The view at Bacunayagua


El Mirador de Bacunayagua overlooks Cuba's highest bridge and the Yumuri Valley.
   AN ELEGANCE of concrete, the Bacunayagua Bridge soars over the seemingly bottomless gorge that separates the provinces of Mayabeque and Matanzas. And higher yet is El Mirador de Bacunayagua, the coffee bar/gift shop/piña colada stand that overlooks the bridge and the great, green Yumurí Valley.
   El Mirador reminds me of the Castle Rock lookout over Lake Huron near St. Ignace, Michigan. I remember riding down Interstate 75 in the back of the family '66 Buick Le Sabre, hoping we'd stop at Castle Rock, or at the nearby "Mystery Spot" where gravity was said to be more suggestion than law (and which I now know is a "tilt-induced visual illusion," another secret spoiled by Wikipedia). But never once do I recall my parents pulling into a tourist trap.
   I've turned into El Mirador, more than once. It's cheesy, of course, but that's part of its charm. And its observation platforms are a perfect place to view the circling buitres — for once, you are above them —  and the modern tourist buses and smoke-trailing 1950s sedans crossing the bridge that at 103 metres is the highest in Cuba.
   And wait, that green 1959 Oldsmobile, approaching on the Via Blanca. Could that be Fidel Castro and Celia Sánchez, coming to inspect the newly built bridge in September 1959?
   Perhaps El Mirador de Bacunayagua is Cuba's Mystery Spot.

Bridge rises 103 metres and connects Mayabeque and Matanzas provinces.

Observation deck is a great place for birdwatching and car-spotting.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Order me one would you? I found it rather interesting as well that the price for a pina colada could change dependent on the number of people stopping by to enjoy this spectacular view.
September 25, 2010 at 2:04 PM
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