralda are dry tropical forest where

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Cuban birdlife like hummingbirds Cuban emerald can be seen.

Endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Cuban

knight anole The knight anole (''Anolis equestris'') is the largest species of anole () in the Dactyloidae family. Other common names include Cuban knight anole or Cuban giant anole, highlighting its native country, but it has also been introduced to Florid ...

lizards are numerous in these forest. A daily

flea market A flea market (or swap meet) is a type of street market that provides space for vendors to sell previously-owned (second-hand) goods. This type of market is often seasonal. However, in recent years there has been the development of 'formal' ...

is popular for handmade Cuban souvenirs and tourists from beaches further away from Guardalavaca centre like Playa Esmeralda and Playa Pesquero come here on excursion. A main tourist attraction is the Taino museum and museum village between Guardalavaca and Banes, and the wildlife trail at Bahia de Naranjo. Bahia de Naranjo also offers swimming with dolphins and a small

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for Conservation biology, conservation purposes. The term ''zoological g ...

Frank Pais Airport Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curre ...

is situated approximately 1 hour drive south of the resort and is a reason this area was developed for beach-

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

Ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds ...

and Wildlife tourism trips to Baracoa

Tropical Rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equatori ...

use the large mass-tourism all-inclusive resorts of the Guardalavaca area due to their convenient location near

Geography

It is located on the northern shore of Cuba, bordering ''Bahia de Naranjo'' (Orange Bay), and is part of the municipality of Banes. Beaches in Guardalavaca include the main Guardalavaca Beach, as well as a number of smaller beaches located west and east of the main beach. Several beaches west of Guardalavaca have also been developed for tourism but there is not abundant housing for local population and little infrastructure outside of the hotels. These beaches include 3 resort areas. Five km to the west is

Playa Esmeralda Playa (plural playas) may refer to: Landforms * Endorheic basin, also known as a sink, alkali flat or sabkha, a desert basin with no outlet which periodically fills with water to form a temporary lake * Dry lake, often called a ''playa'' in the so ...

, and several smaller beaches at Bahia de Naranjo

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

. Ten km to the west are Playa Yuraguanal and Playa Pesquero. All of these beaches feature

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...

sand and are protected by coral reefs and feature all-inclusive hotels.

History

Naming

"Guardalavaca" literally means "guard the cow" in Spanish. There are several accounts as to how this name may have originated; one version maintains that ''Guardalavaca'' is a

malapropism A malapropism (also called a malaprop, acyrologia, or Dogberryism) is the mistaken use of an incorrect word in place of a word with a similar sound, resulting in a nonsensical, sometimes humorous utterance. An example is the statement attributed to ...

for its original name ''Guardalabarca'', meaning "guard the ship". The area was once heavily targeted by sea

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

s, and ''Bahía de Naranjo''Bahía de Naranjo at cubatechtravel.com
/ref> near what is now the town of Guardalavaca is a secluded shallow bay connected to the open sea by a narrow

inlet An inlet is a (usually long and narrow) indentation of a shoreline, such as a small arm, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In marine geogra ...

, which made it a proper safe haven to guard ships against pirates. On the other hand, the name may have originated from pirates going after the cattle grazing in the area. As pirates were spotted, the local farmers would thus shout, "Guarda la vaca" - guard the cow. The Cuban government has attempted on several occasions to change the name of the area as they deem it not to be very appealing; they have so far been unsuccessful.

References

External links

* {{Municipalities in Holguín Populated places in Holguín Province Beaches of Cuba Banes, Cuba